Mary B. Sorell, Minnie M. and John Sorell--How are they related to Jacob & Angeline (Larose) Rand

Last November I was searching on GenealogyBank.com under Minnie Sorrell and came across an article entitled

WANTS CUSTODY OF HER CHILD.[1] It was dated November 11, 1903. As I opened the article I was quite amazed as it stated that a hearing took place in Worcester Probate Court on a petition of a lawyer for Minnie M. Sorrell, of Bennington, Vt. to get custody of her six year-old daughter.

I entered this on my things to do list (research log) on my Legacy Family tree software program and filed the article in my Worcester Courthouse folder. On July 7 of this year I had an opportunity to go to the Worcester Courthouse to look up the record and order record 32744. They called and said it was in so I went on July 15^th and made some copies of the record.[2]

It states that:

Marshall N. Thayer, attorney for Minnie M. Sorell that Mary B. Sorell is of the age of six years, that she is the daughter of said Minnie B. (sic) Sorell and John M. Sorell, that she is deprived of her liberty and held in custody by Jacob Rand and Angeline Rand, both of Holden in said County against the will of her mother the said Minnie M. Sorell and that she is held in custody by them in the Town of Holden in our said County of Worcester. That said possession of said child was taken by them at Gardner in the County of Worcester about ____ember first A.D. 1903 _______ ______ there she has been kept in custody in said Town of Holden..

Wherefore your petitioner prays that notice may be issued commanding said Jacob Rad and Angeline Rand to appear and bring the said Mary B. Sorell to be examined as this court shall direct.

M.N. Thayer, Atty for Minnie M. Sorell.

Angeline Rand’s maiden surname is Larose and she married (2) her husband Jacob in 1876.

Angeline Larose and Jacob Rand have to be related to my Grandmother Mary B. Sorell, or why would she be in their custody and my G-Grandmother Minnie M. (Howe) Sorell  trying to get her daughter back from them. Angeline Larose' s parents are Gabriel and Lydia (Sears) Larose according to her death record dated Nov. 20 1909 from  Holden, Massachusetts.[3]
,

[1] Paper Worcester Daily Spy (Worcester, MA), pg. 8, News/Bank and/or the American Antiquarian Society

[2] Worcester Probate Court Records, #32744
[3]  Massachusetts, Deaths 1841-1915, Holden, MA., Familysearch.com

George F. Howe, Minnie Miola Howe/ Emma Georgiana Howe, Susan Ellen Howe

The above is taken from my Legacy Family Tree genealogy software program. Hopefully it will help explain why I needed the records from the Ticonderoga Town clerk's office.
George Howe's first daughter Minnie Miola Howe with his first wife Emma Sartwell is my biological great-grandmother.
Emma Georgianna Howe, his 2nd child is my mom's (adopted mother) in my mom's words "real mother". I will write more about her another time.
Susan Ellen Howe, his 3rd child is the marriage and obituary from previous post (May 20) was the record I sent away for.

The records have arrived-

1. was it worth the money
2. will I be doing a genealogy happy dance or will it just be another bump in the road of this genealogist's hunt to track down the family history.

Yes I am jumping up and down right out of my shoes!

The following is the Transcription of the marriage record:
For genealogical purposes only
A certified transcript from the register of marriages in the town clerks of Ticonderoga county of Essex state of New York date of marriage 03-08-1900, husband Harry Hall, residence Ticonderoga, date of birth N/A, occupation laborer, husband's birthplace Ticonderoga, NY, father's name  Charles Hall, mother's maiden name Fanny Gorman, first marriage, wife Susan Ellen Howe, residence Ticonderoga, NY, date of birth N/A, birthplace Bridport, VT, father's name George Howe, mother's maiden name Ida Sartwell, first marriage, name of person and official position solomnizing marriage Orville Phillips, place of marriage Ticonderoga, NY, when registered  March 14, 1900 number 43.
This is the marriage record of the 3rd child of my great grandfather.

The following is the Transcription of the other marriage record I sent for:
For genealogical purposes only
A Certified Transcript from the Register of Marriages in the Town Clerks of Ticonderoga, NY, County of Essex, state of New York, date of marriage 11-24-1915Robert Anderson residence Ticonderoga NY, date of birth N/A, occupation Carpenter, husband's birthplace Peru NY, father's name Carrol Anderson, mother's maiden name Ruth Brooks, 1st marriage, wife name Clara Hall, residence Ticonderoga, NY, date of birth N/A, occupation housekeeping, wife's birthplace Ticonderoga, NY, father's name Harry Hall, mother's maiden name Susie Howe, first marriage, person and official position solomnizing marriage D. F. Blackmere, place of marriage Crown Point, NY, registered 11/24 /1915, number 339.
This is the marriage of Clara Hall, Harry and Susan Ellen's daughter which I will tie in when I write more about my mom's mother Emma Georgianna Howe the second child of George F Howe. One of the most important persons in the Howe genealogy family history story.

