Saturday, November 12, 2011

My On-Again, Off-Again Affair with Ancestry.Com

After two months of researching on my own, last Sunday I signed up for the 14-day Ancestry.com free trial. Right off the bat, I made dizzying headway with one of my great grandparent's lineages. My search for Mary Walsh, my paternal grandmother's mother, who was born in 1866 and was wife of English immigrant Thomas Littlewood, whom she married in 1893 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, revealed a great deal. Searching with this information in tow resulted in Ancestry.com coming up with, what I felt, were spine-tingling results. Based on my prior knowledge, the info I unearthed is undeniably correct and was of immeasurable help.

I've had a little success with my Harper Family Tree, the lineage of my paternal grandfather's father, and the name of the surname I bear, but, other than that, I've had disappointing results to add to what I already know about the rest of my great grandparents. I should admit that genealogists abounded on my mother's side of the family, so I already have solid evidence for those four great grandparents.

My Ancestry.com 14 days will expire a week from tomorrow, November 20. If I continue, and I'm not sure about that, it will be with the month-per-month world subscription of $34.95. I need that for all my Canadian, Irish, and English ancestors. I will be a subscriber of Ancestry.com again, but I will probably proceed during a month when I have lots of free time.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Blasting a Genealogy Blog Off the Ground

Still struggling to get my genealogy blog off of the launchpad. I've been researching my ancestral past in fits and starts for all of my time on the planet. After a twenty-three year hiatus, I'm at it again, and thankful for all the online databases that make this adventure more exciting.

I'm of English, Irish, French, and Scottish descent, in descending order, and all of my direct ancestors lived in New England and French Canada, after emigrating from Europe.

I've found that my background as a historian of the United States makes this effort so much easier.

Please come along with me as I struggle to find information about ancestors with the ever so common names of Bridget Murphy, John Walsh, and Joseph Harper! I'll share what I discover and how I came to find it.