Where I am from, everyone knows everyone else. I am pretty sure in my mother’s home county everyone is all related in some way, unless you are a foreigner (i.e. not born there). As you can imagine trees merge, intermingle, and sometime collide right into each other. This leads to people you never even thought [...]
A frequent question my friends ask is, “When do you sleep?” Usually I smile, laugh, make a quirky-yet-flippant comment back about sleep being for the dead, and I go on with whatever project I was doing at that moment. Yes, my name is Shannon, and I have a project problem. It all starts simply enough. [...]
Over the past several weeks, I have discovered the joys of reading old letters. These letters have been sent to me by my mother-in-law, her cousin, ones I found in a trunk, and several that I copied from the National Archives while I was looking at pension records. It amazes me how much you can [...]
I have been absolutely amazed by the people of this community. Cousins, yes very distant but relatives just the same, seem to be coming out of the woodwork to introduce themselves to me, share information, and collaborate together on family lines. I never in my wildest dreams expected this. When I first started researching my [...]
After I discovered why my husband’s second-great-grandfather changed his name, his incredible story poured off the pages of his pension record. Harry Coad (aka Henry Thompson) led a full and interesting life prior to, during, and after the Civil War. Reading his pension file drove home the knowledge that these files can truly contain a [...]
Have you checked out the 1940 US census yet? Waiting for the rush to subside, or the index to be completed? I thought I would do that too…then I found out Indiana was up and available on Ancestry.com by 1 p.m., day one. This news made me rush to my computer and start looking. Luckily [...]
I spoke briefly, in a previous post, about the mystery my husband’s family has carried around for nearly one hundred years. Who was Harry G. Coad? From the first time I heard the story it intrigued me, and of course as soon as I began researching our family histories, I just had to find out [...]
You know that I hail from Indiana by now, which means I signed up for the Indiana Genealogy Crash Course webinar as soon as I saw the announcement from Family Tree University. My boys even cooperated by going to bed 15 minutes early that night so I could get my paper and pens ready, sit [...]
I squealed in the research room of the National Archives. Yes, squealed. Stood up, bounced on my toes, waved my hands, and went, “Eeepppp!” Nobody turned around, stared, or said a thing to me. I guess this must be a regular occurrence. Before I get to the reason I yelped, I should let you know [...]
Most Americans have at least some immigrants in their family tree. They took ships, trains, airplanes, and even walked into this country. That is, unless you are from my family, where I would swear they sprung fully formed in place like Athena from Zeus’s head. Tracking down those pesky immigrant ancestors has given me headaches, [...]
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