Susan Ellen Howe, Harry Hall - Why important to review your notes

Candy tuft 2015 taken by Genevieve De Haan

I have heard it many times from many different speakers. It is very important to go over your past notes in your research. But I was quite surprised the other day when I was going through research notes that my sister and I had done in a previous research trip to Ticonderoga New York a couple years ago. We had gone  to the Ticonderoga  Historical Society in the historic Hancock house at 6 Moses Circle, Ticonderoga, N.Y. 12883  http://ticonderogahistoricalsociety.org/
Judy was taking notes on the index of the Ticonderoga Sentinel newspapers. Going over her notes last week I found the following:

         George Howe c Hall, Mrs. Susie
         file 1874-1919 HIK-KYl
         died at Chilson December 24, 1917 age 33 wife of 
         Harry Hall, dau. of Mr. and Mrs. George Howes of 
         Ticonderoga Surv. husband, six children, parents + 
          two sisters

If you are like me you are just in "overload" when you come back from a research trip trying to digest all the wonderful things you have discovered. So looking back, I guess I did not have my "thinking cap" on so just went over our notes and then filed everything away in their proper files to look over at a later date. Boy oh boy was I ever surprised about the above information I have been sitting on for quite a some time now, so when I looked over it "bells and whistles" went off in my head and I immediately went to the following website http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/ to search the newspaper for Susie's (Susan Ellen) obituary and then the announcement of her marriage.
Her marriage is in the Ticonderoga sentinel. (Ticonderoga, Essex County, N.Y.) 188?-1982, March 15, 1900, Page 7, Image 7 - NYS Historic Newspapers.

             Transcription Chilson - Harry Hall and 
                                      Miss Susie Howe, 
                                      were united in marriage by 
                                      Orville Phillips last Thursday evening.

Her obituary http://bit.ly/1cLAR6J
Ticonderoga sentinel. (Ticonderoga, Essex County, N.Y.) 188?-1982, January 03, 1918, Page 6, Image 6 - NYS Historic Newspapers.

I believe that I'm on to something very important here. So I e-mailed the Ticonderoga Town Clerk's office to see if they had a marriage record for Harry Hall and Susie Howe.
Also on a hunch, after e-mailing and talking to the Crown Point's Town Clerk I asked the Ticonderoga Town Clerk's office to see if they had the marriage record for a Robert Anderson and a Clara Hall (I will explain why later). After many e-mails back and forth trying to make sure it was my family. They said that I needed to sent them $22.00/each for a genealogical purposes only Certified Transcript and a copy of my Driver's License.

Before spending any money I wanted to be quite sure that I had the right family, so I checked the entire 1900 US Federal Census of the Town of Ticonderoga. There were 63 pages that I went through one by one and I could only find one Howe family listed in the Town of Ticonderoga, so I felt that it was a pretty safe assumption it would be money well spent.
Ancestry.com. Year: 1900; Census Place: Ticonderoga, Essex, New York; Roll: 1035; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 0052; FHL microfilm: 1241035

I promptly sent them a check for $44.00 and held my breath that it would be my families record. Because in New York you are not allowed to know or see what is on the record before you pay for it. I will let you know my results next week as they arrived today.

DNA-Treadway of Vermont, New York, Connecticut

When I received an e-mail from David & Marcia Treadway that according to FTDNA (family tree DNA) we are 1st -2nd cousins, I was elated. Turns out he is my 1st cousin once removed. Little did I realize where this information would lead me to. As I wrote before (see post 4/3/2015) David is trying to become a member of SAR (Sons of the American Revolution).

Magnolia tree- finding relatives through DNA

David and Marcia then put me in touch with Kathie Sutherland. Katie e-mailed me on April 4, 2015 and announced that her and David are third cousins once removed, which in turn makes us Katie and I 4th, cousins. She and David have a small DNA match but Katie and I don't have any DNA match, but 4th cousins only have a 50% change of matching.  Of course, the absence of ICW (in common with) DNA doesn't mean Katie and I aren't related since DNA separating and recombining are done quite randomly. Needless to say we have a strong ancestor paper trail match. David, Katie, and I all have the American Revolutionary soldier Jonathan Treadway and his wife Hannah Rood's as our ancestor. Rumor has it that he was with General Washington during his crossing of the Delaware River on the night before the Battle of Trenton.

