KEEP ON LOOKING

Well my sister has given me an assignment.  Try to find information on her daughter's father.  All she has is a place of birth, date of birth, and parents.  Sometimes it's easier if you're looking for someone that was born one hundred years ago, not sixty years ago.  Not only is it sixty years ago but it's a very common name! 

I've looked through the census for that state and county and I think I found who I'm looking for, but.  This is not easy.  Guess I'll have to keep you informed about this one.  Maybe you are having trouble with this also. 

Now on to another dilemma.  I've been asked to help someone find his parents.  He was adopted, and through DNA we are related.  We are 2nd and 3rd cousins.  Oh yes, it was a closed adoption.

Now this could really get interesting as I really don't know who my biological father is either.  So you see what I'm up against.  Plus I've never dealt with adoptions.   What a challenge, but then I like challenges. 

Another one I will have to keep you informed on. 

Now the Green side of the family is going quite well.  I've found all the children of Nathaniel, where they lived, and where most of them died.  I haven't found where Nathaniel died yet though.  I have an idea but until I get that piece of paper in hand and know where he is buried, I do not know.  Got to have that paper trail, otherwise you have no way to prove what you are saying.

So until then...................

NEW GENEALOGY INFORMATION

It's been like a flood gate of information lately.  What it boils down to is do not give up.  Keep looking and eventually you will find the information you are looking for.  Slow and steady, each day at a time.

More and more people are looking to ancestry.com for their information but they forget about other important places to look.  Other than packing your suitcase, gasing up the car, and heading to where your ancestor lived, there is that age old way of seeking information.  Writing a letter.  Yes, paper, pen, envelope, and a stamp.

Of course there is an easier way.  Go to google, find the county your ancestor lived in, and start looking in their archives.  You would be surprised what you will find.  I have found the cemeteries where they were buried which also gave me dates.  From that you can write to the County Records and get a death certificate.

Sometimes the information you are looking for is not on that website but there is usually a contact person listed.  By that I mean you will find someone's name that is willing to look for information for you.  I've made new friends and found ancestors this way.

Which takes me back to my new information.  I am one step closer to my great, great, grandfather's daughter.  All roads now lead to her.  I can't believe I finally found her. 

I have traveled and lived all over the United States and now when I find out where my ancestors lived I'm amazed.  Amazed because some of them lived in the same states, counties, and some even in the same town.  I wished I had started looking for these ancestors sooner, perhaps I would have been able to meet them.  Then again that is probably wishful thinking.

Well I'm off to locate more ancestors.  Nose to the ground, sniffing out the scent, eyes and ears open.

Until then.................

SPRING IS HERE

It's the first of May, it's been a hot April, so you'd think today would be a bit warm.  Maybe even a drop or two of rain.  The sky is over cast with clouds rolling by frequently.  Let me see now, April showers bring May flowers.  March was supposed to be windy.  If it comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb, and vice versa.  Wrong!  This year everything is topsy turvy.

But it must be spring.  I put the hummingbird feeder outside my window and my little friend is back drinking like there is no tomorrow.  Every time I start to type I see his little wings fluttering while he is taking a sip of sweet nectar. 

Then why am I cold.  I even went to my closet and exchanged my capri pants for levis, my light t-shirt for a long sleeved shirt plus a sweater.  The temperature dropped over night and I'm freezing.  Like I said the weather has gone crazy.  Tornados upon tornados have hit so many states in the south.  Earthquakes, tidal waves, raging wild fires.  Rivers in the midwest have expanded their banks until farms and whole towns are under water. 

Well my friends my yard work is done so I'm going to stay inside and get my writing and researching caught up.  I'm not sure if I ever get caught up but I do give it the old heave ho and try.

Until then.....................

NEW VIGOR

What a strange title for today.  My life has been full of family and not much else so as you can see my blog has been sparse this month.  Between new great grandbabies being born, of course I have to visit, a husband that had a liver biopsy, and just the usual, I haven't been very good at updating.

But today I got a shot in the arm so to speak.  I received an e-mail from a lady that said she googled Nathaniel Green's name and she came up with the information I had posted.  Wow!  I am elated that someone found what I had put out there.  Especially from a branch of the family I had little information on. 

I search and research my information to make sure it is correct before I post.  There is nothing more heart breaking to find out that you've done all this research and come to find out you do not have the right person.  Oh don't get me wrong I've done that.  I even litterally followed a family to Dubois, Wyoming and found out it wasn't my family.  I even took pictures of their graves.  But alas not part of my family.  It was a beautiful trip though.  My husband even said so!

