Monday, March 29, 2010

Connect the Limbs


I think new meds are playing havoc with my writing at the moment, and emotionally, I'm a mess. I had a melt down this week and actually deleted two blogs, resigned from another, and cut my self off from a great group of friends. My body told me I needed to take some deep breaths and do something different...so I immersed myself in ancestry.com.

What a trip I've taken. I started family trees for my side of the family, and for my husband's. The people and connections I've run across have been amazing. Researching my family, (Pomerantz/Goldberg and Poole/Jones) has given me information I never knew about my father's side of the family and I'm stalled with my Grandmother who came here from Russian in 1905. I even found information that told when she arrived and aboard which vessel via Liverpool, England. On the Jones side, I ran into what I imagined...common names and dead ends, but I'm not giving up. I'm afraid I may discover that my ex-husband and I are related via the Jones connection. *lol* His father was a Jones and my maternal grandmother was a Jones. Do you have any idea how many Jones' are listed on the registry? A great many of them were slaves.

When I switched to my husband's relatives, (Simpson/Austin/Grady), I've worked my way back to the 1700s, discovering that my husband is indeed related to John Wilkes Booth. Not something to brag about, but interesting nonetheless. I discovered one relative that fought in countless battles during the Civil War. Reading the list from the roster gave me shivers.

The site gives you access to so many records. I see now why the Census is so important. People are listed with ages, siblings, mother, father...so many clues to follow. One woman was definitely an orphan as only young children were listed as housemates, and another was part of a Cherokee tribe and the entire "nation" was listed on the census. It's been a fun and relaxing way to spend time.

Sadly, my free trial is up soon and if I want to continue, I'm going to have to pay. I'm considering that it will be money well spent. Just imagine how it feels as you move through the generations and find other family trees on site linked to your relative. As names changed on Kelly's side from Grady to Pugh to Sanders, I was provided links with other people researching the same person I was at the moment, and most of the time, I found more links to keep me going. Amazing is all I can say.

I had always heard that there was a name change somewhere in my father's side of the family. My maiden name was Pomerantz, my paternal grandfather was Pomerantz, but his father was Halevi. Now I have to discover a whole new path, but I fear it leads to Russia and I may never know more. Still, I'm going to have fun looking, and I'll undoubtedly find out more as I add in siblings, spouses and children.

I caught this ancestry virus from the new TV series,"Do You Know Who You Are?" I only wish I had the money the celebrity cast does to make trips abroad to conduct further research. But,I'm doing fine on a free trial, and I think I've found a new hobby to inspire even more historical fiction novels. Funny how that happens. And who knows....some of you just might be related to me. :)



I "borrowed" the nifty art work from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation page.

4 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear you had such a meltdown, Ginger. This new interest may just keep you focused for a while. My sister gave me genealogy software several years ago, but I have not used it. Maybe I will after reading how much fun you had so far.

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  2. Ginger, I've been toying with the idea of becoming a member of ancestry.com. I'm not sure if it will be useful to me unless they can provide info. from Italy. I'm first generation here in the U.S.

    Glad you found a new hobby. LOL

    Also glad you're regrouping. Sometimes, a little meltdown isn't just for kids. **smile**

    Love you, sweetie.

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  3. Hi Ginger! I hope you get through your meltdown easily. So sorry to hear of it.

    Regarding ancestry.com: I've had a membership for a lot of years. There is a ton of information there. And trust me when I tell you that fodder is good for writing! Blood Soup came about because of some genealogy research I was doing!

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  4. Hi Ginger,
    Hope ur better after ur meltdown...I've been feeling like a ball of soft wax myself for months now...lol...Anyhoo, I joined Ancestry back many months ago and I think it's worth every dime...True, once u reach where ur ancestors came to America way back when, it sort of stops further research, but just to be able to trace them back so far is amazing. I was able to trace my family line from my grandfather's side, (My mother's dad) to England where my great...etc, etc. grandfather arrived in this country aboard ship in the early 1700-1800 hundreds...(would have to go look now to get the exact date)...The trail was so easy to follow and I was surprised to learn that one particular male name had been passed from this long ago relative down thru the ages...Once I got to his point, everything came to a deadend...I couldn't access English records of course, but Oh! I'd love to finish that side of my family line...Maybe one day I'll get back to it...(Maybe when I have another meltdown, too)...lol....Tabs

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