Hello! I’m just getting back to civilization after a very busy work week/weekend and am desperately trying to manage my “flourishing” genealogy to-do list. First things first, do something with the growing collection of family photos. Thanks to family members that have posted photos to Facebook and a recent trip to my parent’s house, I […]
Sunday’s Obituary-Walter Harris
I believe this is the oldest obituary I have of a direct ancestor, Walter Harris, my 4th great grandfather. Walter was born 1769 in Wales. He came to America at the age of 85 with his wife, Sarah, and settled in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He died 10 years later in 1864. His obituary is particularly interesting: […]
Who is this?
I had this photo labeled as James Joseph Murphy, but I’m starting to think this may be someone else. James J Murphy died in 1917 at 36 years old. This man looks a little older, don’t ya think? To give some comparison, the photo on the right is actually James J Murphy. The hair part […]
Murphy Reunion Photo
One of my favorite family photos. The Murphy family in Youngstown, Ohio 1955. Let me know if I have misidentified someone. 1. Patty Ann Gallagher 2. Margaret Arnaut 3. Owen W Gallagher 4. Mildred Elaine Murphy 5. Unknown 6. Unknown -possible friend of Mildred Elaine Murphy 7. Edward Murphy 8. Mildred Whitacre 9. Robert Lee […]
My Mom’s Great-Greats
I got this idea from Genea-Musings and Family Tree Magazine and thought it would be interesting. Charts and graphs are fun to make, not to mention this entire blog post took about 15 minutes to do. Here’s what I did: 1. Listed the birthplaces of all 16 2nd great grandparents. For simplicity, I’m used my Mom’s […]
Who Do You Think You Are?
Just finished the book “Who Do You Think You Are?: The Essential Guide to Tracing Your Family History” by Megan Smolenyak-Smolenyak. Megan is one of America’s top genealogists; she consults for the show Who Do You Think You Are?, is the author of five books, and is a cold-case researcher for the Army, NCIS, and the FBI. Three […]
Catharine Harris Davis of Wales
Obituaries are fantastic sources of information. Dates and names are great, but hints at what kind of people your ancestors were are priceless. I love searching through old newspapers, especially the society section and obituaries. Usually the articles are short and give a couple little clues, but this particular obituary of my 3rd Great-Grandmother Catherine […]
James J. Murphy-Mystery SOLVED
The mystery of James Joseph Murphy is SOLVED! A million thanks to Ken W. who located the marriage record of Margaret Richards and James Joseph Murphy. This marriage record was found at Family Search and is the glue to all the questionable details that were lingering about. I stopped using the Family Search website about […]
Trend of the Times-Robert Lee Updegraff
In my collection of family records, obituaries, marriage announcements, etc. there are a small group of items that I consider little “gems.” My grandfather, Robert Lee Updegraff served in the United States Army during World War Two. He was a Platoon Sergeant in a Special Operations Group and spent the majority of his service in […]
Don’t Believe Everything That’s Tree’d
One of my goals for this blog is to share best practices and lessons learned (mistakes made). My biggest mistake and probably the most reoccurring issue in genealogy, was copying trees and accepting them as fact. With the initial excitement of finding new details and connections, checking sources was not on my mind. I don’t […]
Katie's Grove 