Relics: Genealogy, family stories, history & other curiosities.

  In honor of Veteran's Day this episode of What's Your Story is devoted to researching the Veteran's in our families.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUFAb4WWHas

  Lois Powell and I have completed another episode of our What's Your Story podcast.  This month's topic is Genealogy Websites and Resources that researchers can utilize for free.  Let us know if you have a favorite resource that you like to use.   Listen to our podcast here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyBKp79zoKA

  On August 21, 1862 my three times great grandfather, Jacob Rose enlisted in the US Army to fight in the Civil War. He was 42 years old.  He was accompanied by his two oldest sons, James and John. Left at home was his wife Emeline, three months pregnant with my two times grandfather and ten other children.  I have learned some about Jacob's service and I am waiting for his pension file from the National Archive.  I am hoping the file will lead me to clues about Emeline.  More on her someday.  

  It's no secret that I am a huge fan of utilizing the FAN club to make connections between families in my research. Pun intended. The FAN Club, a term coined by genealogist Elizabeth Shown Mills, is researching  the friends, associates and neighbors of your research subject. Our ancestors often married the girl or boy next door or witnessed their marriages and christenings.  Here is one example from my family research.  Are Sarah Williams Scannell and Bathsheba (AKA Martha) Williams Cassidy sisters?  The FAN Club helps us discover many important clues that can reveal relationships and solve research riddles.  Leaving the port of Londonderry, Northern Ireland on the Caledonia, John (b. 1784) and Margaret Williams (b. 1789) arrived in New York on 15 June 1839.  Accompanying them are their six children:  James         born 1815           age 24 on arrival          ...

 Finding Females in your family tree can be a challenge! In this episode of our podcast, Lois and I share some ideas to help you find those ladies!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlNL9cq_KKA

 Lois Powell and I are back with a new podcast episode, all about one of my favorite record sets, the census!   The census records are a valuable tool for genealogists. Give our podcast a listen here!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8PcS3HUPYs

  I have been focusing some of my time lately on my paternal grandmother's maternal family.  Mainly the Bell and Brown families of Haverstraw and Garnerville, NY.   Mary, or in some documents, Barbara Brown was born about 1833 or 1834.  She married William Brown. They had nine children over the course of 16 years, at least seven surviving to adulthood.  I know so little about Mary/ Barbara. Her first name seems to interchange in each record I find. Her maiden name, while I have several clues, it remains a mystery for now. I was able to find a small death notice for William, who died in 1883, but until recently I had no death information for Mary.  According to the 1870 Census, William and two of his oldest sons work at the Calico Factory, a major part of the economy of the Garnerville area in the 1800's in a building that still stands today.   Two doors down from the Browns, live the Bells. In 1888, Henry Bell marries a daughter of William an...