My Genealogy Research

I'm deep into genealogy...again...still...forever...

I love the research. It's like a huge puzzle with lots of little clues. If you're observant enough, the tiniest clue can lead to a record that tells you information you never knew. When you get enough all put together, you see this awesome picture of those who came before you and this adds a dimension to who you are that comes in no other way. To me, it feels as if I know ancestors I've never met and in some cases never even heard of until the puzzle piece is found.

Recently, I've found some sad death certificates. A two year old boy's cause of death was homicide by a drunken driver who didn't stop. A three year old boy died from a gunshot wound to the left chest from accident -- I suppose he was investigating his father's gun. A 14-year old died from appendicitis because back then medicine wasn't advanced enough to save him. Imagine Mom and Dad's heartbreak. Of course, causes of death in the direct line can give one a clue of what diseases could be in one's future.

The Census is always fun to look at. I've looked for one ancestor and found another either living next door or down the road. No wonder some of the kids married each other -- they grew up together. I love the 1900 Census because it gives so much information. You get all the birth months and birth years and the length of time husband and wife were married and how many children born are living. Sometimes you get the names of all the children or the ones still at home. Real luck has either the husband's or the wife's parents living with them.

Sometimes I look for a specific name. That works as long as the person transcribing the record could read the writing and spelled it the way it was rather than the way it looks on paper. My husband has a Sands grandfather; it is spelled all kinds of ways like Sahns -- well who would look for that? When I look at the original record, I can tell it says Sands -- because I know that's what it is? Then there was a David that was misread as Daniel.

Some of these come up with the name request. Others you have to search for the last name only. With unspecified place fields, the list can be pretty long. So then I try, state, county, or city and find interesting stuff, like whole families in an area where they lived their whole lives.

I love familysearchlabs.org because it has death certificates from Ohio where many of my ancestors lived their whole lives and died here. I haven't yet gleaned all that there are. They also have 1900, 1860, and 1850 Censuses.

I take turns working on different lines. There are the Minnich, Kimmel, Sayre, Sanborn lines of late. I'd always heard my mom say that she had seen a book in Wooster at an uncle's house that traced the Sanborn line back to the War of the Roses (England, 1455-1485). I guess I figured it was a done deal and all I needed was the book. I found the book on microfiche at Western Reserve Library and could copy the thick thome for $.50/page -- well that's exhorbitant for a thick book. I decided that I really ought to do some research of my own and the hunt has been rewarding. I've seen dozens of tombstones in Loudonville (Ohio) dating to 1700 births. I've tracked an old photo album generously shared by the father-in-law of a second cousin. I've finally figured out where various Sanborn relatives fit into the tree that previously I hadn't a clue how they were related.

I have always liked the family from which I come; I have always known I come from good stock. My aunts and uncles were good people who believed in marriage lasting a lifetime and raised children who have integrity and work ethic. I was "weaned on genealogy." I'd heard about the man who researched the Winans line and contacted my grandfather who shared his family information and received a lineage back to 1600 Elizabethtown, New Jersey and that one of the founding fathers of that town 'owned books when books were rare.' Their ancestors were Hollanders and one was a well-known painter; I have seen his beautiful work on a website. I knew that the O'Brien brothers had the tenacity to leave a potato-famined Ireland to start over in America arriving in Philadelphia and splitting up. I knew that the Buess family emigrated from Switzerland to come to America. I knew that the Chestnuts and Harmons didn't go beyond my great-grandparents. Over the years I've found others who shared research to push the Chestnuts to the 1600s and along the way discovered a third cousin I'd known for two years without knowledge of a common ancestor. And after tedious years of hunting I found a connection to identify parents of the Harmon great-grandmother. Still a mystery is where the Sayre, Gillis, and Pattens go from the great-grandparents.

Both of my children and my granddaughter have jumped on the genealogy research wagon. We keep each other going and share the joyous journey together.