Living in the Past: A Family History

Julie Tarr of Julie's Genealogy and History Hub asked an interesting question today, one that sent me to my tree to start counting:   "What's Your Number?" -- as in, how many ancestors of each generation have you identified? So I did it.  A table is helpful to show me 1)  how much I've accomplished so far, and 2) how much farther I have to go in particular areas of my tree.  Here's what I came up with: Even though I obviously have a long way to go from the 4th generation on down, I'm delighted to see how far I've come in the years I've been practicing genealogy. The table also leads me to remember how frustrated I felt at some points, in going beyond one great-grandfather on my father's paternal side, one great-grandfather on my mother's paternal side, and in identifying the mother of my mother's great-grandmother on her mother's side.   When I think about the reasons for each brick wall, I find that in two cases, lack of a birthpl...

I'm back; I'm really back.  The last few months have been a whirlwind -- I've left California, moved to Minnesota, bought a house, gone through the chaos of moving in, shopped for everything imaginable (from curtains to furniture to light fixtures to toolkit and beyond), had bathrooms painted and flooring replaced with hardwood, found a doctor, dentist, vet, dog park, grocery store, take-out restaurant, on and on.  It's been a busy few months with very little time to think about genealogy. My new backyard, in winter and spring But now, I have some time to breathe and time to return to the process of unearthing my family history.  Having been away from it for way too long, I have many things to do to catch up!  Here's my list, as I think about it today: 1. Leaves and other hints:  So very many hints on Ancestry and My Heritage!  I've dipped a tiny toe into the pool and discovered that in my absence the sites have added much information in the way of records....