It turns out that Kathie is a physician and the Medical Director for the Genomics at her Hospital. Also she is a proclaimed "DNA Junkie ." She has had her DNA tested with all the major companies and encouraged me to put my DNA results on  www.dnagedcom.com.
She explained that it was a very important tool to understanding how the different segments  of DNA match up. Another words if 2 or more people that share the same segment of DNA are certain of their common ancestor, then others who have the DNA in common with them (ICW) should be somewhere along the branch in that tree. That is why it is very important to have public family trees or at least give permission to the person that is testing (ICW) with you to view your tree. I hope I explained it in simple and correct terms,

After putting my DNA results on dnagedcom.com I can see which segments of DNA David and I have in common and think I have a more clear understanding of DNA matches. Still have a long way to go, believe me. I keep going to presentations about it. Maybe some day it will click. Putting the information on dnagedcom.com was quite easy.  All you really have to know is your kit number. The website does all the rest. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

If you want further information on DNA please go to the following You Tube Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVo6835ht0I
with Lisa Louise Cooke interviewing Diahan Southard  (who was a Rootstech 2015 presenter).  I found her presentation the most down to earth that I have heard and quite easy to understand.

Genealogy Bloggers

On April 16, 2015 while attending the NERGC conference in Providence, Rhode Island I decided to attend the Genealogy Blogging Special Interests Group.

Photo taken by Victor Rojo husband of Heather Wilkinson Rojo

I am very glad I decided to join this group of wonderful dedicated Bloggers. The Group was led and sponsored by Heather Wilkinson Rojo (www.nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com). Also present was Pat Richley-Erickson (better known as Dear Myrtle), Russ Worthington (Cousin Russ), and many MSOG (Massachusetts Society of Genealogists, Inc.) members; also  I have to apologize to others  present that I do not remember your names as I was so excited to be in the same room with people that I have only seen and heard in their chat rooms or on Legacy Family Tree Webinar Wednesday. A majority of the bloggers in the room are members of New England Geneabloggers on Facebook. I am not a big user of Facebook so didn't know of the group before. I am a member of Geneabloggers, however http://www.geneabloggers.com  with founder Thomas MacEntee.
First they gave all us bloggers a string of green beads to wear. I guess Thomas MacEntee started the tradition so participants at the conference will ask about the beads and then you can promote your blog and blogging in general. Great idea.
We went around the room and talked about ourselves and our blogs or why we were sitting in on the group. It was a very warm and welcoming group which shared ideas with each other and the time flew by. I enjoyed getting to know something about everyone and want to say Thank You.

Genealogy Course

Taken by Genevieve Vaundell De Haan 2015

Finally Spring is in the air!! I just Love the bright yellow daffodils. Sorry my other passion is gardening.

I should of mentioned this earlier, but like everyone else I have had my "hands in to many pots" like my mother use to say. I am taking a free course on genealogy at RootsMOOC which can be found at https://learn.canvas.net//courses/369. It is An Introduction to Genealogy and Family History Research. The course started on March 23, 2015 and there is an Introduction Module plus 4 other Modules. Module 1 is Getting Started which introduces all the forms and things you need to know to get started. We are on Module 2 US Census and I found this module very helpful even though I have been doing my family history and genealogy or about 20 years. It never hurts to back to the basics and start all over. I think you can still sign up if you are interested.

From this course a new group was started up by MaryAlice Kane Depew on Facebook called Find Your Ancestors without Spending a DIME;. We all know that no hobby or life passion is completely free but this Group is dedicated to helping other Genealogists and Family Historians to finding resources that are free or things that charge a minimal fee. I'm not a big Facebook user but I have found some very useful information being shared on this group. They appear to stick to the subject matter.
DISCLOSURE I'm one of the Admins.
If you are interested check us out on Facebook and you can let them know I sent you.

Using Tablet at NERGC

I am back from the NERGC genealogy conference held last week April 15-18, 2015 in Providence, Rhode Island. I promised I would write about my adventures with my Android tablet (first time using  one, and no computer). I have an Asus Nexus that my daughter gave me a couple of Christmas's ago.
At home I  made sure all my updates were current and that my tablet was fully charged. I also downloaded the sections of the syllabus that I was interested in; then made sure I had packed my cord to recharge the tablet each night. I was ready to go to the conference. I was finally ready to use my tablet for something more than playing games. I was quite excited.

