Father's Day June 21st

So Father's day is less than a month a way, what do you have planned??  A BBQ??  Breakfast??  Fishing??  Just hanging out??  Sharing family history??

 

My sister-in-law asked me a while back to do her a favor for a gift for her father for father's day.  She asked me to do research on her fathers side and put together a binder.  Starting with her father it goes through 5 generations. 

 

Now because you double your numbers every generation you go back I kept it limited to information on the parents.  While there is plenty of information on the children of each set of parents I would probably need more than one binder or a really big one. 

 

It only required research in two state; New York and North Carolina.  North Carolina has a wealth of information online (through Ancestry).  Which is good as I live in New York.

 

The binder is divided by generation than sub-divided by family.  There will be photos that we could get our hands on included.  It was a very fun project (still in progress).

 

So what are you doing for the fathers in your life?  If your having a family get together talk to all your family members and collect research information for yourself and to share later.  Put together something to give to family members of research you have already done.  Do something fun and family history related!!

What are you doing today?

Are you working on any genealogy projects today?  What about this weekend?  When is the last time you picked up your genealogy and worked on it. 

I am currently working on a couple of projects for other family members.  I like when I have something to do on the side.  It help clears my mind.  Then often when I go back to my own I find something new. 

I am helping my sister in law put together a notebook for her father for fathers day.  It's been fun because my own genealogy mainly keeps me in New York and Connecticut. He fathers roots are based in North Carolina.  There are still a lot of family cemeteries down there and I am impressed that they are still in good shape.  I find a lot of cemeteries here in rough shape.

The other project in for a half uncle.  It is something his wife has me working on. 

So what project are you going to work on today and this weekend.  Come on you know you want to pick up one!!!

Don't forget to check out my other blog at:   http://giantgenealogyproject.blogspot.com/
with daily themes.

 

 

 

 

Happy Easter 2015

Happy Easter to my blogging fans.  I hope you are having an awesome day with family and friends.  Just my kids and I today enjoying each others company.  

I have been looking forward to spring.  But I am beginning to believe spring will not be coming here this year.  I am near Oswego NY!!!!   And it is snowing today.  Yep totally snowing.  Thankfully not hard enough today to stick.  I did wake up to over an inch or snow yesterday :(  When it is cold it makes it hard to go out and do anything.

Hopefully I can go out soon.  Maybe I need to start traveling to warmer climates to do some work.  Make some new friends and find new adventures :D

Happy Holiday!!!

Enjoy this picture from yesterday April 4th 2015

What is Genealogy?

What is genealogy?  Genealogy is the study of a families history or lineage.  The study of one’s ancestors.  A look into your roots, your backgrounds.  Those who choose to study their ancestors do it for all different reasons.  Some people what to learn about medical backgrounds.  Sometimes we want to see if we are related to anyone famous.  Often we just want to learn about our roots, what make us up.  Where did our family come from and then pass this information on to our descendants and share it with other family members.

Are you interested in genealogy?  What peaked your interested?  What is your ultimate goal? Are you new to genealogy or have you been working at it for awhile?  Share your stories here.  Maybe you will find someone with similar stories or will find someone that will is where you need to be an can help you research. 

Lets make some new long lasting friends.  :D

I am Reyna 39 (oh that is hard to type lol) mother of 4.  Started genealogy research in 1999 when I found out I was pregnant with my first child.  I got hooked hard and fast.  I am a genealogy junk.  My surnames are Thomas, Bryant, Calovi, Balcom, Cash, Bliss, and there are a few more.  My ancestors are from the Cooperstown area of New York, Dutchess County, NY & Litchfield County, CT.  I live in Oswego County, NY.  Let me know if I can help.  

Learning Something New Everyday!!

 

Today I decided to jump onto my Family Tree Maker and look over all those little leaves.  Not too much new for me except a new record on my Great Grandfather.  He came to this country in 1908 from Italy.  His records have been sketchy at best most times.  Most of his records do not show him with his family.  On census records his wife and kids were always in one spot and he was in another.  He was a lumberman or construction worker so I never thought too much into except he would be where the work was.  That makes sense.

 

Well recently they have uploaded records from Sing Sing Prison and I was totally surprised when the little leaf lead me to a record for my great grandfather.  I clicked on it thinking it was a mistake, misspelling or someone else, but it was not.  It was my great grandfather.  I was extremely impressed with the amount of information on this record.  A lot of which I already knew, some I did not.  I thought he spent most of his time in extreme eastern NY (on the CT boarder) or in Connecticut.  But this record has him in Binghamton NY in 1931.  The total other direction. 

 

He apparently was sent there for abandoning his children under the age of 16 and willfully omitting to furnish necessary food, clothing and shelter.  He spent a year there for that from what I can gather.  I knew that he had 4 daughters.  I did not know that 2 children had passed away.  It tells me who his last employer was.  Also he address when he was arrested. 

 

This was a new find for me.  I hope not to find another one but at the same time I kind of do.  It is an interesting resource.

 

Has anyone else found something similar?

 

 

 

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Find My Past Free Preview

Have you heard of the website Find My Past??  Yes or No now is a great time to get to learn more about them.  From mid-day today til mid-day Monday they are letting you search their world records for free.  Now I am personally going to take advantage of this opportunity.  I have played around a little with this site but nothing major.  I want to see what they have to offer.  Are they similar to Ancestry.com?  Do they have the same records?  Will I be able to find more? 

http://www.findmypast.com/?ref=logo

 

This what it looks like.

So doing a search for my great grandfather who came to America from Italy produced the following results.

 

As you can see the first 3 results are extremely similar (the last name was spelled in correctly upon arrival and has been that way since.)  I already have these records and have had them for a long time.  The rest are just letters. 

I will keep searching and share with you my results.

Creating A Book

I started this blog to help others become interested and familiar with Genealogy.  As I wrote I felt it would be better served in book form.  So here I go.  I plan to publish myself.  I am going to put the book into a 3 ring binder form.  So you can add and subtract where needed.  Here is the page I created at Kickstarter to help me achieve this goal.  Please go ahead and check it out.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613188837/365-days-of-genealogy?ref=nav_search

I would love for you all to share this with everyone you know and encourage them to join my blog. 

I am finally (almost) officially settled into my new home.  Just waiting on the carpets to get done.  But my computer is up and running and while files are still in boxes (to make them easier to move until the carpets are done) I have access to what I need. 

I appreciate everyone who joins my journey.