It is with great joy to let everyone know I will be hosting the first ever Nathaniel T. Green family reunion.  Now this is the Nathaniel T. Green who was born abt. 1822 in New York.  He married the following women, Sarah Bessey (Bessie), Melissa Davis, and Clarissa Barnes.

The following are his children by these women:  Ira Willis, Sarah, Elmer T., Ezra, Thomas, Edward, Charles, Baxter, Elijah, George W., and Cedar.  If you think you are related to any of these children I would greatly appreciate your input. 

Oh yes the book on Nathaniel is rolling and no I haven't forgotten Katie.  Working on that also.  My work is cut out for me for the rest of this year!

Until then...............

APRIL FOOL'S DAY

Another new month.  Wow how the time flys.  Today is my daughter's birthday.  My jokester.....and I'm awaiting the birth of her second grandchild, my fifth great grandchild.  I was really hoping for another April Fool baby.  In fact my little brother was born on April Fool's Day too.  Guess he was my mother's little joke.

All kidding aside I'm very anxious for the new baby.  Guess you could say so is her mommy, my granddaughter.  From all accounts she has been a very good mommy to her two year old daughter and I suspect she will be just as doting on her son as she has been on her daugher.  But I would have to caution her that boys are so much more different to raise than daughters!

Right now all you have to do is ask my other daughter about raising a boy and a daughter.  Last night she called and asked me what am I going to do with him.  Everyday is something new at school.  I'm at my wits end. 

Well dear, they are all different.  You just have to find that perfect, or the right, thing that will stop them in their tracks when they are misbehaving.  Sometimes that takes a lot of give and take......as a mother of four girls and two boys would say.

All in all I can say I was blessed beyond my wildest dreams with the children I've raised.  There were only a few growing pains between all of them that put the gray hairs on my head.  None of us were given an instruction book when our babies were born, but if you are in step with the Lord, stay in His word, attend church regularly, and leave the lines of communication open between you and your children you've raised your family with His guidance.

Thank you Lord for your help all the way.

Until then............................

IT'S COMING TOGETHER

At least I think it's coming together.  My list for the family reunion is growing and I'm finding out new things.  By new things I'm finding family members I thought I'd never find.  Just a few more places to look and I've found all but one son.

It's amazing how I've been able to trace their long journey from coast to coast.  In this day and age we think nothing of it as we board a plane and fly half way around the world.  Or we jump in the car and drive for eight hours and we've gone at least 800 miles (of course that is if you have a wide open road, no cars, etc).  You get the picture.

Our ancestors thought they went a long distance when they traveled ten miles in a day.  They packed their wagons with all their possessions, hitched the team, and they were off.  Most walked beside the wagons to leave room for more of their goods.  Then you have to take in consideration there were no paved roads.  There were ruts, ravines, rivers, hills, mountains, and perhaps a robber or two, along with raiding Indians. 

If you had a broken axle or wheel you were the one that fixed it.  You couldn't phone AAA to come and replace it.  A wagon could over turn and it would take many people to turn it right side again.  Sickness was another hitch in the trip.  Family members were buried along the way.  A simple mound of rocks were placed over the loved one.  In some cases if there was any wood nearby a make shift cross was made and pounded into the ground.  Most didn't know how to read or write so no name was etched in the wood.  Only the family and God knew who was buried there.

Yet our ancestors kept coming.  Stopping only long enough to sleep and make their meager meals before setting out again the next day looking for land.  Abundant, fertile,lush land where they could build their home, raise their families, and plant their crops. 

Determination, perseverance, hard work, drive, endurance, grit, and patience were what our fore fathers were made of.  They pushed onward and settled the land so their generation could pass it on their generation and so on. 

Oh my I'm getting ahead of myself again.  I've traced most of my ancestors from New York to the Oregon coast, stopping along the way to farm, raise children, and then push on.  So here we go again.....finding more information today.

Until then......................

Genealogy

And then there is the big family reunion coming up next year.  Got to have that book finished for the reunion.  It's close, but then that only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.  I sent the flyer out to quite a few family members, most all of the documentation is done, and I have the story to go with the book.  Now to get it into perspective.

Nathaniel T. Green born in New York, somewhere in New York, moved west until he made it to the Oregon coast.  Took him eighty years but he made it.  Of course he stopped along the way, homesteaded, married, had children, raised children, and had visions of our great country that was still unsettled.

Sometimes I sit and ponder what our country must have looked like in the 1800's.  Wild animals, land that was lush with vegetation, untamed rivers, lakes, and streams.  Clear blue skies ranging from light blue to deep prussian blue when wild storms formed.

So......got to get to writing.

Until then........