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Photo by: Marchnwe
I have neglected my posting responsibilities.
My family research has come to a screeching halt.
School is taking over my life!
And I started a new job.
I may even be starting a second one soon.
I didn’t mean to be away so long.
Can you ever forgive me?
It’s working — but not as I would like. I am altering, a bit, my posting schedule. Instead of posting every Tuesday and Friday, I plan to now simply post at least twice a week and participate in Wordless Wednesday. Every Tuedsay and Friday I do not always have anything worth posting, as I am using those days to conduct research in the first place — or to catch up on school work. Also, I find it exciting to post when I have, what I think are, really good ideas, and when it’s not on a set time every week — you know, have that element of surprise!
I really believed I could just show up and be led to his resting place. I had been given his full name and approximate date of death. Unfortunately however, I had no idea where his grave was located, and neither did his loved one — living in no way near the city — in search of a photo of his tombstone.
I knew it was bound to happen one day. Alll of my many hours in deep contemplation, my searching, my questioning, my meditating, my praying. It was only a matter a time before they’d show in my dreams.
It was so clear. There they were, in black and white, and some in sepia tone, the ancestors I have been looking for — photos, nicely preserved and handed over to me.
Could this be a peek into what’s to come or just a carry over of my wishful thinking?
As mentioned previously, I am working to find more information on the children of Haudy/Handy and Emma (Brewington) Green/Greene. My work, thus far, hasn’t garnered much result. However, I have found a few tidbits along the way, and have gained more insight regarding where I should look next.
In an effort to move past a particular block I have encountered in conducting my genealogical research, I have decided to focus my attention on a different branch of my family tree, prompted in part by the suggestions of some fellow genea-bloggers.
Thanks to the help of many — family, friends, strangers — and to the wonders of digital archiving, I have been able to go back a ways in my family tree, on several branches. I am very thrilled to have the names, the dates, the stories of those loved ones, many who I never knew. But with each bit of progress also comes brick walls, and with that, in addition to the excitement, joy and pride, I often find myself feeling quite discouraged throughout this mission. With each miss it becomes more and more apparent to me that some of those ancestors, I may not find — their names, their milestone dates, their stories, I’ll never know in this lifetime.
My first-ever Wordless Wednesday post displays a photo of Philadelphia City Hall. It was one of the first landmarks a good friend of mine and undergraduate schoolmate, also pursuing a graduate degree in the city (and at the same university), took me to after arriving in the area. Yes, the building is cut off a bit at the top, and it is much grander than what the photo shows. Nevertheless, I wanted to post the picture anyway to reveal where I am now located, and, as an opener to announce, that I have joined Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK), Philly edition.
Right now I am committing my minimum one day a month to taking photos of gravestones and conducting library searches. It seems it will take a few days for my information to post on the RAOGK site. When it becomes available, I will provide a link to it here on RootsReading.
While on the topic of genealogical kindness…
A past query on AfriGeneas yielded results – quickly too. Although I’ve thanked her already, personally (well through the message boards), I would like to give a quick shout out to Regina for locating death records of two ancestors, which has been beneficial in piecing together my family tree.
I have finally settled into my new apartment (settled, meaning “have Internet”) and can begin, again, my research, and public chronicling, into my family’s past!
I thank those of you who sent well-wishes my way and those who are returning to RootsReading to read my journey. I have decided to initiate a posting schedule to keep me on task. And as promised — here it is:
Since I’m embarking on an additional journey called grad school, I think I should start out posting new entries just twice a week, Tuesday and Friday, and should finally become a Wordless Wednesday (WW) participant. What’s been the hestitation with W W? I have just not come across many photos in my research and have trouble coming up with something (photos) WW-specific to the blog. Any suggestions?
It’s been some time since my last post. I’m not avoiding you guys, there has just been a lot of life events taking place over here within my little piece of the universe.
In addition to preparing a move to the opposite side of the eastern United States for grad school, my honey of two years and some change has proposed — and I said yes! So, I’ve been spending most of my time attempting to secure additional funds for my advanced degree studies, packing, packing and packing; conducting all that other stuff that you conduct when have to move, oh, and reading wedding books in between (I’ve read four so far).
