Ah, the joy of brick walls! Of course, the fun part is smashing them down. Here is one that has plagued me for a long time now: Esther was the wife of Edward Curtis. She was born about 1748. She married Edward about 1780. Edward was born 4 May 1736 in Dudley, Worcester County, Massachusetts to Francis Curtis and Bethia Robinson…. Read More
If you’ve read through Part 1 and Part 2, I’m sure you’re wondering what happened next. At least, I hope you are… When I saw the burial record for Margaret Murphy with Emma A. Shaw as the person who’d purchased the plot, I couldn’t contain my excitement. But I would have to over the next 5 days, as we traveled… Read More
If you started at Part 1, the story continues here! After being told by one genealogical research company that the prognosis for finding my great-great-grandmother, Emma Anna (Murphy) (Reagan) Shaw, was “poor,” I thought maybe they were right. However, I had Research Consultation time I had banked with the New England Historic Genealogical Society (American Ancestors), because for the past… Read More
After 26 years of wondering and guessing, digging and hypothesizing, flailing and sometimes giving up, it happened. When I originally posted “2019: The Year I Find Emma” on January 4, 2019, my entire focus was on DNA. Would you believe that, after all these years, DNA was not what led me to answers? Instead, it was 3 of our most-often… Read More
I am confident that 2019 will be my year – the year I find the origin of my great-great grandmother, Emma Anna Murphy. Emma, who married first a Mr. Reagan and then my great-great grandfather, Erastus Bartlett Shaw of Middleborough, Massachusetts in 1888. The first time I tested my DNA was in 2006, before FTDNA offered Family Finder or Ancestry… Read More