#52Ancestors2019

I’m so thankful that my mother’s ancestors settled in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The ease of access to Pennsylvania Death Certificates is mind-blowing! I’ve learned so much about my family through this access.

A previously published book about your ancestors is a double-edged sword. I’m blessed with three such books: the descendants of a 10th great-grandfather, the descendants of a 3rd great-grandfather, and the descendants of my husband’s 4th great-grandfather.

In thinking about this week’s topic, Reunion, I was reminded of two family reunions: one formal, the other informal.

I love this photo of my grandfather’s family. He’s the one on the far right in the back row.

In May 1909, 21 year old John and 18 year old Laura were wed. For 38 years they lived, laughed, and loved.

Have you ever run across a hint from an online database and immediately discounted it? “My ancestor was never THERE!” you cry. And then you realize that all the names — unusual names even — match. You look at the record, and see that names, dates, places, all match. Huh??

I do remember “life before Ancestry”. When RootsWeb was the latest and greatest and bulletin boards were hopping with obituary lookup requests.

I have a lot of interesting ancestors. Not famous ones, but some of the stories I’ve discovered make me wish I could go back in time and have a heart-to-heart conversation with them

But I think the most unusual name in my tree is actually my great-aunt. Especially since I’ve never figured out where the name came from.

For this entry, I want to share about a challenge I’m experiencing in my research and what steps I can take to resolve it.