Friday musings

I seriously don't know why anyone reads this blog. Really. But they do, or rather you do, whoever you are. And thanks for stopping by even when I'm off doing something else I call life and can't do my blog. So thanks.

I don't know why but it warms my heart to look at the stats and see that so many people looked here and even left comments which takes a couple of minutes out of their day. So thanks to the comment leavers especially.

I miss writing this blog when I have no time to do it because of important matters. Sometimes, and this will sound outright silly, I even pop in to read it and mostly like what I see even though I have to resist the urge to edit and rewrite the whole thing. Reading my own blog might sound either vein or ridiculous but it's a way of returning my mind to the wonderful world of genealogy when time doesn't permit me to actually work at it.

I'm not one of those hyper-serious genealogists who would rather spend the family vacation visiting graveyards. At least I'm not right now. Maybe later again. I kind of envy those who do because I know that I'd be further along if I did. And, truth be told, maybe a tad guilty about that too.

Where I am investing my time, genealogy-wise, is getting Mom's stories into book form and then soon taking it to the local quick printer for printing and binding. Presently the photos are all being tweaked for contrast and crispness. They need to look as good as possible on my screen because when they go into the book and get printed they will lose some measure of quality at each step.

I've had a couple of friends who know what's what in the graphic design area take a look and they made some small suggestions that improved the look of it. Lucky to have their input. Now feel like I'm coming down the home stretch of the project!

After that's finished, I've promised a short article on my/our experience with DNA testing for the Old Pike Post, the newsletter of the Allegany County Genealogical Society. Mom and I have written a couple of other articles for them and I look forward to doing this one too. I enjoy writing because it helps me organize thoughts and stories in a useful way instead of them simply rambling around my noggin.

Because I now have an appointment with the metabolic genetics clinic at UCSD, I feel more free to spend less time researching my rare inborn error of metabolism and devote more time to these backlogged genealogy projects. Did I tell you about this? I found out about a problem that's been bothering me for years, no decades, and was left undiagnosed, through a 23andMe DNA test. It was the first clue as to what wasn't working on me. I'm missing one little enzyme! Too bad the FDA has told 23andMe to stop giving health results. They could be helping so many people if they were free to.

And to the good, I did get out a Winter 2014 edition of "What Virginia Knows", our family history newsletter. It does take a chunk of time but it's so worth it to keep family history stories alive and share new finds such as the photo of my second great grandmother. Now all the Kelly cousins know what she looked like.

There's so much more to share. I feel like genealogy happens all around me even when I'm not paying 100% attention to it. A second cousin found me through this blog recently and I'm so glad to be in touch with her and her son who is working on a genealogy project for school. Genealogy is family... and it lives in us now.

Nancy Ann(e?) (Troutman) Workman (1826 - 1882)

My second great grandmother.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/02/friday-musings.html

2013: Is it too late for a glance back?

Oh, dear. It's 2014! Where does the time go? And why do I feel at the end of the year that I could have done more, at least with genealogy? Actually, a lot went on last year, now that I think about it. Maybe it would help me feel better about myself if I took stock and made a list of all the blessings of the year gone by. Yeah, counting blessings always makes me feel better.

1. 23andMe.com DNA Test Results

I just love you, 23andMe! It was about this time last year that I sent my $99 for a DNA kit. Back then, 23andMe was also offering health results along with the genealogy results. Lucky me for getting the test done then because I found that I have a rare inborn error of metabolism and can't process medium chain fatty acids. I'm just missing an enzyme to do that. I always knew something was screwy in that regard but good luck finding that particular needle in a haystack without something like 23ndMe to point me in the right direction. So here I am a year later waiting for my appointment with a geneticist and feeling way better because I now have more than a clue as to what is going on with me. Yes, lucky indeed!  What a big blessing right there.

If you still want your health results, go get tested at 23andMe and then upload your raw file to Prometheus. It only cost $5 and it's another way to either double check your health results or get your results if you missed the 23andMe open window. For more on Prometheus visit SNPedia. Cool, huh?

Now for a report on DNA cousins. I really am mystified by folks who say that don't find any matches by DNA testing. I have DNA cousins crawling out of the emails! Maybe I'm just lucky. Having a tree online and a list of surnames matched with places and date ranges speeds things along, I've found.

My favorite DNA cousin story from last year is the guy who is a fourth cousin and whose father was terminally ill. Mom and I were able to send him a packet of all sorts of interesting family tree info including reports, photos, and a story or two. His dad passed but we're still in touch.

