It's been a hot minute!

 It's been a long time since I've written on this blog.  I was recently inspired by a friend to start writing again.  I am thankful for that!  With that I am inspired to revisit a topic I covered 15 years ago.  The murder-suicide of my three times great grandparents, Joseph and Maria Wood.  

On October 23 Joseph Wood murdered his wife Maria Wood nee Wardell with an axe, before taking his own life with a razor.  Their young son, my two times great grandfather, George, slept in his crib in the next room.  

The newspapers covered this terrible event in pretty graphic detail, even by today's standards.  Speculation revolved around alcohol and jealousy being the motivation behind the deaths.  Recently I have been inspired to dig further. To tell their story.  So that I what I am setting out to do.  I plan to tell Joe and Maria's stories.  Through my research I want to find out more about what happened over 150 years ago.  They were more than just this one event.  Joe was a Civil War veteran.  Maria was a daughter and a sister.  

I have a lot of work ahead of me in researching and finding the documents that I need to tell their story.  I look forward to sharing my adventures with my readers and telling the story of my ancestors.  

I'm Feeling Inspired

I was cleaning in my desk yesterday and I came across Murphy's Law for Genealogists.  A fun, but all to often true, list of the  obstacles that we frequently face as genealogists.  This inspired me to start writing about them and discussing ways to overcome these in one's research.
Here's Murphy's Laws:
Murphy's Laws of Genealogy

The records you need for your family history were in the courthouse that burned.
John, son of Thomas, the immigrant whom your relatives claim as immigrant ancestor, died on board ship at the age of twelve.
The public ceremony in which your distinguished ancestor participated when the platform collapsed turned out to be a hanging.
Records show that the grandfather, whom the family boasted, "He read the Bible at four years and graduated from college at sixteen," was at the foot of his class.
Your grandmother's maiden name for which you've searched for years was on an old letter in abox in the attic all the time.
When at last you have solved the mystery of the skeleton in the closet the tight-lipped spinster Aunt claimed, "I could have told you that all the time."
You never asked your father about his family because you weren't interested in genealogy while he was alive.
The family story your grandmother wrote for the family never got past the typist. She packed it away "somewhere" and promised to send you a copy, but never did.
The relative who had all the family photographs gave them to her daughter who had no interest in genealogy and no inclination to share.
A great-uncle changed his surname because he was teased in school. He moved away, left no address, and was never heard from again.
Brittle old newspapers containing the information you desired have fallen apart on the names and dates and places.
The only record you find for your great-grandfather is that his property was sold at a sheriff's sale for insolvency.
The portion of the index you need is continued in the next issue, only the publisher died prior to publication.
When you find the obituary for your grandmother, the information is garbled. Her name is exchanged with her daughter's, the whereabouts of her sons is unknown, the date for her father's birth indicates he was younger than she was.
The vital records director sends you a negative reply, having just been insulted by a creep calling himself a genealogist.

The document containing evidence of the missing link in your research invariably will be lost due to fire, flood, or war.


Your great, great, grandfather's obituary states the he died, leaving no issue of record.


The town clerk you wrote to in desperation, and finally convinced to give you the information you need, can't write legibly and doesn't have a copying machine.


The will you need is in the safe on board the "Titanic."


The spelling of your European ancestor's name bears no relationship to its current spelling or pronunciation.


That ancient photograph of four relatives, one of whom is your progenitor, carries the names of the other three.


Copies of old newspapers have holes which occur only on last names.


No one in your family tree ever did anything noteworthy, always rented property, was not sued, and was never named in wills.


You learned that great aunt Matilda's executor just sold her life's collection of family genealogical materials to a flea market dealer "somewhere in New York City."


Yours is the ONLY last name not found among the 3 billion in the world-famous Mormon archives in Salt Lake City.


Ink fades and paper deteriorates at a rate inversely proportional to the value of the data recorded.


The 37-volume, sixteen-thousand-page history of your country of origin ISN'T INDEXED.


The critical link in your family tree is named "Smith."- - - - - - - -

Your families never had attics, much less Bibles or boxes full of photos.

All real library "finds" are made five minutes before closing, when the copier is broken.

The correctly shelved books and correctly filed forms are never the ones you need.

The person sitting next to you at the research center is finding ancestors every five minutes...and telling you.

The e-mail address that bounces is the one from a person who listed your exact names. If you find a working address, you aren't related.

Your microfilm reader is the one that squeaks, has to be turned backwards, and doesn't quite focus.

Your cemeteries have no caretaker or records archive.

Alternate spellings and arcane names were your folks' favorite past times.

Your ancestors only knew three names, and used them over and over in every collateral line.

Your sister neglects to mention that the date she gave you, which you have researched, and sent to other researchers, was just a guess with no foundation, and she guessed because she "didn't like leaving that line blank."

Your mother neglects to mention that,"Oh, yes, we knew they changed their name.

The blot on the page of the census covers your grandmother's birth date!

The only overturned, face-down gravestone in the cemetery is your great-great grandfather's!

You finally find your ancestor's obituary in an old newspaper and all it says is "Died last week."

You finally get a day off from work to travel to a courthouse -- and when you get there it's closed for emergency plumbing repairs.

Over the next few weeks I will be working through these with some depth of though and some research on how to overcome when Murphy shows up to help you and me with our genealogy research!
For now, have a good laugh and a cup of tea and enjoy!
Happy Hunting!

What happened to Lieutenant Colonel Commandant Anthony Gale

Lieutenant Colonel Commadant Anthony Gale was the 4th Commandant of the United States Marie Corps.  The following link was sent to me by my husband and an interesting genealogy article from Leatherneck magazine.

http://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/mystery-lieutenant-colonel-commandant-anthony-gale

I found it to be very interesting reading about a hisotrical figure lost in time.  Perhaps someday genealogists will reveal the answers to the questions provided in the article.

