I received several photos of the Hawley family from my grandmother Edna Jean (Burt) McKenzie. The photo below is one of these photos. The only description I have is “Unknown Hawley Man by Cabin” Unknown Hawley Man by Cabin Unknown Hawley Man by Cabin – Close up There are a…
There is one cemetery that I have visited more times than I can count. The cemetery is the Briley Township Cemetery in the village of Briley in Atlanta, Montmorency, Michigan. Briley Township Cemetery I had visited this cemetery many times as a child, but once I really found my passion…
I always find it interesting to follow a single family through the census records. It is interesting to see what has changed? Did they move? have more kids? lose a child? Buy a home? Change professions? In this blog, we are going to follow the family of Edouard Royer, my 2nd…
In honor of siblings’ day being yesterday Friday, April 10, 2015, this blog celebrates two sisters Christina Ann Kay and her younger sister Mary Ann Kay who were married on the same day in Algoma, Ontario, Canada. Christina and Mary were born to parents Alexander Kay and Armina (Waybrant) Kay….
In the 1880 census, Mary “Ann” Hawley is list as the daughter of William Hawley, age 5, born approximately 1875. The family is living in Wilson, Alpena, Michigan. My assumption has always been that Mary Ann Hawley was the third child, second daughter, of William Hawley and Sarah Anne Healy….
Lillian Elnora Burt was born on November 23, 1911, in Comins, Oscoda, Michigan to Ernest Nile Burt and Lavina May (Hawley) Burt. Lillian was blessed by Elder E.D. Fultz on December 14, 1911, in Comins, Oscoda, Michigan. I believe that shortly after Lillian’s birth and blessing, Ernest, Lavina and their…
Sarah Anne (Healy) Hawley, my great-great-grandmother, remarried after her first husband William, my great-great-grandfather passed away in California in 1914. The man she married was Asahel Atherton. They got married on October 30, 1919, in Beaverton, Gladwin, Michigan at the L.D.S. Church. Their marriage was officiated by another member of…
I, like many genealogists, can find myself getting lost in my research. Spending many hours in a library, family history center or searching online. Something that I need to remind myself of is that genealogy research is about family! This means that is should not be solo research, or at…
My McKenzie family has experienced two significant losses over the past year and seven months. My paternal grandmother Edna Jean (Burt) McKenzie passed away on August 26, 2013, and my father Tom Orlando McKenzie passed away on November 6, 2014. Both my father and his mother were amazing people that…
Finding this 1930 census record makes me remember that even though a pedigree chart follows a specific line, sometimes those lines intersect in ways that aren’t obvious. I have looked at this census several times for two different families, one on each side of my family tree. Joseph Royer in household…
My grandpa Alex always joked about having an uncle that was also his grandfather… Before you stop reading and think that there is something a little strange happening in my DNA, let me fill in the details behind this story… My grandfather was Alexander Orlando McKenzie born in 1924 to Orlie C. McKenzie and Mae Arla…
I have always considered genealogy a journey, both a journey to the past to discover my ancestors and a journey of self-discovery. “Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future. We make discoveries about ourselves.” -Gail Lumet Buckley, writer…
