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.
My Blake line emigrated from Ireland in the early 1830’s, so they left 5-10 years before the Potato Famine. My Lindsay line, however, didn’t emigrate until the late 1880’s, so they would have been impacted in some way. I also learned that there’s a chance my ancestors (and many other people) were actually Scots-Irish or English, because of invasions, foreign rule and other things.
After writing last week’s post, I was still very excited about my recent findings and wanted to continue searching for my next big breakthrough. Unfortunately, our schedule for the week was pretty full, so instead I focused what free time I had on finishing up my Irish Research and US Military classes, and also coming up with a plan of attack for something I have been putting off for way too long…organization!
Speaking of brick walls, I think one is slowly approaching in the distance for my Blake line. After a great few weeks of finds, the results are getting harder to come by. I was able to find a few small things, but nothing major. A reader commented on my blog from two weeks ago, and pointed out that Nelson named two of his children Harry and Nellie, potentially his parents’ names. We found it interesting that he wouldn’t have also named his children after his grandparents who raised him, Patrick and Eliza. And was Nelson named after his mother, Nellie?
This article summarizes Patrick’s life as an important figure in Detroit’s history, and lists his children. All are listed, as well as Nelson, although it goes to say that Nelson was actually born to Patrick’s oldest son Harry, but that Patrick adopted him. That means that Nelson’s “father” Patrick was actually his grandfather, and his “siblings” were actually his aunts and uncles. It would also move Harry into my direct line as my Third-great-grandfather, and Patrick would now be my Fourth-great-grandfather. Hopefully that makes sense—I know it sounds crazy!
I investigated Nelson’s father Patrick a bit more as well, and found old Detroit City Directories online. In 1852, he and his brother John were shoemakers. Patrick, who was 19 at the time, lived in a house on Miami Street/Ave, while his brother lived in a boarding home run by a Mrs. L. Robinson. In 1855, Patrick was still a shoemaker, but his brother John did not show up in the directory. Patrick’s US Civil War Draft Registration Record says that he was a furniture dealer in 1863, so it looks like he tried his hand at a few different jobs before settling on being an undertaker, which he did from 1870 until just before his death.
A few months back, I came across a website devoted to research of the surname Lindsay, entitled www.clanlindsay.com. I found a researcher on there who described family origins similar to mine, so I emailed him what I had found and we began corresponding. He was able to find records on another website that William had several other siblings, and that his father, George, died in 1887, just before William left for America with his mother and two of his siblings. We weren’t able to prove our families were related, but he suggested that I ask a male Lindsay relative if he would agree to a DNA test through a Lindsay initiative with Ancestry.com.
Over the last several weeks I made an effort to spend time with some older relatives to share what I’ve found and to document any stories or information they might have. Jackpot!! For the sake of brevity, I’ll stick to my paternal line…for now.
Hello Family Tree Magazine readers! My name is Brian Parotto, and I am very excited (and admittedly a bit nervous) to be the latest Family Tree Firsts blogger. I’m thirty years old, and live about 30 miles northwest of Chicago with my beautiful wife, Katie, and 4-month-old son, Garrett. I first became interested in genealogy after my grandfather passed away and my aunt showed us a family tree for his line, put together by a cousin. It showed my surname traced back four generations to Italy. I had to find out more—what were my ancestors like? Where were they from? What did they do for a living? What about my other lines?
This is my last post for Family Tree Firsts. After 12 months of blogging and research, I’m no longer a beginner-level genealogist, and next week a new novice will take over.
Hopefully I have made you try something new, laugh, think, and on occasion gave you a good cry. I certainly have done all of those things along the way. This time last year I knew so little about my and my husband’s family that I was thrilled by this opportunity. Every time I uncovered a new piece of information I couldn’t wait to share with all of you. Your comments encouraged me forward.
When I first discovered Find-a-Grave, I had grandiose ideas about being a contributor. I live in an ideal area for it. There are quite a few family cemeteries and out of the way churchyards that still need to be documented for the site. I could just imagine myself with my trusty camera, bug spray and a notebook, traipsing around documenting what I saw. Well, it hasn’t happened yet, but maybe now it will.