Wednesday night in our Hotel room my roommates and I were discussing if we could download the syllabus as an editable document. I had enough trouble figuring out how to download all the parts of the syllabus that were important to me. That is my first learning lesson, but no problem I know I can take notes, on the tablet and need the experience.

Picture taken by Genevieve De Haan of Tablet taken to NERGC

Thursday afternoon my first class T-104 is most appropriately "There's an app for That!"   presenter is Donna Moughty sponsored by The Connecticut Professional Genealogists Council. How lucky can one person get. If you ever get a chance to hear Donna Moughty speak do it. She is a terrific and knowledgeable presenter. Her website is http://www.moughty.com/ and she is also on Facebook and gives tours to Ireland. She talked about having the convenience of being able to have your genealogy with you (all the time) with a smart phone or tablet. Most of us want to travel lighter but still access our information instantly. Donna went over many of the common genealogy apps and stated that an added advantage is that computer programs cost up to $100.00 where apps usually run less than $10.00 with many of them being free. At the end of her presentation she gave many tips about short cuts with the I-phone. She worked for Apple for 21 years and appears to know her stuff. I wish I wrote more of them down as a man in the audience stated at the end of the talk that everything  she covered worked on the android devises also.

Yes, I did say I wrote down as you see I had printed the syllabus at home on the lectures I felt were really important, as I didn't know how my experiment was going to work out (Backup plan). Also since this was my first class my screen kept going black. I soon was able to rectify that problem by going to settings and changing my Display time to 30 minutes instead of the 2 minutes it was set at.

I will not bore you with my everyday experience with my tablet, but will tell you I believe that the tablet or smart phone is the way to go. Please Believe me that is saying a lot coming from a person that likes the feel of books and paper (hard copy) in her hand instead of reading things electronically. If I had to rate my experience I would give it 4 stars out 5 with 5 being excellent. So please don't be afraid to try it, because if I can do it, you can do it. I will definitely do it again and not be so fearful.

DNA, genealogy confernces

I really wanted to blog about my new experiences with my DNA results and what I have discovered through meeting" living cousins," but I ran out of time. So I will have to do it next time. You see I'm going to the NERGC conference in Providence, Rhode Island April 15-18. For more information use the following link:
http://www.nergc.org/E-zine_11_2015.pdf
I have been busier than usual as I went to the New England Family History Conference last Saturday April 11, 2015 held in Franklin, Massachusetts. This is a free genealogy conference put on by the  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which just celebrated 40 years of conferences this year. For further information please go to the following link: 
www.nefamilyhistory.com
D. Joshua Taylor was the Keynote Speaker this year, and was excellent as always. There were a few local people presenting-Sandra Goodwin, Seema Kenney, Michael Brophy, and Marjorie Turner Hollman to name a few.

I also was getting my tablet ready for use at the conference for the first time. It will be an experiment for me and hopefully a wonderful experience as I'm not taking my computer this year. I will let you know how this works out on a future blog. Wish me a lot of luck. Thanks for following me and I will be in touch soon.

DNA-Jonathan Treadway family

The beginning of March 2015 I received an e-mail from David and Marcia Treadway stating that David and I are 1st or 2nd cousins through DNA testing (FamilyTreeDNA). I was quite excited because all the other matches had not been close at all, and when I looked into their trees (if they had published their trees) there were no surnames that I could relate to.
With the information Marcia & David had given me in the e-mail plus going to their posted  public tree on Ancestry.com, I knew right away we are 1st cousins once removed. My mother's biological father  (my grandfather) and David's father are brothers. We exchanged information on our family through e-mails, snail mail and via phone.
This is very exciting as they were able to provide me with pictures of my great grandfather (William Henry Treadway) and great grandmother (Katherine Mellisa Bennett) and some of my grandfather's siblings.
I would naturally love to give back to them. David wants to become a member of The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) through Jonathan Treadway, but we need more primary resources. They have documentation going back to William Miller Treadway (1817- 1875) born in Crown Point, Essex Co., New York, married to Caroline  C. Moore (1817-1846). They need first source documents going from William Miller to his father William Darwin Treadway (1795-1861), born Shoreham, Addison Co., Vermont, married to Elizabeth Miller (1797-1882). Also need documentation from William Darwin to his father Jonathan Treadway (1755-1832) the Revolutionary Drummer boy, who was married to Hannah Rood (1756-1832).

