Why, why, why, why? by  dullhunk:  CC BY 2.0 Celebrities are making the circuit of talk shows with books about "Finding My Why", defining purpose and motivation in their lives.  This is an approach to self-help for overcoming some negative aspects of one's life and adapting positive thinking and actions.  The common denominator in most of these books is asking the question, "Why?" As genealogists, we have frequently asked "Why?" in our research.  "Why did they move there ?  Why did they leave wherever  they left.  Why, Why, Why?  It is often one of the first questions we ask. It also one of the last questions we answer.  We get the answers to who, what, when and where through our research in BMD information and census records.  We trace the growth of families and their movement from place to place through newspapers and obituaries. Answering the why question isn't always so simple.  One reason is our lack of knowledge about the...

  A Rose By Any Other Name...  Sheila Unwi n:   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/ A Rose by Any Other Name This is a line from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.  Juliet  seems to argue that it does not matter that  Romeo  is from her family's rival house of Montague. The reference is used to state that the names of things do not affect what they really are.   What genealogists encounter As genealogists who depend on names to identify individuals in our family research, we know the importance of names.   Patronymic patterns When we think of research in Scandinavian families, we immediately prepare ourselves for the John's son, Lars' son, Anders' dotter people in the family tree. An enormous number of cultures around the world use naming systems like these; look at Wikipedia for a large list:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patronymic . Even many of the English names we're used to began as patronymics; think of all the f...

Ethan Allen and Captain de la Place. May 1775. The capture of Fort Ticonderoga, New York. Copy of engraving after Alonzo Chappel. How do you view the history you have learned while researching your families?  I recently read a great line, "History should feel like walking into someone's living room, not like sitting in a classroom." [ 1]   I hope the history I am about to share is comfortable.   Throughout my middle and high school years I always flunked the chapters of history that covered wars.  Thanks to my ancestors, I was able to learn a lot about the Revolutionary War period.   For several of my Stowe ancestors  I found muster roll cards and pay cards; these had enough information for me to search places and dates so I could picture how my ancestor was involved. I learned that, April 26, 1775, one week after Lexington and Concord, Jonah Stowe returned from Alstead, New Hampshire Colony to enlist in the Massachusetts Militia.  He fo...

  To celebrate America 250 (our 250th anniversary of independence),  Washington State Genealogical Society  will be posting articles on Revolutionary War ancestors of our members.  If you have a Revolutionary War ancestor, please send the Word document to Charles Hansen, our blog master.  Our secretary, Jill Scott, has already sent in a very interesting article on her distant grandfather who was a Green Mountain Man, a very famous militia. Please share your story with SKCGS as well.  Here is one of my ancestors--Charles Dyer Captain of Rhode Island militia. Gravestone of Charles Dyer, Shaftsbury, Bennington, Vermont Charles was a descendant of several generations of public and military service in the Rhode Island Colony.  He served throughout the war and then settled in Vermont with other family shortly after the war.  He lived a long life, dying at age 92.  He had never applied for a pension, stating that he was well off and other people nee...

Women's Month Vectors by Vecteezy Note: this post is excerpted from one published some years ago by MaryLynn. Enjoy, and send us your own stories this Women's History Month. Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History  is the title of a book by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, written in 1976. Since that time the slogan has become bumper stickers, pins, placards, t-shirts, and many other memorabilia. It has become the cry of feminists and is a truism throughout history. When a woman, or group of women, affected society, it was usually by stepping outside the norm. I would like to share some quotes from the book and how they have fit in with some of our own ancestors or women in history whom we admire.  Follow this link to quotes and see if you are inspired about someone in your history. Quotes: “Some history-making is intentional; much of it is accidental. People make history when they scale a mountain, ignite a bomb, or refuse to move to the back of the bus. But they also make history by k...

The Semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States, is being celebrated this year and everywhere you turn, you are being invited to participate. When I think of 1776 and the birth of this nation, I think of my Revolutionary era ancestors and how they were involved in the struggles and successes in their lives.  I suppose I am fortunate to have such ancestors to remind me of the "Spirit of '76" in establishing our country. I have to remind myself that 1776 was only the beginning, the birth. It is the 250 years of growth, exploration, immigration, poverty, riches, turmoil and triumph, that we celebrate today. These are the stories, the moments in our personal and collective histories that we can share with others.   Some of our stories are proud moments; some are humorous; some are of sad times or regrettable situations. But they all must be shared; look around you and find a place where you can contribute your story. National Celebration Americ...

Ron Strutt: Hops Garden Syndale Farm, Kent UK   Some things I have never thought to ponder: Hops by Pixnio Hops Hops plant growth Harvesting hops Post World War I economy Low income Londoners These are all things I learned about in The Hop-Pickers Murders , the latest crime mystery featuring forensic  genealogist, Morton Farrier.   Author Nathan Dylan Goodwin once again displays his genius by immersing his readers in a distinctive time and place.  This 11th novel in the Morton Farrier series introduces us to the unique time and place of hop-pickers in Kent, England after WWI before mechanization became the method for mass production.  Morton solves a mystery of theft, disappearance and murder for a client who discovered her aunt's journal. We catch up with Morton's personal life as well; he struggles to concentrate despite his 3-year-old's drum kit "practice" and the unknown menace bent on destroying his career.  Morton always gives a lesson in genealo...