Family Tree Firsts is a genealogy blog following the adventures of Brian Parotto of Hampshire, Ill., a budding genealogist, as he works his way through the Family Tree University curriculum and reports on his family history research.
He took out about a third of a page in the directory, and on the add there’s a drawing of a horse-drawn hearse, Patrick’s name at the top, the address 25 & 27 Lafayette Avenue, and a description of how they keep “constantly on hand a full line of Caskets, Coffins, and Shrouds, from the richest to the cheapest”, and much more.
This week I put my German search to the side and was focused on trying to prepare for my upcoming Detroit trip with my mother and aunt to research my Blake family. It’s going to be a one-day event packed full of research.
As mentioned last week, I spoke with a living relative on my Blake side. I sent him a history of the Blake’s. Similar to my grandfather, he hadn’t known anything of my Great-great-grandfather Nelson’s parents or siblings either. He was very interested to hear of my findings. He’s going to dig out his old records and share what he has. He mentioned that he may have a copy of Nelson’s death certificate, so I’m anxiously awaiting that! He had spent a lot of time researching the family, but put it on hold years ago when it began to get tough to find time to do research. Boy, can I relate.
Apparently brick walls are not only reserved for genealogy research. My marathon training has hit a brick wall of its own in the form of one minor leg injury after another. First it’s my knee, then when that heals it’s my hamstring. Maybe some of the brick wall tips I’ve learned will apply to running too? Or maybe I just need to take some time off. This week I continued my German genealogy hunt. I learned some tips on how to link German names from …
Hallo an alle! According to my trusty translation app, that means “Hello everyone” in German. If not, it may be time to invest money in an app instead of going with the free ones every time. This week began my Court Records class and German class. One of the first things I learned is that I really need to make it to Munich for Oktoberfest! And who knew that The Cat in the Hat has German roots? Previously, while discussing my findings for the Blake …
Ah the wonderful experience of teething—nothing helps new parents to catch up on sleep than when their child has their first tooth come in! Our poor little guy had his come in this week, so he’s been in a bit of pain, but he’s handling it like a trooper. Also, my wife and I went to pick up new running shoes, so let the marathon training begin! I’m happy to say that this past week I finally made contact with living relatives! I traded a …
Fun Easter with family? Check. Stomach full to capacity with ham, turkey and desserts? Check. Continued difficulty finding living relatives? Check.
This week I was frustrated by more brick walls on my Blake and Lindsay sides. I’ve taken a break from searching as far back in time as I can, and instead am searching for living relatives to build my tree to the present. This is proving to be harder than I thought without trusty census records to rely upon. I’m thinking that death indexes and obituaries may be my best bet since they will often list the next of kin. I’m also trying general searches on various internet sources because I figure nowadays it’s not too hard to find someone online. Any Blake’s or Lindsay’s on Facebook? I’ve found several leads, but it’s tough to determine for sure if it’s someone I’m related to.
Happy post-St Patrick’s Day! In between the parades and celebrations, I hoped to have some luck of the Irish rub off on my in my research. Some of it might have, because I found my Third-great-grandfather George Lindsay’s marriage record to Alice Jackson on RootsIreland.ie. It confirmed the marriage date that I had gotten from Ancestry.com, but it also listed their fathers. George’s father was named Thomas Lindsay, and Alice’s father was named William Jackson. I now have Fourth-great-grandfathers to add to my tree!
After browsing through a few potential leads, I checked an Irish Wills database for my Third-great-grandfather George Lindsay. I knew from other records that George passed in 1887, just before his wife and several of his children left for America. To my surprise, a record showed up. I checked the abstract and it listed Alice, his wife, as the executor, a death date of March 3, 1887, and that he lived as a farmer in Ballymacashin, County Down. All of these matched what I knew, so I found his will! I opened the record and saw his actual will, as it was written.