Pedigree Chart From David and Marcia Treadway

I know all the William Treadways can be very confusing, but some of the tree is even more confusing in that there are 3 William Henry's in a row. This family just loves the name William Henry.

I am hoping that someone out there is reading this and can help us with the information we need to make David's dream of becoming a SAR member a reality. Please get in touch with me if you have anything that will help us make this happen.

Anne Eliza (Magennis) Nolan in 1910 Census

 After the 1900 US Census the next record to search for Annie Nolan is the 1910 US Census as her tombstone states she died Feb 9, 1919.  I searched for Eliza Nolan and sure enough I found her on HertiageQuest; she is in the 1910 census but that Eliza is the daughter of Wm. and Annie Nolan.
inscription as follows:
      Nolan, Annie, head, F,W, 70, Wd., mother of 10 children, 8 living, born in Ireland, parents born    Scot., English, immigration year 1887, speaks English, no occupation, unable to read or write
      Nolan, Eliza, daughter, F,W, 28, S, born in Ireland,parents born in Ire English, immigration year 1887, Reeler, flax mill, W, working on April 15, 1910, 0 weeks out ot of work 1909, able to read and write
       Nolan, Margaret, daughter, F,W, 22, S, born in Ireland,parents born in Ire English, immigration year 1887, Reeler, flax mill, W, working on April 15, 1910, 0 weeks out ot of work 1909, able to read and write
They are on roll 580, ED 263, Sheet 6B, pg. 113, household 123 living at 20 Cuba Street, Andover, Essex Co., Massachusetts. on 29 April 1910.
****note Annie states she had 10 children and 8 are living. according to my research all of the eight children that I have found are still living in 1910.

To me this is very close to finding where she died. So I searched and another Eureka moment.

This was found Massachusetts. Essex. Digital Images of Death Certificates-Massachusetts deaths 1841-1920. Family Search. FamilySearch. www.familysearch.org : n.d.
The informant was her daughter Elizabeth Nolan living at 20 Cuba St.She died of Brouclio (sic) Bronchial Pneumonia. Parents are listed as John McGuinnis, born in Ireland and ______Wilson, born in Ireland. Place of burial is listed as Pine Grove Cemetery, No. Grafton, Mass.

William & Eliza Nolan and family come to America

I bet you have wondered what it must of been like for your ancestors to leave their homeland, in this case Ireland via Glasgow, Scotland for a better (????) life. I'm sure they had heard stories from their former neighbors (maybe the Steele family) and maybe their children that had already came to America before them about better job opportunities in the new land. Do you ever wonder if they were planning to stay in America or just stay in America til things got better in Ireland or Scotland?
The Nolan's as a family came over to America on the S.S. Siberian passenger ship which was built at the Govan Shipbuilding Co. in Glasgow, Scotland and launched on June 12,1884. It was owned and operated by the J & A Allan Line according to www.Norwayhertiiage.com
Were the other children that immigrated to America already here?
The following is record found on Family Search, from the " Massachusetts, Boston Passenger Lists, 1820-1891"

According to the list of Passengers from Glasgow on page 56, line 40-43 the Nolan's, arrived April 24, 1888 into the Port of Boston, Charlestown.  It reads as follows:  

        Nolan, Wm, 56, male, mill worker, native country Scotland, going to Grafton

        Nolan, Eliza, 56, fem, wife, native country Scotland, going to Grafton

        Nolan, John, 14, male, native country Scotland, going to Grafton
        Nolan, Margaret, 11, fem, native country Scotland, going to Grafton

When I was doing research for this blog posting on February 21, 2015  on FamilySearch.org I found under "Boston, Passenger Lists," 1848-1891, Index and Images another card that states they were born in Ireland and their last residence was Johnstone (Scotland), so I know this is the right family.
The most amazing fact is they brought all their things to America in a total of 8 suitcases.

After William Nolan dies his wife Annie (Eliza) is living with their youngest son John Nolan and his family in the same town (Grafton) along with John's sister Maggie (Margaret).

Annie (Maginnes) Nolan 1900 US Census

We know that William Nolan died in Grafton, Massachusetts on 5 Mar 1895 of pneumonia, so where is his wife living after he dies? If we look at the 1900 US Federal Census we find Annie living with her son John and his family and Annie’s daughter Maggie (John’s sister).

