My Labor of Love

 

    I have just finished my book called An Amazing Journey. It is the complete book on the Bailey family, the ancestry and the lineage that has so eluded genealogists for decades. But it is far more than a "black and white" genealogical work. I have added a TON of information on the early families of New England in the Massachusetts colony, as well as way too much data to even begin listing here. Containing hundreds of names and old New England families, I have added so much information on exactly how our ancestors lived, and not the affluent inhabitants. It just so happens that my family were simply...well, simple in means. We worked for a living and always have. I go into detail about every day lives of every day citizens of Puritan New England, Massachusetts and Maine and continue up until the start of the 20th century.

   Going back to the times before the early 17th century, I take you on a journey through England, the greatest storm ever to hit New England's coast and continue backward to the Norman Conquest, the castles and lands held not only by our family but others of prominence.
Continuing back, I solve many mysteries and place the "missing brick" back into the wall that has so often hindered historians.

   I take you to a time where our family was murdered on one hand, yet crowned King on the other. We break open the secret veil of adultery that is STILL not talked about in English stories of the monarchy.

   I take you through biblical times and beyond in order to continue one family's line, unbroken, to the beginning of time. This is an accomplishment that is rarely completed and I am proud to have finished.

   From the founding of small towns such as Baileyville, Topsfield, Princeston, Maine and surrounding towns, to the Bailey records of Newburyport and Salisbury, MA and continuing on back in time to Chippenham, Scotland and Wales, find information not in print and undiscovered as you read yourself back in time. I give you information that has never been sought out and linked together in order to  complete this family history. A very comprehensive book that reads like a fiction. You will also find some valuable information for the beginning genealogist as well as some data that professional genealogists have overlooked all these years.

   But my proudest literary achievement in this book has to do with Nathaniel Bailey. He was the founder of Baileyville in Maine and there is so much missing about his life....up until this book! I have closed every single missing year and added so much data on him that I am proud to have descended from him.


   This truly is a wondrous Trek Through Time and I urge you to grab your copy. I will add, however, that at times, I am simply black and white. What I mean is I give precise and concise data on food prices, home living, how our ancestors named their children and a lot of information that I did not take the poetic license to glorify or dramatize it. What was it that Sgt. Friday always said on Dragnet? "Just the facts!". If I had taken the drama route in order to hyperbolize some of these stories, the book would have easily been a thousand pages.

 
   If you want a book that ensnares you in a fictional world and keeps you enraptured an imaginative tale , pay attention to my next book, which will be a novel full of....well, you will soon see.

For those of you who wish to order, please see:

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/179644247X

.....or simply email me directly through the contact form to your right.

Get Off Your High Horse

I know this has absolutely NOTHING to do with cooking, genealogy, food or anything related to eating but it is something that really bothers me.

I am constantly thinking of my relatives that have passed over the years and especially all the Baileys that lived here in New England since the Puritan era. But I am most enamored with my family from Washington County, Maine because it was here that my gr.gr.gr.gr.great grandfather Nathaniel Bayley founded Baileyville, Maine. And his son, my gr.gr.gr. great grandparents Josiah and Charlotte Bailey was one of the first settlers of Topsfield, Maine.

They both lived on Bailey Hill in both towns and it is remarkable of how each lived off the land.

Once they had all passed, their graves are still erect and are found in their respective homesteads. I often take my children up there to see them and at the same time, we take detours to visit the old cemeteries in the same area and pay our respects to my father, grandfather, great grandfather and Josiah's son, my gr.gr. grandfather, Thomas Bailey.

But what is troubling is that I believe we are the ONLY people in our family that does so. My sister has gone up with me on numerous occasions but that is it!

This post is NOT meant to be demeaning to my family at all. They all have lives and my passion for my heritage should not be forced onto others.

Nope, this post is geared toward EVERYONE! We walk by hundreds of headstones that are neglected, fallen over and otherwise in desperate need of repair. Thank goodness every time one of my families headstones is looking like it needs help, I do what I can.

How on earth can someone not have pride in their family? Even if you visited them once in a while.......It is a shameful sight and my children know how it bothers me and they also know how grateful I am that they feel the same way. I can rest knowing that when I am gone, they will pick up the reigns and not neglect just what made them a Bailey.

Is it because of time constraints? Is it because you think you are better than the poor farmers in your family? I just do not get it!

My kids and I even take a walk to the cemetery right down the road from where I live and simply stroll through the cemetery looking at even more neglected, forgotten souls. I truly feel for those parents who lost a small child from long ago. I and my children often wonder why an infant died. But at the same time, we see headstones of people who lived to be near 100 years old and think about what the times were like when they were born in the 18th century and died in the 19th century. I think about what their households must have been like with no electricity and dinner aromas wafting everywhere. I could go on and on but will spare you.

The point of the post is to try and understand WHY so many of you neglect your past? I have so many people telling me that they know all about this person or that, yet they have no idea where they are buried. And many who DO know, have never taken the time to go.

Come on people. Walk the walk!!!! How would you feel if 100 years after your death, no one came to your grave, said a prayer, reflected on you or did not prop up your broken headstone?

It doesn't matter how rich you are(And I find that many who neglect their heritage tend to think they are better than those farmers before them are the ones who are well to do.)go visit your family, and not just your immediate family. Take the time to visit those who struggled just to feed their families because they had no other choice. Get off your high horse. YOU folks ought to be ashamed, no one else!

　

It's Just That Simple!

