Did Alma Ward exist? This is the question I have been asking myself for about a week. Now that I’ve asked the question, let me fill you in on the details. Until recently, I believed Alma Ward to be my paternal 2nd great aunt, and the sister of my 2nd…
Newspapers are a wonderful source of information when it comes to genealogy research. Not only for historical facts, but more importantly to provide context into the personal lives, feelings, and sometimes political opinions of our ancestors. I recently found a letter written by my great uncle, Robert J. Brock to…
Background In My last blog post, Charles at Large: The Search for Charles Hawley, I wrote about my great granduncle Charles Hawley and his disappearing act in the summer of 1910. As I have written about before, I have been doing significant research into Hawley DNA connections. This research has led to…
Everyone has an ancestor who presents a challenge, a mystery waiting to be solved. One such ancestor for me is Charles Hawley, my great granduncle. In the summer of 1910, Charles seemed to drop off the face of the planet. Today, I am going to share his story in…
Orlie Charles McKenzie – WW1 Military Photo Friday, April 7th, 2017, was the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into World War 1. This got me to thinking about my great grandfather Orlie Charles McKenzie, who served in the 330th Field Artillery, Battery C, which was a part of the 85th…
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I wanted to share the ancestor’s behind my Irish DNA. Based on my Ancestry.com DNA results, I am 31%, Irish and Scottish. To honor my Irish ancestors, let’s start with a traditional Irish blessing May the road rise to meet you. May the wind…
Continuing with the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks challenge, I am going to share what I know about my paternal 2nd great grandmother Lucinda Jones. Lucinda has always been a little bit of a mystery to me. How I’m Related Lucinda Jones – My 2nd Great Grandmother Ernest Nile Burt – My…
Anna Ethel Watchorn Lately, I have to admit that I have been having a hard time finding free time to blog about my genealogy research. A friend and fellow researcher suggested, in our Facebook group, that we try the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. I’m going to take her…
I like to think that most of my blog posts are well researched, thought out and reviewed several times before I share them. I pride myself in not just sharing the story, but the facts. However, this one is a little different. Tonight I received a reminder of the real…
If you have been following my blog posts, you know that I have been searching for the parents of my 2nd great grandfather William Hawley. There have been ups and downs in the search. You can read more about my journey in the following blog posts; Re-thinking Research: The Parents…
I was raised in Alpena, a small town located on Lake Huron in northern Michigan. One of the early newspapers in Alpena was the Alpena Argus . Throughout my research, I have come across several newspaper articles referencing “houses of ill fame”. This peaked my interest. I could never imagine…
The blog posts I write typically relate to my ancestors or collateral lines. However, after years of research, I couldn’t help but come across some amazing, funny, tantalizing, sad and sometimes tragic stories about others. A lot of these stories come from newspapers and books about county history. I once…
I mentioned in my last post Finding the Parents of William Hawley… One Step Closer…, that I found my 2nd great grandfather William Hawley in the 1850 census. William was 14 years old and living in the household of John W. Lockwood in Urbana, Steuben County, New York. As you can imagine, I…
In a previous post called, Re-thinking Research: The Parents of William Hawley, I made the claim that William C. Hawley and Mary Oakley were not the parents of my 2nd great grandfather William Hawley. I used several methods to help back up this claim including a timeline comparison of the…
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King’s Men; Patriots called them “persons inimical to the liberties of America.” They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution. – …
