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.
