Living in the Past: A Family History

Jumping back into genealogy, I feel a little stuck and am not sure where to pick up the threads again.  Well, I guess that if you're stuck, a good way to get unstuck is to take stock of where you are and make a list of things to do. Andreas Berneburg birth 1.  I've sent an email to people interested in the Mehrtens surname, which in my family goes back to the 1600-1700s.  One has accepted an invitation to my family tree on Ancestry, but I haven't heard back from him yet. 2.  I posted about the possible DNA cousin and her brick wall in the Niedersachsen facebook group -- now I need to contact a person who was recommended to me. 3.  I should do a careful comparison of the MH family tree that has the Schwieterings in it.  A quick glance suggests that some of the information came from my tree, but I'm pretty sure she has addtional information.  4.  I should go over all the hints that have been accumulating on Ancestry and see if there's anything inter...

Well, friends, remember me?  It's been a while.  Remember when I was in Italy and trying to blog while I was there?  Ha! It worked for a couple of posts, but we were just too busy for me to keep it up.  So I've been home now for about six weeks and have yet to post -- what's up with that?!  Various life and health things have intervened.  But genealogy is now calling me back, so I have to answer the call.  I can't stay away for long. The house I stayed in at the painting workshop in Tuscany Italy drew me away, but now things are drawing me back: I've heard from someone from the German Genealogy Group who shares some surnames with me I'm in contact with someone who Ancestry says has a high probability of being a DNA-related cousin MyHeritage, which I rarely visit any more, sent a notice that they had connections for me, and boy, did they --  I'm very excited about the MyHeritage connection -- it's to a woman whose mother was a first cousin of my gr...