Month: January 2019

52 Ancestors – Week 5

Leave a Comment / January 31, 2019

At the Library For me researching in a state archive or library was one of the most rewarding endeavors I have pursued as a genealogist, second only to actually walking on the land an ancestor once owned. Why you might ask, it is just a library! A state archive is so much more than just a library. An archive houses many of the original documents that are often available on microfilm or in digitized form. Again you might ask “so what? It is much easier to view these from the comfort of our home via our computer.” The Joy of …

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52 Ancestors 52 Weeks – Week 4

4 Comments / January 22, 2019

Who Would I Like to Meet In truth I would like to meet ALL of those hundreds of ancestors. I would love to hear each of their stories so this is a difficult choice; do I choose my second great grandfather, a Confederate veteran and Baptist minister or my husband’s fourth great grandfather, a veteran of the Revolutionary War from the Pennsylvania militia and early pioneer into Kentucky. I have chosen the later, Paul Arnspiger. The beautiful panoramic photo above is the land Paul owned in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. The photo was taken in 2005 on our first trip to …

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Cookerie From Days Past – Fun to Include in Your Stories

1 Comment / February 22, 2019

Do you ever think about what your female ancestor who maybe lived in Massachusetts or North Carolina or New York during the 18th, 19th or 20th century cooked for her family? Do you wonder if she had her own recipes, which was often the case, or if she had access to the two or three published cookbooks? Maybe you even have some of those old recipes. You might wonder what the cookbooks looked like from that time period. Well in 1615 in England Gervase Markham was the author of a publication entitled the English Huswive which included instruction in “Phisicke, …

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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – week 3

1 Comment / January 15, 2019

Unusual Name – that is the meme for Amy Johnson Crow’s  52 week writing challenge. When I first saw this back in the beginning of January I immediately knew who I should write about. There really was no question and then I began to think about what is in a name really which then prompted me to do a bit of research into the  meaning of unusual names. My ancestor and 6th great grandfather the subject of this post, is Bezaleel Flagg born 23 Mar 1710 in Waltham, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Bezaleel? Seriously what kind of moniker is that …

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USING WOMEN’S DIARIES FOR HISTORICAL CONTENT

3 Comments / January 14, 2019

WOMEN’S DIARIES FROM THE 17th,  18th and 19th CENTURIES Have you ever read the diaries of colonial or pioneer women? If you haven’t do you know where to access them? There are numerous online resources that allow us as researchers a glimpse into the lives of our female ancestor’s peers. Granted the diaries are not our ancestors usually but still our female ancestors lives were likely similar to those in some of the diaries we are going to explore. DIARY OF MARTHA MOORE BALLARD This diary is a compelling and detailed diary begun on January 1, 1785 by Martha Ballard, a …

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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – week 2 – Challenge

2 Comments / January 13, 2019

This is my second post for Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge.  As genealogists we face so many challenges in our pursuit of family history. One of which is the challenge of a common name. How can we be sure we have the right individual? Even 250 years ago there were individuals of the same name in the same location.  My 5th great grandfather was John Smith; yes likely the most common of common names. What I have written here is the little I have been able to learn about him and support with documentary evidence. WHAT HAS …

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It’s All About the Story

Leave a Comment / January 10, 2019

Hello. I am Jo and I am a genealogist. I am other things as well; a wife, mother, grandmother, quilter but under it all I am a genealogist. I would like to share with you how I came to be a genealogist. WHAT MOTIVATED ME I have been fascinated and yes obsessed with genealogy since my first child was born. My family was a broken unit. There was no father in the picture and my mother took myself and my two older brothers, at a young age, across the country putting as much distance as possible between her and her …

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Writing Ancestor Stories Led to HathiTrust For Historical Context

Leave a Comment / January 12, 2019

Writing Ancestors Stories Led to HathiTrust for Historical Context Have you ever decided to write an ancestor’s story only to discover you don’t know enough about their historical time? Did you let that stop you? I remember when I was trying to write about my grandmother I found it challenging to “add meat to the bones” of her story. After a great deal of online research, I learned of some unique digitized publications which provided a window into the past; my grandmother’s present. In this post I will share some of those publications with you. HISTORICAL CONTEXT What is Historical …

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