When I was in college—before my passion for genealogy developed—my walks to town took a shortcut through a cemetery. However, I ended up lingering to read the inscriptions on the stones, identifying who was related and imagining what these people’s lives might have been like. I remember a row of markers from the 1860s for one family: a father, a mother and several of their infant children who died within a few years of each other. I considered the sorrow this family felt and wondered whether illness or accident caused the children’s deaths. Continue reading
General
Cousin Connections: Blanche
One of the joys of genealogy has been connecting with cousins, close and distant, who share an interest in researching the family. Over the years, I have made a number of wonderful connections on both sides of my family, with relatives as well as non-relatives with whom I have joined forces to fill in gaps on a mutual tree. Thinking about some of the family associations I’ve made, one special person comes to mind, my cousin Blanche. Continue reading
Holiday Traditions
Many families have long held traditions they celebrate, especially around the holidays. These customs usually are familiar routines from our childhood, reminding us of an earlier time. Some of these might even have been brought over from the old country, handed down through the generations and connecting us to a long family heritage. Occasionally the practices that we follow can change over time, evolving into a new tradition. Continue reading
Marriage Tributes
This June marks my 5th wedding anniversary and it makes me appreciate the ancestors throughout history who have engaged in the rite of marriage—some with a church wedding, some with a civil service, and some without a formal ceremony but living under “common law”. Occasionally, an ancestor might have been born out of wedlock and his/her parents separated, such as in my case with my great grandmother, but most of my known ancestors took the plunge and made a vow to be bound in marriage. Many were fortunate to celebrate numerous years together—hopefully, happy ones. While I have information about when the marriage took place and perhaps a few statistics surrounding the event, for the most part, information about how they met or their courtship is absent. Continue reading
Garden Roots
Every year as Memorial Day approaches and the weather gets warmer, I start thinking about gardening and planting vegetables. For much of my adult life I’ve had some type of summer garden, planting at least tomatoes, along with some other typical vegetables, such as peppers, radishes, and eggplants. Living in the city, we are fortunate to have a modest plot of about 300 square feet in a community garden not far from home; it is sufficient to harvest fresh vegetables to eat throughout the summer and to preserve some to enjoy over the winter months. This year as I was readying our plot, I contemplated my attraction to working the land and feeling the dirt in my hands. I recognized how agriculture is a part of my history. Continue reading
Misc. 1860’s Tax Rolls – Lycoming County PA
Taxation has been in existence for centuries. In the United States, April 15th, is a day most people know as “Tax Day”. It is fast approaching, and for procrastinators it will now be a rush to get their personal income taxes filed before the deadline; although this year they have till the 18th to complete their forms. For those fortunate to have a piece of the American Dream, that is owning the home they live in, there is the luxury of an additional burden throughout the year– property taxes. In some areas in the 1800s, not only was land and the buildings situated on the property taxed, but also livestock, such as cattle, horses and even dogs. In addition, those living on the land as a renter were also taxed for some years. Below are some extractions from tax records of yesteryears found during some family research in Lycoming County. Continue reading
The Flood of St. Patrick’s Day
Today St. Patrick’s Day is often celebrated with festive parades, Irish food and drink, and all things green to obtain some luck of the Irish. But eighty years ago, for many Pennsylvanians, March 17 was not a time of merriment but one of misfortune. The day before, temperatures reached the 50s rapidly melting the winter snow and ice and quickly swelling nearby waterways. Weather forecasters warned of possible rising water, but a steady rain that accompanied this warm weather resulted in floods more severe than anyone had anticipated. Continue reading
Ornamental Reflections
Every December the time comes to pull out the boxes from the basement and begin the mission of decorating for the holidays. For me though, trimming the tree is a journey back in time. As I pull them from their containers and unwrap them to put on the tree, many of the ornaments evoke a sentiment of past holidays. As I place each one on the tree I always take a moment to observe what recollection it brings to mind. Now that my parents are both gone these memories take on an even stronger significance. Continue reading
199 Reasons to Give Thanks…and Counting!
At this time of year, I remember my parents with gratitude for the many things they did for me. I also reflect on the generations before them and the efforts they made that have enabled me to be here today. I appreciate the stories I’ve heard about my grandparents, great grandparents, and a few generations that go a little further back. I also have gathered names of ancestor’s whose stories I am still trying to discover; and then there are the many more unfilled names on the family tree waiting to be found, which would be an unachievable task to fill them all.
When looking at a pedigree chart, it is easy to see how each preceding generation doubles the
number of forebears. To trace 6 generations and locate all of one’s 4th great grandparents, that search would involve seeking 32 sets of 4th great grandparents. But first, one would have to know his parents, grandparents, as well as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd great grandparents, for an additional 62 people, or a total of 126 ancestors. If this person were about 65 years old, and a generation spanned about 30 years, many of these 4th great grandparents would have been born sometime between the French and Indian War and the start of the Revolutionary War when the population of the American colonies reached 2.2 million. Continue reading
Springing Into Genealogy
I have been able to trace my ancestors who have resided in this country for over 200 years, with many living in Pennsylvania. My paternal lines settled in the early 1800s in Lycoming and surrounding counties while my maternal lines settled in southwestern Pennsylvania counties before 1800. I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to visit these counties and collect information on them and their descendants. Being a native Pennsylvanian myself, I can often name relatives who are buried in cemeteries that I pass.
When this occurs, my husband Victor will usually say how lucky I am since my ancestors could be found in a short drive. See, his grandparents arrived in America from Italy around the turn of the 20th century and only one set of his great grandparents are buried in this country. He has names that were collected from his grandparents about their families, but Victor kept hitting a brick wall when he tried to find something online to document that these names were accurate. Even ancestry.com didn’t have records that helped. He was a bit envious that is was so ‘easy’ for me.
On our 2014 trip out west last June, however, that changed. Continue reading
Relatively Speaking Blog 