I was on the road last night, so am doing Randy’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun this morning. This week’s challenge is to share your best find of 2014 and a research challenge of 2015. I already did a “top 10 finds of 2014” post, but this time I will share the one that wasn’t so much a story as a breaking of a brick wall. Here are the guidelines: 1) What was your best research achievement in 2014? Tell us – show us a document, or tell us a story, or display a photograph. Brag a bit! You’ve earned it!...
In my research, I’ve found three situations when a surname is used as a middle name. 1. HONORING A FAMOUS PERSON (usually political) Examples from my tree: George Washington Young, Thomas Jefferson Decker, Ulysess Grant Burton & James Madison Randolph 2. HONORING SURNAMES OF THE PAST Examples from my tree: My father’s middle name is his great, great grandmother’s last name. My brother was given the same middle name. My sister-in-law gave her son our beloved grandparent’s last name (though in this instance it’s his first, not middle, name) 3. HONORING THE MOTHER OR A GRANDPARENT Examples of mothers’ surnames...
2014 has been an amazing year for me and my genealogy research. With increased knowledge, time, and resources available, I’ve uncovered some amazing discoveries! I had thought about making a “top 10” booklet for my family as Christmas gifts, but didn’t get around to it. Maybe I will still do that but give it to them for Valentine’s Day. But, for now, I thought I’d highlight my top 10 finds of the year. 1839 Marriage Record – Parish of Prestwich, Lancaster County, England (image from Ancestry.com) #10 – I didn’t start blogging until March of this year, so my first...
I had read multiple times that my 8th great grandfather, Cornelis Cornelisse Doremus, was born in the Netherlands. His family were supposedly French Huguenots who escaped religious persecution of protestants in France by moving to Holland in the mid 1600s. His father, Cornelis, brought his young family to New Amsterdam in the New World in about 1685 or 1686. Cornelis Doremus, my 9th great grandfather, is listed on the National Huguenot Society’s list of qualified Huguenot ancestors. But, I’d never seen any proof that Cornelis Cornelisse Doremus was born in the Netherlands. Until this week. In January of this year,...
I have tried to identify the father of Andrew McClintock (1804-abt 1864 in PA) for several years. The key to busting this brick wall was in the newly released Pennsylvania certificates of death. Andrew and his wife, Mary Jane, had eight children that I know of. Three of those children died between 1906 and 1922, the years for which these death records have been released and are available at ancestry.com. Image taken from Ancestry.com. Two of these records, those for Samuel & Adam, list the maiden name of their mother as “unknown.” But the third child, their daughter Sarah Elizabeth...
This is the oldest genealogical record I’ve found for my family, and I just found it earlier this week! In the past few weeks, I’ve tracked down the actual village my mother’s German (Kaechle) ancestors came from. It’s called Grissheim and it’s located in Baden-Wurttemberg, though it was just “Baden” when they lived there. I ordered four microfilms from FHL and was able to spend some time looking at them earlier this week. These church records were amazing! The record above is my ancestor’s baptism record from 1616!!! That’s incredible! Here’s a close up showing my direct ancestor’s record. It...