Then there's the speedy connection cousin Angel and I made: match found in two emails! Land speed record, at least for both of us. That was a ton of fun.

This year I want to transfer test results to the other major players and see what happens.

2. Going Local

I just love it that my ancestors had the good sense to all congregate around the general vicinity of the little mountain town of Frostburg, in Allegany County, Maryland. The history buffs and genealogy addicts that focus a lot of energy there are wonderful, friendly, and can't do enough to help. Here are some links to a few of the people and organizations that make working there a happy place.

*The Genealogical Society of Allegany County and their newsletter, Old Pike Post. Go to.
I get a warm and cozy feeling when I think of this group and whenever their treasured newsletter arrives in my inbox. It used to arrive strictly by snail mail which meant that Mom got hers before I did and I'd have to listen and not know what she was talking about for three whole days! Harriet Moore keeps it going and runs the newsletter and I'm happy that she does. All that for only $12 a year!
* Our Brick Walls. Go to.
Here's an excellent example of the very best in grass roots genealogy! Run entirely by Genie Ragan, Editor by Default, and her band of merry volunteers, obits are indexed and entered in their entirety, Civil War Draft list form Allegany County is transcribed, and texts of wills and probate posted. What a cozy home-made web site!
* WHILBR, the Western Maryland Historical Library. Go to.
Although they cover Garrett County and Washington County, their resources on Allegany County are great. From the 1936 flood (which Mom remembers well because she had a new green dress for St. Patrick's Day) to African-American history, or even the 1872 tax rolls for Frostburg, It's all there and more.
* The Cumberland Road Project. Go to.
The old history of Allegany County was largely shaped by coal and transportation, and often the two worked hand-in-hand to move people. My Kelly, Williams, and Thomas people came because of the coal. My Eckhart ancestors were part of the National Road (also called the Cumberland Road.) In addition to important history of the area, this web site has lots of old photos, and you can see some of the little town of Eckhart here. Learning about the history of the area has been very important to my understanding of what my ancestors did and why they did it.

3. New to me cousins!

When I started out 2013 one of my goals was to craft more "cousin bait". Surname Saturday did more to further that task than anything else. Here's one post that caught me a Trimble cousin, and another that netted a Porter cousin. I trailed off doing those Surname Saturday posts because I felt it was getting too far out on the tree and back too many generations to be of much further use, but I might just have to get back to it. I have also thought about going around another time with updates on what's been found lately. And corrections. Yeah, there were mistakes. Yikes!

I often make contact with cousins through Mom's Big Tree on Ancestry.com when they post a comment or send a message. Sure, it's only reaching the folks who have Ancestry.com subscriptions, but for now I'll settle for that.

It's funny but I rarely make contact to anyone through the message boards. Wonder why that is? Are people using other avenues? Hmm, interesting.

4. All the work that Mom has done since the early 1970s. Go to.

There's not a day that goes by that I don't thank my lucky stars that Mom got interested in genealogy and began her quest to link as many people as she could to our family's direct line. It took me a while to discern Mom's objective, but I think I've finally got it. (Sure, you're thinking why didn't I just ask her? That would have been too easy.)
She loves to find people and to that end of doing what she is passionate about, she sought out anyone and everyone that linked up to her tree, no matter how distant. In doing so she linked many of the original settlers of Allegany and Garrett Counties, along with the same in the Hampshire and Morgan Counties in West Virginia. Standing at over 70,000 individuals, it's a true Magnum Opus. It's not done and it's not perfect, as Mom will readily tell you, but as a distant cousin who is a genealogist with solid and thorough skills said to me, Mom has made an important contribution to the history of these families.

Well, yes, I do have a lot to be thankful about! Now I feel pretty good. Time to start 2014 in earnest.

Congregational Church Ladies' Aid Society Picnic.

Frostburg, Allegany County, Maryland. About 1938.

 

 

The URL for this post is:  http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/01/2013-is-it-too-late-for-glance-back.html

Wisdom Wednesday: Hurry Up, Now Slow Down!

Have learned so very much this week! Been watching RootsTech and taking that time away from my regular genea-life to sit in front of the live stream was one of the best things I could have done to further my genealogical education right now. Thank you, RootsTech! But that's not all. The DNA results and DNA contacts are humming along too, but I blogged about that on Monday. Plus, it's new cousins all over the place. Life is good! So now after the hectic pace and the ton of new information, it's time to slow down and digest, then follow up.