What do you think?

Happy Hunting!

A Family Affair

For those of you that remember my top ten things I cannot research without, my number one was my husband. Well I was reflecting today as we were packing up the kids, age 5 and 20 months, into the family van and off to search for Findagrave.com requests, on how much my love for genealogy has become a family affair. My daughter, 5, gets really excited when we drive by a cemetery and says, with much enthusiasm, “Mommy, Look! Genealogy!” Both my children have taken first steps in cemeteries and I even have a photo of my daughter at a younger age in a local rural cemetery.


My husband has always been very good at spotting headstones in cemeteries when we are looking around for headstones, that skill I attribute to 10 years as a police officer.

Now my son, 20 months, spends time with mommy at the library and in cemeteries. He even has taken to having his own research forms and his crayons and filling in his own “research”. As an infant my son spent many society meetings snoozing in his car seat carrier and being oogled by the women of the society.

I hope to pass on at least some of the curiosity that I have for my family history to my children and to ignite their own passions for whatever hobbies that they choose, even if it isn’t genealogy. Heaven forbid!  Most of all I just want my children to have good memories of family times together when they are older, even if they don't appreciate it until they are adults. 

Who or what do you blame? SNGF

Tonight I read a post by fellow blogger Elyse Doerflinger posted an entry based on Brenda Joyce Jerome's Who or What do you blame prompt from her blog for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (SNGF).
Brenda asks:

"Can you identify person or event that started you on this search for family information? Did you pick up researching where a relative had left off?  Did your interest stem from your child's school project on genealogy?   If you have been researching many years, it may be hard to pinpoint one reason for this  journey. "

First of all, I think blame is a rather strong word. I can think back to a school project that I had to do in Social Studies class in 3rd or 4th grade, it may have even been 5th grade.  Our assignment was to fill out a pedigree chart.  After that I dabble in research with my Mom's help.  I wrote letters to the family and worked on more current generations of the family.  I think I was about 13 when my passion really started to take off. I wrote letters diligently and compiled information.

Ancestry made another big impact on my obession with genealogy.  I began to compile historical information on my roots.  About the same time I met my husband and eventually his Mom.  She introduced me to Family Tree Maker.  That Christmas my husand gave me a copy of Family Tree Maker for a Christmas gift. 

I did always love to her my Grandpa tell stories of him growing up.  I have been working on compiling those stories...something I wish I had done when I was younger.  My Dad and I have been working to record some of the stories that my Grandpa used to tell. 

So, I guess there are many reasons and many people why I am here.  And many people why I am here....either way, I am here.  Like I said ealier, blame is a very strong word.  Either way all the people who are important in my life, also support my passion.  My parents, my Grandma and my wonderful husband!  My daughter takes much joy in filling out her own forms and walking through cemeteries with Mommy.

Burning the midnight Oil...

I have been known in the past to stay up well into the wee hours of the morning working on research, espcially when I am on a hot lead.  I think many genealogists can relate to that.  Now I am working night shift and I am awake at night, even on my nights off.  It takes a whole new meaning to "Burning the midnight Oil".  It is funny to think that when I first found out I would be working nights, like many other new nurses, I thought "Wow!  I'll have lots of time for genealogy research!"  So on a recent night off I was working on research and fortunately also on a 'hot' lead as well.  And No family complaining that I wasn't paying attention to them.  :)

Don't have to be a "hard-core hobbist"

I was sitting at my kitchen table today, immersed in a pile of papers all related to genealogy and a thought came to me. I am what most people I know would consider a "hard-core" genealogy hobbist. Actually I'm not sure how many would think I was just a hobbist and how many would think I was more...but I digress.
I don't know how many times I have heard, "I would like to do it (it being genealogy), but I don't have the time like you do"....wait! I have time? When did that happen? Did they forget I just gave birth to my second child and I am still going to nursing school? My point is, you don't need hours a day to spend time researching your family lines, although sometimes it is nice, isn't it? Many people spend time, several hours a week in fact, devoted to their favorite television shows. Now isn't that spare time?
My solution is this: take you laptop, most house holds have at least one, to the couch with you and load it with your favorite genealogy software (there are free ones out there) or print out some forms (those which can also be found free just by googling for "Free Genealogy forms") and go to some of the online sites to search your family history. Don't want to miss an important plot on your show? Then use the commerical time for your research. You don't need hours a day or a week to make progress on your research, just a few minutes here and there. You can even use this TV time to write letters to your current living relatives and gather information on the current members of your family that way...yes I said write letters...good old snail mail, or email if you prefer, but make sure you print copies of the information your family sends you back.
This is just one suggestion that I have made many times in the past and here I present it to you, my audience to share with those around you who "don't have the time like you do" to begin their journies into genealogy and for those who are still resistant, I almost envy them....they don't know what it is like missing half a night's sleep before a big deadline, event, etc because they found a hot genealogy lead.
Take Care,
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays if I don't 'see' you before then.
Happy Hunting!

Pennsylvania Cancelled

It has been disappointing to find out that we are not able to take our trip to my ancestor's home state. Due to family conflicts we aren't able to take our vacation as we planned.
I've spent some time lately helping other people with their research locally. I've filled some Find A Grave photo requests and I'm working on a couple of RAOGK requests. I'm a little embarrassed that I actually lost one request out of my email. I think I deleted it. Ooops! I hope the requestor emails me back soon.
Anyway, off to bed soon.
Good luck in all your future research!