This week's prompt for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is -Unusual name.
I've heard of some really unusual names in some of my genealogy groups. As of yet, I haven't found anything too unusual in mine.
My tree is FULL of William, Samuel, Joseph or Mary, Hannah, Elizabeth. Even a name like David would seem unusual to me!
Samuel seems particularly common in one branch of the tree. You'll have a father Samuel and each of his children will also have a Samuel. And that goes on for a few generations. Can you imagine a family reunion and someone calls out for 'Samuel'?
In my husband's family, I found a woman named Philadelphia. I thought that was an extremely unusual name, but not so in the 1800's.
I have found a few names that seemed unusual to me... Cordilia, Willoughby, Benedicta, Ursula, Drusila, Petronella. None of those names would really be considered unusual.
Probably the most unusual name I have in my tree, is the newest member of our family- Keziah.
Monday, January 21, 2019
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
The Challenges of Genealogy
The prompt for the second week in Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is "Challenge".
So many of our ancestors faced major challenges in their lives. Who would I choose to write about? How would I choose just one? Then I thought about about the challenges genealogists face in the search for them.
The challenge of no living parents or grandparents to ask questions, or to verify our findings. Often the ones that are living often won't talk about the past.
The challenge of spelling variations, and transcriptions of names. My Kristoff's have been Kristoff, Kristof, Christoff, Christof, Christoph and once Dresdoff. Dresdoff? Really? My Broadways have been .. Broadway, Broadaway, Brodway and still shaking my head over Kilondaway!
The challenge of the ever changing birth year. Ancestors ages range widely between records. Did they not know their birthday? Did they not care? Did a neighbor answer for them and just guess? Were they trying to avoid being drafted, or possibly trying to appear older in order to get married?
The challenge of tracing them back to their origins. My 2nd great grandfather, William Kelly, was from Ireland. No hint of where in Ireland, which is vital for Irish research. For a great grandmother, I was so excited to find her marriage record. I couldn't wait to open the envelope and finally know where she came from ..... all it said was Europe. Seriously? You couldn't narrow it down a little?
The challenge of the records themselves... some records are missing or were destroyed by fire. They could be written in another language, or not accessible due to privacy laws, which differ between different countries.
Even just knowing what records might exist and where to look for them is a challenge.
Some records are readily accessible, but in very poor condition. Like the one below.... see all that smudging in the corner. Yup, that's my family. Thankfully the property description was visible. Once I found that, I could just make out their names. Just tip your head to the left and squint a little.
Yes, there are many challenges with genealogy... and I love every one of them!
-1911 Census of Canada for Julius Kristoff, Saskatchewan, QuAppelle, sub district 4, page 14; accessed on Ancestry.ca
So many of our ancestors faced major challenges in their lives. Who would I choose to write about? How would I choose just one? Then I thought about about the challenges genealogists face in the search for them.
The challenge of no living parents or grandparents to ask questions, or to verify our findings. Often the ones that are living often won't talk about the past.
The challenge of spelling variations, and transcriptions of names. My Kristoff's have been Kristoff, Kristof, Christoff, Christof, Christoph and once Dresdoff. Dresdoff? Really? My Broadways have been .. Broadway, Broadaway, Brodway and still shaking my head over Kilondaway!
The challenge of the ever changing birth year. Ancestors ages range widely between records. Did they not know their birthday? Did they not care? Did a neighbor answer for them and just guess? Were they trying to avoid being drafted, or possibly trying to appear older in order to get married?
The challenge of tracing them back to their origins. My 2nd great grandfather, William Kelly, was from Ireland. No hint of where in Ireland, which is vital for Irish research. For a great grandmother, I was so excited to find her marriage record. I couldn't wait to open the envelope and finally know where she came from ..... all it said was Europe. Seriously? You couldn't narrow it down a little?
The challenge of the records themselves... some records are missing or were destroyed by fire. They could be written in another language, or not accessible due to privacy laws, which differ between different countries.
Even just knowing what records might exist and where to look for them is a challenge.
Some records are readily accessible, but in very poor condition. Like the one below.... see all that smudging in the corner. Yup, that's my family. Thankfully the property description was visible. Once I found that, I could just make out their names. Just tip your head to the left and squint a little.
 |
| 1911 Census of Canada for Julius Kristoff. |
Yes, there are many challenges with genealogy... and I love every one of them!
-1911 Census of Canada for Julius Kristoff, Saskatchewan, QuAppelle, sub district 4, page 14; accessed on Ancestry.ca
Saturday, January 5, 2019
My First Brick Wall
The story of my first brick wall, is also the story of my first foray into the world of genealogy.
When I started on this journey, one of the first people I tried to search was my maternal grandfather, George Kelly. All I knew about George was his name, he was Irish, he died of cancer before Mom was 2 and Granny had cared for him at home, in Nuneaton, (Warwickshire, England) until his death.
After Mom passed away, I found this picture. My step Dad told me it was Mom's Dad... my grandfather. Why had I never seen this picture before?
George Kelly is such a common name, how would I narrow the search? I decided to start with his death as it was the most concrete info I had on him. No matter how I searched, I could find nothing on the death of a George KELLY in Nuneaton, between 1937-1940. I even widened the search to 1943. Still nothing.
