29 years of Genealogy Research - Chapter One: in the Beginning

In 1989, a carload of young men went on a joy ride, and ran a red light. Our car was in their way, and the resulting crash caused permanent damage to our whole family. Like many things in my life that at first seemed hard, cruel and impossible to accept, my physical limitations after the crash resulted in joy I would not otherwise have experienced. I was laid off work, I couldn't drive. I needed a distraction from the pain. So I went looking for answers to a question I had asked when I was twelve years old: Who Were My Ancestors?

I had no clue that the ensuing process would bring me startling moments of joy, connect me with delightful cousins, release my tears for the tragedies in our family history.  Working on my family tree has taught me literally new ways to think about our history, about what is important, and even about what is a fact and how you prove it.

I began where we all must - my mother, my father, their parents; filling in facts, birth dates, marriage dates, death dates, and locations, adding brothers and sister, aunts and uncles, cousins - the beginning of my family tree. The first thing I learned was that a skeletal tree of only facts was not enough for me. I wanted more! Why did my grandmother and grandfather emigrate from Finland to America in 1912?  If he was Finnish, why was his passport in Cyrillic letters - the Russian language? If my father served in the Navy in WWII, what about the picture of him in an aviators jacket and scarf outside the Quonset hut? So many questions!

I was fortunate that I still had one living grandmother, one living aunt, and two living parents who could answer many of my questions. My mother was able to show me where my great-great grandfather was buried in a little country churchyard. She went the extra mile and drove us both to a class on beginning genealogy for eight weeks. We came away with an understanding of the basics of genealogy, and some good ideas, like to start a Research Log.

Coming Next - Chapter Two:  Speeding Along the Internet at 300 bauds per Minute

Elizabeth Tilley - Mayflower Passenger

Elizabeth Tilley, a Mayflower Passenger at age thirteen in 1620, is [not] Goldibear's 10xgreat-grandmother.

Click to see Mayflower Passenger Elizabeth Tilley.

UPDATE:
Always go to the primary records if you can. That is a good motto for genealogists, one that I didn't keep when designating Elizabeth Tilley Leo's Mayflower Ancestor. I used a book which referenced a marriage between Lucretia Kinney, daughter of Ezra and Sarah (Denison) Kinney and  Ira Lucas. There was indeed a marriage of Ezra and Sarah's daughter Lucretia Kinney, but it was to Noah Mason. That one error -- not checking the primary sources -- where I would have found the marriage to Noah Mason instead of Ira Lucas, cost me months of work, reams of paper, and I'm only glad I finally found it so I can correct it. Leo is not descended from the Tilley family or from John Howland.

THE GOOD NEWS:
Leo is still descended from a Mayflower passenger, William Brewster. This time I checked the records!

PLAYERS OR SPECTATORS?

Four of Goldibear's ancestors were on the Mayflower. They were not spectators during a great event in history.

We both have ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War of 1776, and others who fought in the Civil War. My grandfather fought in World War I and my father fought in World War II.

All were among the 'movers and shakers', none sat out the crisis as spectators. Even those who could not bear arms fought - my ancestor who was too old to join the 'Colonial Rebels' gave provisions to the army of 1776 - on credit. 

History is the sum of what our ancestors did - or did not - do.

Birthday of Copernicus

February 19, 1473 is the birthday of Nicholaus (Kopernik) Copernicus Jr., " a Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe". (Wikipedia)

See his profile at WikiTree.com

Happy Valentines Day

On Valentines Day, we often remember our first Valentine, first kiss, first love.

My first love, longest love and greatest love is earth. The blue sky, seen from my baby buggy, spring rain falling from a sunny Oregon sky, the ocean at Canon Beach, traveling through the Rocky Mountains - every new encounter with  my first love only made me love it more. Yes, even my first bee sting.

Remember when Monarch butterflies were an everyday sight?  When the Milky Way was a nightly event open to everyone? When bird calls were the first thing heard in the morning?

Nostalgia should belong to our favorite song, not to memories of earth, our only home.

Frederick Douglass - Great Orator

February is Black History month.  Discover the true black history of America by reading the biographies of former slaves. 

"Right is of no sex, Truth is of no color, God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren."

Find out at WikiTree how you are connected to Frederick Douglass.

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