Week 1: In the beginning…
How did I catch the genealogy bug? Family trees are funny things; my mom always tells me not to shake the tree, you never know what nuts are going to fall out! My first Ancestry login was 3/1/2002, although I probably used a few free trials prior to a paid membership.
I’ve always been a keeper of pictures and other memorabilia. When my great-grandmother passed, Granny Green as she was known, she left a cedar chest full of pictures and a roll-top desk full of papers. For years the pics sat in boxes in Mom and Dad’s basement. I picked through the ones I knew and kept them, but it left an impression on me. Other than Granny, no one really kept the photos, so I did, and that is when it probably started.
As I said earlier, family trees are funny things, family stories get told, some true, some embellished. Figuring out the tree has been a puzzle for me, finding people, finding births, deaths, marriages and Ancestry, finding photos challenges me and I learn about my family.
The home person in my Ancestry tree is my paternal grandfather, my dad’s dad. He passed away when my dad was 16, and I didn’t know a lot about him. I know a lot now; it connects me to the past. When I showed my dad all the information I had found, he brought out photos I had never seen and told me stories I had never heard. It connected us in new ways.
My genealogy research has taken me to Italy, where my husband’s family is from; Norway, where his stepmother was born; Prussia, Germany, and Poland, where my family is from; church records; pictures of small villages… so much to learn!
Week 2: Favorite Picture
Week 2's prompt is "favorite picture." As a scrapbooker, I love photos! Asking me to pick my favorite picture is like asking me to pick my favorite dish! It's impossible! I have collected a lot of photos of my family from various sources. I have my photos filed by family member, and I have uploaded a lot of them to Shutterfly. At some point, I will scan and upload all of them digitally, just in case. There are some cool websites for colorizing and repairing photos.
I've picked two of my favorite photos. The first photo I chose is of my maternal grandfather. There is a story behind this photo which makes me love it even more! My grandfather was a TV repairman, and he installed a TV into a car! He subsequently received a letter from the FCC telling him he could not do that. I wonder what he would have thought if he saw cars today with DVD players, phones, and everything else! The photo was shared with my brother by a cousin, but it was badly damaged. I sent the photo off to one of the photo repair places, and they did an amazing job!
My second photo is of my paternal great-grandmother and grandmother. My grandmother is on the left and great-grandmother on the right. Why do I love this photo? It truly represents a different time, from the water pump to the garden in the background to the clothes they are wearing. I don't have many photos of my great-grandmother, just this one and a wedding photo, and I didn't know her, but I think this one really captures her and her smile.
Week 3: Nickname
My family heritage is partially Polish, specifically from the former area of Prussia. There are four women in my family tree with the name "Pelagia." My paternal great-grandmother was named Pelagia, and she had two nicknames, "Paulina" and "Polly." I suspect Paulina was the anglicized version of Pelagia. There was another Pelagia with the nickname Polly, and two other Pelagias had the nickname "Pearl." According to mynamestats.com, Pelagia is ranked as 13,877 in popularity in the US, and there are currently 497 Pelagias in the US.
Pelagia is of Greek origin and means "of the sea" or "maritime." There were two Sts. Pelagia of Antioch. The first is a virgin martyr, and the second is a repentant harlot, sometimes referred to as St. Pelagia, the former courtesan of Antioch.
Week 4: Overlooked
My family tree currently has 1,535 people, and I can go back 6 generations in most cases on my paternal side and 9 generations on my maternal side. I try very hard not to "overlook" anything on direct ancestors; however, on siblings and multiple spouses, not so much. I envy the genealogists who research every single ancestor; their patience is remarkable. I will trace siblings to try and find out more information about ancestors I know little about. More than a cousin removed once, and I am pretty much lost.
The other items I tend to overlook are records from outside the US. Hubby and I spent some time at the LDS Genealogy Center in Salt Lake City and found some of his ancestors back to the 1600s. We used a docent who spoke Italian to help us. My family is mostly German and Polish, and while I've used the Poznan Project website and found information, I don't speak Polish.
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