　

Yup, Going Against The Grain.....(or hops).....

I have, for years, pushed to keep liquor out of cooking because my pleasure in life is for everyone to enjoy each and every meal prepared. But, of course, their comes a time when an adult pleasure is warranted, especially in cooking during the colder months here in New England. Heck, even Benjamin Franklin said "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Not to mention that the original beer brewers were us Yankees.

Find, below, a useful guide to popular types of beer and at the end, enjoy a winter dish I think you will find extraordinarily perfect using beer.

Because of the craft brewing explosion in the past couple of decades, we are inundated with beer styles in liquor stores and neighborhood specialty shops. Today, the wide array of flavors run from the crisp and slightly hoppy pale pilsners to the creamy, sweet malt-flavors of English style brown ale. I truly remember the days when the only beer you could find was the monotonous American lager, so our choices were few and far between.

Now, not only are we poised to make a decision of what to drink, but which one to eat. Let me explain.

As the variety of beer flavors and styles mushroom, so have our options for pairing them with food, as well as adding these hoppy spirits to a variety of recipes.

Chefs everywhere are even expanding their menus and offering pilsners with truffles and caviar, a sweet stout with raw seafood, pale ales with stout, red meat and throwing out that cliche aperitif in lieu of porter ale to accompany desserts.


Here is a chart to help you identify the flavor components of some of the most widely brewed beer styles, example of which can be paired and cooked with any meal these days.

When choosing what beer to either drink or cook with, keep in mind the varieties of flavor, some subtle while some outstanding. For example, if you want a good stout beer but don't mind that "heaviness" that often accompanies it, drink cream or milk stouts, But if you enjoy stout but don't want to "fill up", try a bitter, less sweet stout. My favorites of each are listed both on the chart and below that accompanies the chart. I think you will find it quite usefull the next time you take that trip to the beer store.

1. Boulder Stout, Mackeson's Milk, Left Hand Milk and Sam Adams Cream Stout

2. Willoughby Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter, Hill Farmstead Everet, Night Watchman and Double Decker

3. Southern Pecan, Red Hydrant Ale, Turbodog and Newcastle Brown Ale.

4. Bigfoot, Old Foghorn and Old Backus Barleywine

5. Check out http://spencerbrewery.com/ for the best, and the only brewery in the US that is allowed to make this great alcohol. Certainly there are other, original and imported trappist beers, but don't bother!

6. Allagash White, Big Bison Ale, Russian River and New Belgium Abbey Belgian-Style Ale

7. Allagash White, Hop Sun, Pyramid Crystal Wheat Ale and Circus Boy

8. Goat Rancher, Andy Gator and Anchor Bock

9. Sun King, Hanger 24 and Sam Adams Pumpkin Oktoberfest

10. Sam Adams Double Bock, St. Victorius and Autumnal Fire

11. Gulden Draak

12. Scaldish

13. Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre

14. EKU 28

15. Black Sun and Portsmouth Black Cat Stout

16. Bitter Esters Dry Stout

17. Guiness Extra Stout

18. Palo Santo Marron, Coffee Bender and No Crust

19. Firestone, Sweetwater 420 and Stone Pale Ale

20. Maine Beer MO

21. Three Floyds Zombie Dust

22. El Toro, Camerons Cream Ale and Old Atyle(pabst)

23. Jack's Abbey Leisure Time Lager, Ballast Point Fathom IPL and Mama's Little Yella Pils

24. Abita Amber

25. Baba Black Lager

26. Samuel Adams Black Lager

27. Guiness Black Lager

28. Litovel Schwarzbier Premium Dark

29. Three Philosophers

30. Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock

31. Scaldia

Winter Stout Roasted Roots

 

Not only are you going to become enamored with the flavor of potato and cauliflower together in an awesome recipe, but one bite of carrots and parsnips roasted in stout will keep you wanting more. My favorite vegetable dish of all time, and I am sure you will love it as well. If stout isn't your thing, look at the chart to determine what beer best piques your interest.

1 pound each parsnips or rutabagas
1 pound turnip
1 cup cream stout *
1 teaspoon crushed, dried thyme leaves
8 cups vegetable broth or water
2 pounds potatoes
3 cups cauliflower florets, uncooked
6 ounces(about 2 cups)baby carrots
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
Salt and black pepper to taste
Nonstick cooking spray

Peel and cube potatoes, place in a medium saucepan along with cauliflower florets. Cover with broth and cook, on medium, until potatoes are soft, about 15 minutes. Drain well and mash with butter, salt and pepper: set aside.
Meanwhile, peel parsnip and turnip, placing in another saucepan with carrots and remainder of broth, adding water if needed to cover. Boil over medium-high heat until fork tender, about 15 minutes. Drain well and transfer to a large bowl. Toss vegetables with beer, thyme and salt and black pepper.
Preheat oven to 375-degrees F. Spray a 2-3 quart casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray. Line the bottom and sides with mashed potato mixture. Add cooked turnip mixture in the center and bake 35-45 minutes, or until the top is starting to brown. Remove from oven to serve immediately.

NOTE: This recipe is great done a day ahead of time as well. Simply line the casserole dish with potatoes, cover and keep in refrigerator. Keep remainder of cooked vegetables with beer and seasonings in the bowl and cover to refrigerate. When ready to roast, toss the turnip mixture well and "dump" into the center of the potato mixture. Add an additional 15 minutes to the cooking time.

* Or substitute 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup apple juice, 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, whisked well.