With all that going on I will admit it: my genealogy research over the past week or so has been a little slack. After my move though, I’ll get back to it and update you on my progress. I’ll even bring with me a posting schedule to keep myself on track and to give you notice as to when to expect new content!
When I was a young girl, I often fantasized having a name like “Pearl” or “Zoe,” often feeling my own wasn’t “cool” enough. That was until I learned I was named after a wonderful woman, my maternal grandmother, Ella Jean.
Read the rest of this entry »
Author’s note: Edited after original posting, for clarity.
I wrote one draft. Deleted it. I wrote another. Deleted it. Another one. Deleted it. Another one…
You get it.
This was a difficult post to compose, the previous post, anyway. I wrote it, I believe, very well. But the content — although it may have been tasteful, and identities were left unnamed — was of a sensitive nature for a relative I hold dear. Nothing that I put down could erase that fact. And so, after speaking with this loved one and desiring to abide by their wishes, I decided not to publish my experience receiving my first batch of vital records last week (Wednesday); an experience that I had found to be bittersweet.
As a genealogy blogger, how do you balance both chronicling your family history research while still protecting the privacy of your loved ones, for the living and deceased?
I typed his name into the search engine several times before, along with the name of his wife and the county where, I had strong reason to believe, he was born.
Nothing.
I added an estimated date of birth.
Nothing.
Death.
Nothing.
I eventually moved on and sought information pertaining to other members of my tree. Earlier this week, however, I typed his name — Jethro WARREN — into the engine again and instead of including the name of his wife and the county in which I had strong reason to believe he was born (Harnett) — I simply selected “North Carolina.” Imagine my surprise to see the yielded result.
I spent family day (Fourth of July) with my mother, father, brother, boyfriend and two dogs (well one is my dog; the other, my mom’s). We had a great time. Dad used the grill we got him for father’s day last month to grill the best salmon ever, we watched the shortest fireworks show ever, we spent the longest time trying to get out of a parking lot ever, and mom and I went shopping and found the cutest shoes ever! I also took the time to conduct some scouring around the house for any clues to our family history-the best scouring I’ve ever performed!
I have created a number of to-do lists in my day. I always have so much on my mind, I’m very forgetful, and so writing down my thoughts as they come helps me out quite a bit. Yesterday I found a list that I made last Sunday. It was written to ensure my one day off from work wasn’t totally wasted. Reading over the note, I got to thinking: I wonder how much information someone can discern about me by reading what I wrote down. That thought led me to this one: I bet I can figure out a lot about a person by reading a note they may have left behind from long ago.
Finding a few documents, asking one question, and I’ve already, in my search, clarified some things for members of my family: The lady who my mother and her siblings grew up to know as “grandma” was actually “great-grandma.”
I knew Grandma would know.
In a previous post I wrote that my longest conversation ever with my paternal grandfather consisted of talks concerning his experience living through the Great Depression. After finding a listing of his death certificate, however, I learned that he was not born until 1942. The Great Depression supposedly ended a few years prior. For some reason my memory was very clearly locked on the Great Depression as our topic of discussion, but obviously, since he wasn’t even alive during the time, that was not possible.
There are so many holes in my ancestral puzzle. Instead of searching for the rightful place of each respective piece one at a time, however, I have, gathered in my hand, three from the corner, two edges, several from the middle — and I’m eager to lay them all down, now.
Although my interest in genealogy was sparked more than ten years ago as a youngster, my research, I must admit, is still in the beginning stages. Off and on I have gathered a few stories and photographs from elders, and collected surnames, but the real tough stuff, like seaching through standard genealogical records, or identifying a slave master – haven’t really gotten to that yet.
I believe I have enough names to really start to dig in – I can at least go back as far as my paternal grandmother’s grandparents — but there are several concerns keeping me from moving forward:
My interest in family tree research began in 1996 as a sixth grade student in St. Louis, Missouri. As part of a history class assignment, I telephoned my paternal grandfather, then residing in Pennsylvania, to gauge his experience living through the Great Depression 1973 oil crisis.
We seemingly talked forever. It was the most extensive conversation I ever held with Grandpa Jodey, and notably the best. Unfortunately however, as an eleven-year old, I didn’t, at the time, understand the importance of not only recording but also storing in a safe place that exchange. I wish I had.
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