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Many ancestors, many siblings, many descendants, many cousins
It is hard to imagine sometimes how many ancestors we have when we go pretty far back in generations.
When you start counting these things it’s easy, at least for me, to be amazed.
Everyone has two biological parents, no matter how complicated the fertilization process is, because, let’s face it, things have changed. There are all kinds of technologies and procedures that complicate matters, but just for the sake of this lesson: We each have two (biological) parents, and every one of our ancestors has two parents.
Who Are The Parents of Ollie Virginia “Ollie” Richards, My Great Grandmother? – Part 1
Yesterday, I received a message from a cousin of mine who I had been waiting to hear back from for such a long time I had almost forgotten about what she had to say. Brenda Pinti reached out to me in the end of January 2013 to tell me that she knew my maternal grandmother, my mother, as well as my great grandmother, the mother of my maternal grandmother. I replied back to her message, indicating my eagerness to learn anything she could pass on to me about our family, but I didn’t hear back from her right away. In fact, two-and-a-half years went by before I finally heard back from her.
I was very excited when I read this message from Brenda, as I was very close with my maternal grandmother. Grandma Lois Marjorie PALSON Romanac, who I called “Grannymom” when I was very little,
The author and his grandmother, Lois Romanac, Fall 1986
was such a gentle and loving person with a kind of prankish sense of humor. It wasn’t an ill-intentioned prankishness or malevolence. She just got a kick out of hiding things from my mother, like her cigarettes or her lighter, and giving no clue that she knew exactly where they were. She loved to keep secrets.
She loved to let me know that she knew a secret that she wasn’t going to tell me.
Finding the Right Genealogical Software and “How To” Books and Videos For You, Part 1
For someone who may be new to doing genealogical research and doesn’t yet have a firmly-established system of methods, like myself, you may find it helpful to use a book or a piece of software or videos to help guide you, and provide tips and advice on how to go about searching for your ancestors, especially if you don’t have a lot of time or financial resources to work with.
I’ve looked at a number of different genealogy books and resources over the years… Continue reading
“Life can only …
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
– Soren Kierkegaard
Does it sound trite, opening up with these words on a blog, dedicated to telling the story of my own personal search for my roots? Maybe a little. You can’t deny it, though. Life just doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense when you’re right in the middle of it… Continue reading
…Rivers always reach the sea
“Then as it was,
Then again it will be.
Though the course may change sometimes,
Rivers always reach the sea.Like stars of fortune,
Each has separate rays.
On the wings of maybe,
Down in birds of prey.
Kind of makes me feel sometimes,
I didn’t have to grow.
But as the eagle leaves the nest,
He got so far to go.”(Lyrics from the song, “Ten Years Gone”, by English rock band Led Zeppelin, from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti)