If you’ve visited my blog in the past, you already know my favorite find. It was a receipt for the purchase of a burial site, and it broke my 26-year brick wall wide open! Ever since I was 18, I’d been trying to find the place and date of birth of my great-great grandmother, Emma Anna Murphy, wife of Erastus… Read More
This month’s theme for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is “Foundations” and so is this week’s prompt. I’d like to talk about shaken foundations, when you find out the answer to a question isn’t at all what you expected. Thanks to the wonders of DNA and genetic genealogy, my sense of self – of what I thought I knew about… Read More
In confirming my great-great grandmother’s paternity, I found myself digging deeper into her father’s family. It’s time to meet the Wallace family of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Emma’s father was Francis Wallace. It seems more and more likely that he didn’t marry Emma’s mother, Eliza (Elizabeth) Murphy. Francis was the son of James Wallace and Rebecca Elizabeth Smith. He is found… Read More
Some of my ancestors fall under the definition of enslavers. Not all of them and not only the southern ones, either. Many people think slavery was endemic only to the southern United States, as far as U.S. history, but that’s not correct. There were enslaved people in the northern states, and I found at least one in my family in… Read More
I generally prefer structure, and set goals and expectations. Of course, last year messed that up for many of us, so it feels good to return to structure. The 3 adults in our household are fully vaccinated, as are the majority of our friends. For us, there was never any question about our willingness to get the Covid vaccines. Now,… Read More
Once upon a time, my father joked, “Why do you talk with your hands so much? What are you – Italian?” Being about 16 and not know any better, I shot back, “Maybe I am!” Two years later, when I delved into genealogy in earnest, I learned the truth. Or half of it. My mother’s mother’s family is Italian, from… Read More