Spirited and Lively Older Women Thread

heartnsoun76 - I have been doing that off and on for several years and it is addictive.  I had a hard time justifying the cost for awhile but worried about all the work I put in.  Good news is that when you join back up again it is still all there.  It is fun to connect all the dots. 

HNS, our daughter did some research into hub's side of family tree (I have a SIL who has done my side already) and she found her great-grandfather's papers from when he got to Ellis Island from Poland - the actual document.  It was fascinating!  That stuff really can get cool you just have to devote lots of time and often lots of money.  I'm glad other people in my family took the time, I don't have that kind of patience!

I have had a lot of fun with geneology too. There have been a few interesting skeletons in the proverbial closets.

Best of all is that as a result I found two sets of second cousins in England who grew up in the same city and didn't know each other. Each of them came here for a visit to meet this side of the family and I went to the UK this fall including visits to them on my adventure. There is no end to the various trails that can be followed. Recently I found census material to identify a paternal great great grandmother. 

Meanwhile, my grandchildren know four of their great grandparents. The other day I told my granddaughter when (at 19 months) she shouted "picture" that the lady in the picture is her 4x great grandmother. She wasn't all that interested.

Lassie - that is a great story!  What an adventure.

Heartnsoul. I did geneaology for a couple of years, but I never used any pay sites..I got back to the year 36AD on two sides of my grandmothers group.  I have the docs too now for many orgs, but I had to get hard copies of death,birth, marriages etc. at least going back to the 1600s here in the states..so I got them from town clerks etc. The only cost I had was for those in some towns . Start with the Mormon site. familysearch.org which is free and anyone can use. I am not a Mormon but it was so helpful. They also had a library here in town to use and they helped me too..

Lisa - I'm fascinated that you were able to go back so far as 36AD with your geneology. The earliest I've found is the late 1700s. An English cousin has traced one line back to the 1400s because he has access to original records there.  How did you do yours?

Well all I can say is you certainly did put your time to good use, Lisa.  Some people would have just eaten bon-bons and watched soap operas. 

Barbara, you're right it was the Ocean City,MD trip...at first I thought it was from the year was did Mt. Everest too but that was later, wasn't it?

Marybe is that a new avatar or am I just noticing an old one?  I love it!!

Lisa what a great way to turn that nightmarish time into something good. I really admire that

Hope all who are mothers are enjoying your day whether surrounded by your kids or (like me) not. We celebrated last week so today I'm just cleaning!! 

Hugs to all.

Lisa - fortunately, a lot of people have done a lot of work before me so it looks like I can go back to Jamestown and England on my grandmother's maternal side using Ancestry.com (did I mention that site is horrible?). The people who I linked up with hired 2 official genealogists of the Crown and take the family back to Charlemagne, and was validated by The Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in America. I know her sister was a member of DAR but she had no children and I have no idea what happened to her paperwork from so many years ago (and how on earth she got it in the 1930's). So, I guess getting the paperwork to be official DAR or Jamestown Society is where the legwork comes in. My father tried to get me to join when I was in my 20's but I thought that was just silly. Now, I wish I had at least taken advantage of his help while he was still alive. Yes, I'm doing it right now, too, because it's going to take some time for me to recover from some of the SE's of chemo. So, I'll do this and gift it all to my cousins and they will have it for their children. Sheesh - somebody has to do it!

One of my grandfather's family lines, Roundtree, goes back to the Duchess of Yorke in the 1600's, and his other line, the Penick family also goes back to Jamestown. There is a book about the Penick family, but it is out of print. They say it is in some libraries in Virginia, and Virginia is where both of my grandparent's families landed in America, so I guess I will be headed to Virginia one of these days. This is quite a job ahead of me!

LOL - my mother's ancestors are another story! Ends up her ancestors ran with the Jesse James Gang during and after the Civil War! I found out this information during chemo. A cousin I never knew, who is about my age, was the historical consultant on the film about Jesse James starring Brad Pitt. He also won the Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Award for Archival Excellence for his research linking Jesse James to North Carolina. SCANDAL, ROMANCE, REVENGE! It's all there in my mother's background, and she never knew anything about it. Being from a small town in NC, I guess the family kept those skeletons in the closet.

I can't wait to check out those sites you recommended! Maybe I can break through a few brick walls. I know the Mormons have probably the most extensive history on all American families - somebody else sent us a very interesting link to our family that came from the Mormon library. This IS kind of fun, and you meet a lot of "new" relatives, but it is sooooo time-consuming. My son is getting very bored with my new game.

Marybe - it does sound like a good drama, well, there is a movie! Can't believe I haven't seen it yet since it stars the uber-hot Brad Pitt! The cousin did write a book, which is also now only available in the local libraries.

When I told my ex-husband about my mother's side of the family, he said, "Well, that explains a lot." HAHA - what he meant was that I am not much of a conformist, and I was a little on the wild side. Not the ladies luncheon type my ex-MIL thought she was getting - lol. But now that I'm a little older, and hopefully wiser, the history part has finally hooked me and I just might be interested in ladies luncheons now. Hopefully with margueritas...

Oh, I forgot to mention my ex-MIL's reaction to my Jesse James connection. Her relatives came to America from Germany after the Civil War and then took a wagon train out west and settled in Kansas. She said they spent a lot of their time on the lookout for Jesse James, so I said, "So, in other words, my ancestors were harassing your ancestors?". I loved that! 

Heartnsoul, if your aunt? was in DAR, you don't need to do all the paperwork all over, they can just look up her name and then if you are in the line all you have to prove is your docs to that person...it really isn't that hard. I too have the Charlemagne thing..funny huh..bet there are millions of us...with the Mayflower docs, you just need to get within a couple of generations because they have all the docs for them. Just so happens my Mayflower is also a Jamestown so that was simple, but I chose not to join either of them...I have fun with Colonial Dames XVII Century, we really do have fun. DAR is a little more meeting oriented so I just go every once in a while, but they have many worthwhile activities..

Marybe, Bruges has been on my list for so long. and now that I have been there I have to say it was soooo worth it..you turn a corner and there is another postcard shot..but afternoons there are scads of tourists so mornings and early mornings are very exciting. We stayed three nights and I still had some stuff I didn't get a chance to see..

Mary, I don't remember what Barb posted..hmmm sorry to duplicate..

Voted for you Marybe!