Jeanie DiLeonardo's Blog (8)

I didn't post anything here for quite a while now. I guess I felt like, if it wasn't helpful, why waste anyone's time? But, I think I need to also remember how important it is to stay in touch with the genealogy community, to give as well as take (or, wait until someone provides something to take, ha ha). To connect is also important. As Red Green says, we're all in this together, etc. Much of what I know about my ancestry was provided by others' research, even if just indirectly, by clues,…

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One of the toughest things in genealogy can be figuring out where people went and/or came from, of course. I'm particularly stuck on the PARKER brick wall at the moment, which never gets me anywhere. My great-great grandmother Mary Parker (sometimes listed on censuses with the middle initial J, and whose daughter and my great-grandmother was Mary Jane Wade) married my great-great grandfather George W. Wade in 1876 in Clam Lake, Wexford County, Michigan. The marriage certificate says she was 17… Continue

Staring at page after page of scanned census records from 1851 (Canada) for hours has got me a little punchy, I guess. I just found the Partridge family in Elgin county - scanned down a few more lines and there was...the Brady bunch!

I can't believe how many times I'm cranking away on my family tree in Ancestry.com, finding records with spouses and children and thinking "hey, that name sounds familiar" - and come to find out, yup! I've been here before - on the other side of the tree. Both sides are second or third or kissin' cousins. I guess that's what happens when you have a lot of ancestors in Kentucky... (ducks and runs)

A funny thing that I encounter is the different ways people will describe eye color or hair color. For example: I consider myself a redhead: my earliest photos show a wisp of light reddish hair, and there's always been a "warm" cast, even when the Florida sun lightened it. It irritated me a bit when a high school boyfriend's best friend gave me the nickname "Blondie" - that just didn't fit in with my self image! Likewise, I once was filling in a form and put "red" for hair color, only to have a… Continue

I happened to notice this Slate headline: Gates and Crowley Share DNA - So What?



Had a discussion over lunch with a friend about it. I touched on three things that the article brought to mind.



The first thing I thought when I read the article was: are you kidding? I've spent hours adding up to YEARS researching my family, and… Continue

As I mentioned in response to "Too Many Groups," most of my greatest progress in research has come as a result of focusing on location more than surnames in general. This approach has helped me make connections that I really am sure I couldn't have made otherwise. It has also enriched my appreciation for different communities in the United States and Canada, and what makes them unique. I've learned more about their geographies, histories, cultures, etc. It has made genealogy more meaningful to… Continue

File this under "Pet Peeves" if you like, but one of the things that drives me just a little bit nuttier every time I see it is when people use "USA" as a location for ancestors born, married, living or died before there actually was such a political entity.



Now, I realize I could be accused of being a bit nitpicky over this, but every time I see it, one of the voices in my head screams "THERE WAS NO USA IN 1752!!!!" (or whatever date before at least 4 Jul 1776, which is leeway I… Continue