Then one day I got into the 'death record index'. The index is sorted alphabetically, by quarters. I searched quarter by quarter, page by page.... then bingo - 3rd quarter (July to Sept) 1939- I turned a page and right on top was an entry for a George Kelly, in Nuneaton, 36 yrs old. Could this be him? I decided to order the death certificate to see what I would learn.
A couple weeks later I received this certificate.
So, this looked like the right man... address and cause of death matched what I knew, and while I hadn't known the exact date of death, it was the right time frame. I learned he was 36 when he died, so he was born around 1903, and he was a Collier, more new information for me. The informant was Edward Rendall, stepbrother. What a minute... Step brother? This was new, we'd never heard of a stepbrother!
I searched for Edward Rendall, but had no way to know which one he might be. Where do I go from here? For a newbie genealogist, I had hit my FIRST brickwall.
About that time I found the Nuneaton and North Warwickshire Family History Society. (NNWFHS) I reached out to them for suggestions. Pat and Jacqui replied and helped me learn so much. I learned we could search freeBMD.org.uk for a marriage using just last names. A search for a Kelly-Rendall marriage found one in the Mar QTR of 1908 in South Sheilds. Robert Rendall and Annie Kelly. And interestingly there was a birth for an Edward Rendall in Dec QTR 1908, also in South Shields. So then we searched for George Kelly in South Shields, and got one result, in Sept QTR 1902. Could we be on to something? Could this be my George Kelly?
Pat and Jacqui told me a little history of the area. In 1930, there was a serious depression in the South Shields area, families were starving. The depression hadn't hit the midlands area as hard, so many men moved from the north east down into the midlands looking for work. Perhaps this is what brought George to Nuneaton, where he met my Granny?
With the new information, I was able to order birth certificates which confirmed George Kelly and Edward Rendall both had the same mother- Annie Knox, who would be my great grandmother. This led to her first marriage and my great grandfather, also George Kelly.
With Pat and Jacqui's help, I had knocked down my first brick wall and added 2 generations to the family tree. If the informant hadn't been the stepbrother, I might still be chipping at that same brick wall.
Behind one brick wall often lies another....
This was my FIRST brick wall, but definitely not my last.
When I started on this journey, one of the first people I tried to search was my maternal grandfather, George Kelly. All I knew about George was his name, he was Irish, he died of cancer before Mom was 2 and Granny had cared for him at home, in Nuneaton, (Warwickshire, England) until his death.
 |
| George Kelly |
George Kelly is such a common name, how would I narrow the search? I decided to start with his death as it was the most concrete info I had on him. No matter how I searched, I could find nothing on the death of a George KELLY in Nuneaton, between 1937-1940. I even widened the search to 1943. Still nothing.
Then one day I got into the 'death record index'. The index is sorted alphabetically, by quarters. I searched quarter by quarter, page by page.... then bingo - 3rd quarter (July to Sept) 1939- I turned a page and right on top was an entry for a George Kelly, in Nuneaton, 36 yrs old. Could this be him? I decided to order the death certificate to see what I would learn.
A couple weeks later I received this certificate.
 | |
| Certificate of Death for George Kelly, obtained from GRO.gov.uk |
So, this looked like the right man... address and cause of death matched what I knew, and while I hadn't known the exact date of death, it was the right time frame. I learned he was 36 when he died, so he was born around 1903, and he was a Collier, more new information for me. The informant was Edward Rendall, stepbrother. What a minute... Step brother? This was new, we'd never heard of a stepbrother!
I searched for Edward Rendall, but had no way to know which one he might be. Where do I go from here? For a newbie genealogist, I had hit my FIRST brickwall.
About that time I found the Nuneaton and North Warwickshire Family History Society. (NNWFHS) I reached out to them for suggestions. Pat and Jacqui replied and helped me learn so much. I learned we could search freeBMD.org.uk for a marriage using just last names. A search for a Kelly-Rendall marriage found one in the Mar QTR of 1908 in South Sheilds. Robert Rendall and Annie Kelly. And interestingly there was a birth for an Edward Rendall in Dec QTR 1908, also in South Shields. So then we searched for George Kelly in South Shields, and got one result, in Sept QTR 1902. Could we be on to something? Could this be my George Kelly?
Pat and Jacqui told me a little history of the area. In 1930, there was a serious depression in the South Shields area, families were starving. The depression hadn't hit the midlands area as hard, so many men moved from the north east down into the midlands looking for work. Perhaps this is what brought George to Nuneaton, where he met my Granny?
With the new information, I was able to order birth certificates which confirmed George Kelly and Edward Rendall both had the same mother- Annie Knox, who would be my great grandmother. This led to her first marriage and my great grandfather, also George Kelly.
With Pat and Jacqui's help, I had knocked down my first brick wall and added 2 generations to the family tree. If the informant hadn't been the stepbrother, I might still be chipping at that same brick wall.
Behind one brick wall often lies another....
This was my FIRST brick wall, but definitely not my last.
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The story of my first brick wall, is also the story of my first foray into the world of genealogy. When I started on this journey, ... -
The prompt for the second week in Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is "Challenge". So many of our ancestors ... -
This week's prompt for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is -Unusual name. I've heard of some really unusual names in some of my geneal...