Google Search by Dave Barney. I can never know too much about Google search and how to dig even deeper so I was happy to spend some quality time watching this presentation by Dave Barney from Google who knew just how we like it. For some reason, and this coming from a gal who loves family and ancestor's photos, had not thought about all the wonderful ways to tweek the Image Search feature to dig deeper. I can now upload a photo from my file and have Google go look for a similar image. Using this tool to hunt for my mysterious Williams people who did that disappearing act in Upstate New York could be interesting and that's topping my list of things to do. (I learned of this tool a while back but forgot how to get there. Now I know all over again!)

Funny Boy, David Pogue. I like a good laugh so I really liked the presentation on the second day by well-known technology writer, David Pogue. OK, so there was no genealogy content and I don't care a fig. The man was that funny. Go watch for yourself! You deserve a treat:)

FamilySearch Family Tree by Ron Tanner. I came to a deeper and more thorough understanding of what FamilySearch Family Tree is all about due to this presentation. Must say, that if this works and it sure looks like it will, it is going to be the vehicle for building a single tree of common ancestors, with good research behind it. I recently wrote a blog post about the need I felt to stop from having every new genealogist build it all from the ground up. While that's a good way to learn it sure doesn't advance human knowledge. What I really like about Family Tree is this: you see the sources, and you seen who changed and updated the entry and when! And, there will be photos and stories and newspaper articles too. What's not to like in this wonderful way to stop research duplication?

New to me Cousins! I just love it when new cousins find me and we can share! Three recent contacts illustrate beautifully how it's all working when it's working at optimum because they came from three different sources: this blog, a local genealogy organization, and Ancestry Member Trees.
Cousin Karen#1 found me through this blog. Those posts do come up in Google searches!
Karen#2 found Mom because Mom is well known at a local genealogy library in Allegany County in Western Maryland, run by the Allegany County Genealgical Society, where the bulk of recent ancestors back three or four generations lived. Mom's even left a binder there containing a tree and Ahnentafel report and Karen#2 saw it, noted the shared ancestors, got Mom's phone number from the volunteers there, and called Mom. Mom took Karen#2's phone number with the intention of calling her back but I got to her first and yesterday we had a nice long chat. She shared the basics of her immediate and recent ancestors with me and that fills in some descendants down another line from our mutual ancestor, Samuel Albert House. I took copiuos nots and will type them up for Mom thus relieving her of the pick and shovel work. At 94 she deserves an assistant. Karen#2 didn't have a photo of Samuel Albert House and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Farrell, so I was tickled to share that with her!
Cousin Robert found me through Ancestry Member Trees. We share a common ancestor, Benjamin Thomas. There's so much sharing there to be done... as soon as he gets back to me. Hurry up, Robert!

Allegany County List Friends. I do like mailing lists for geographic areas! You can post idiosyncratic questions there and actually get answers. I recently posted a question asking when a manufacturing plant that my Dad worked at closed. Was surprised to find that it hadn't closed, it had just moved! Had no idea!
As with lists like this, eventually you start emailing back and forth sharing stuff and become friends. One of my friends there emailed a photo of a tombstone in St. Michael's Cemetery in Frostburg, Maryland. It's a beautiful old Irish Cross, and the name inscribed, which was just about the only thing that was readable, was John Kelly. Because this person knows I'm over here in the Kelly pile-o-ancestors, she relayed the photo to me... of my 2nd GGF's Irish Cross tombstone! I was able to supply all of the vital data that was worn off the stone.
But there's more!! Through her resources and contacts - wow, she's good and well connected - she was able to solve a long time mystery and that's where his wife, Bridget Cocoran Kelly is buried. Right there next to him!! Now we know where she lies and her date of death too. Next step: get a copy of the death certificate!

How did you find me? Have noticed quite recently that readers of this blog are now coming in some numbers from portable devices such as smart phones as well as social media like facebook and Pinterist. That's a big change from only being read by followers using a reading tool and email. Interesting. Tides are turning. But then change is the only constant these days.

Shout out to fellow bloggers! Just love my fellow blogger. They keep me connected and informed. They are quirky, irreverent, serious when need be, funny too. Don't stop posting! I need you:) Here's an e-hug to you!!

Here lies John Patrick Kelly 1829 - 1891

AND his wife Bridget Cockrane Kelly 1830 - 1912.

This post uses a GeneaBlogger's blogging prompt called Wisdom Wednesdays . Check them out!

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/03/wisdom-wednesday-hurry-up-now-slow-down.html