There is a lot of information and clues we can gather from this 1900 Census.[1]

1.       They are still living in Grafton.

2.       Annie was born in June 1838 in Ireland. Something more to research.

3.       She’s a widow- (so this is probably the right person).

4.        Annie is a mother of 10 children of which 9 are living in 1900.

5.       John and Maggie were born in Ireland July 1863 and Aug 1876, respectively.

6.       John and Nellie have been married 7 years

7.       Nellie is a mother of 2 children both living.

8.       John, Maggie, and Annie Nolan immigrated here in 1888 and have been here 11 years.

Facts about Annie Nolan

       1.       They are living in Grafton and all of them are buried in Pine Grove Cemetery, 17 Waterville St., No. Grafton, Ma with or near William Nolan.[2] 
       2.       Annie was most likely born 3 Jun 1832 as her tombstone states.[3] She and William were married 22 Jul 1850 in Banbridge, Co. Down, Ireland and she states her age as 20.[4] If she was born in 1838 that would have made her 12, too young to marry.
      3.       We know Annie is a widow.
      4.       I can only document Annie having 8 children, but since Anne Eliza and William were married in 1850 there is certainly room for a couple of children.

              o   Jane, birthdate unkown,

              o   James born abt. 1859,

              o   Eliza born 1861,

              o   Samuel born 1863,

              o   Sarah, born 1866,

              o   Joseph born 1869,

              o   John born 1873,

              o   Margaret (Maggie) born 1876 

 5.    John's birth inscription reads as follows:

Lisburn, Antrim Down pg 21.22.23 Superintendent Reistrar's District Lisburn- Registrar'sDistrict Lisburn-1873 Births Registered in the District of Lisburn in the Union of Lisburn- Counties of Antrim Down----13 Jul 1873 John M father William Noland living in Longstone, Lisburn, occupation Dyer and mother Ann Eliza Noland formerly Maginnes, mother marked  her  X on 9th of Aug 1873.[5] 
Maggie was born abt. Aug 1876.    
 6.     John and Nellie were married 1 Sep. 1893 in Grafton.[6]    

 7.   Maggie and John have 2 children listed on this 1900 Census.     

 8.    I will blog more about their immigration in a future Blog post.

---

[1] 1900 U.S. Federal Census, Grafton, Worcester Co., MA, roll 692, ED 1632, Pg. 5.

[2] Older Blog post Thursday, January 8, 2015 and Monday, January 19, 2015.

[3] Ibid, Thursday, January 8, 2015.

[4] FamilySearch, “Marriage records, 1845-1870, with indexes to marriage, 1845-1921,” FHL film no. 101313.

[5] Familysearch, “Quarterly returns of births in Ireland, 1864-1955, with index to births, 1864-1921, FHL film 255883. P. 649, item 105

[6] Grafton Vital Records  15:190 item 31

Blog Posting Committment

While preparing to write my next blog post it suddenly occurred to me, that doing this blog is making me look over my genealogy research like I am under a high powered microscope. I don’t know if it all started when we received the challenge from Thomas MacEntee to join him in his “Genealogy-Do-Over” that started on January 8, 2015 check it out at http://www.geneabloggers.com or when I joined Dear Myrtle’s Beginning Genealogy Study Group  Hangouts on Wednesdays. You can catch Dear Myrtle’s hangouts live, or check it out at  http://blog.geneawebinars.com/2015/01/hangouts-dearmyrtles-beginning.html

I do know when I decided to commit to blogging with consistency that I also wanted to make sure that the information that I am posting about my family genealogy is accurate and well documented. After all family history without documentation is just a fairy tale or fiction. I do not want to be another one of those people that is putting garbage and false statements out on the internet. We have enough of that going on.

So with keeping with the theme of the above mentioned people (Thomas MacEntee and dear Myrtle) I decided to go over all my research with a fine tooth comb. The first thing I wanted to do is get my computer files and genealogy software ORGANIZED. I found some of my citations duplicated, missing or lacking vital information. Thus that is the reason why I have not posted as much as I wanted to.

The software program that I use is Legacy Family Tree. It is the computer software that I started with in 2005. It meets my needs and was very easy to see where I needed to do more work on my tree, especially with my sources and citations. 

I have always been interested in “my roots” and history even as a child, but respected my mother’s wishes not to ‘dig up the past.” About sixteen years ago I decided if I waited for my Mom (died age of 97 yrs. 3 months) to pass on I would never be able to research my family. I dedicate this post to you Mom.

 © Photo taken by Lisa De Haan           
                 Genevieve Fish Vaundell ------12 Nov 1914- 11 Feb 2012 

         at one of her favorites places the white mountains in New Hampshire