Ancestors by Diane Burton

 As I wait for the edits to Numbers Never Lie, I’m catching up on a lot of things, along with relaxing . . . somewhat. Last week, something happened that sidetracked me from the financial stuff with my books. Darn.

My sister received an email from our grandmother’s sister’s granddaughter via Ancestry.com. Apparently, Ellen found my sister because she’d gotten her DNA done through Ancestry. I contacted Ellen and that spurred me to get back to working on my genealogy—something I’ve done sporadically for about forty years. Even less so since I’ve been writing.

I remembered Ellen’s mother (my dad’s cousin). I think she came to my wedding. Since that was back in the dark ages, though, I’m not positive. 😉

As I looked over my family tree, I was surprised by how much I didn’t know about my generation: their marriages, children, and grandchildren. My sister is the family connector. She calls cousins, visits our sole surviving uncle and our dad's cousin, generally keeps in touch. She never married and, perhaps, this is her way of maintaining a family.

Somewhere in my office (that needs organizing) is a box with wedding invitations, birth announcements, etc. I have all the info I need to fill in the info, just not at hand. One thing I was pleased about is Ancestry’s privacy policy. Living members are hidden from the public. Yay! Originally, I was afraid to add them for privacy reasons.

A couple of days ago, Betsy Ashton wrote about being keeper of the "box." That's me. I have letters from my grandfather to my grandmother when they were courting. I need to scan them so my brothers and sisters can read them. Same with old pictures. 

I’ve always thought it was important to know where I came from. Not for inheritance sake, like my grandmother and her cousins thought. Hubs joined Ancestry to organize all the “stuff” he’s collected and stories from his mother, dad, and aunt. He’s stuck on his grandfather. According to his aunt, the one time her sister asked about his family, Grandfather teared up and their mother forbade them to ask again. Too bad. That’s a mystery Hubs is still trying to solve.

In a post here several years ago, I mentioned my grandmother and her cousins hiring a genealogist to trace their family history. According to legend, their ancestor (Anneke Jans Borgardus) who was the daughter of the king of The Netherlands married against his will and was disinherited for seven generations. Gram’s cousins were certain they were the seventh generations and would inherit buckets of money. Since this was in the 1930s, amid the Great Depression in Detroit, it’s easy to understand their desire. And to throw money at the genealogist who told them (repeatedly) he was almost there. Unfortunately, the legend was just that. A legend.

Amazingly, much of what his report said can be backed up with documents, especially through the DAR. However, many assumptions the family had proved false. Hence, no inheritance. Darn.

While on this journey to find out where I came from, I talked to (or corresponded with) several relatives in my grandmother’s generation. It was great reading about our grandfather’s courtship of our grandmother through the eyes of her sister with whom she lived. With the exception of one of my dad’s brothers and one of his cousins, the people of that generation are no longer with us. Gone, too, are their stories.

It looks like I’m the family storyteller now.

What a scary thought. The responsibility of keeping the family stories alive is mine. Enter technology. While people gripe about how technology is taking over our lives, I’m applauding the ease with which things can be shared. Scan in pictures and letters then send electronically to someone in California. Easy peasy.

When we first joined Ancestry, I didn’t realize that I could share all that knowledge with my family, whether they are members of Ancestry or not. I recently discovered my youngest cousin (same age as my daughter) is on Ancestry. I happily shared what I know with him. It will be wonderful that our family history will live on. That is a big relief. The burden can be shared.

Now, it’s time to get back to the other chores awaiting me. And the next book.

BTW, here's the cover for my soon-to-be released romantic suspense.

Diane Burton combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction, and romance into writing romantic fiction. She blogs here on the 16th and 30th of each month. She shares snippets from her stories every weekend on her blog. Her newest romantic suspense, Numbers Never Lie, will be released next month.

Who's Face Was That?

by Jena Galifany

I love to spend time trying to back track my family history. We do have the occasional highlights in the family tree. On my mother's side, she is third cousin to Winston Churchill, a fact that shows up with a look at my brother.


The thing that amazes me the most is how the faces keep being handed down. They may skip a generation or two, but there are several repeat performances.


One such repeat had my father baffled at how my younger sister could be in a picture with our mother when Mom was only fifteen. It turned out that the one who Sherri shares a face with was my dad's sister, Julia. Daddy didn't figure it out until my uncle told him he should recognize his own baby sister.



Then there is my niece, Talena and my father's Aunt Cornie. The hair styles were definitely different, but the face is the same.

I have been privileged to share a face with my Grandmother Margie Pearl, my dad's mother. The older I get, the more I look like her.





The most fun I've had matching the faces in my family photo collection is this set. It shows me in the first photo. The second photo is me again, the baby sitting on my Grandmother's lap. The third photo is my son, Nick.

 It amazes me how the genetics work to pass a face down through the years. Last but not least, my mother has the Churchill look down pat. Don't you think? After all, they are third cousins.

I hope I've not bored you too much with my comparisons of the family faces that have been handed down over the years. There are others but I didn't want to be known as the blogger with the "old home movies".

I do want to point out that it is important to record all that you can about your family history. My mother is the last survivor of her family. She is the youngest of fifteen children. She never thought it was important to listen to the old stories Now she wishes she had because there is no one left to ask. We have a large collection of photographs from years gone by but there is no one to ask who the people are in the photos.

If you have elderly in your family and you have photos, have a reunion and spent time writing down who is who as well as anything else you can find out about your heritage. It will mean a lot to the generations that come after you. Especially if they happen to see their own face in one of those old photos.
 ________________


Cheers!

Please check out The ShadowsForge Series and Shyanne's Secret, available from Whiskey Creek Press
Available from Red Rose Publishing are Her Perfect Man and Love Lifted Me. Coming Soon from Red Rose Publishing: Day Labor.

Family Reunion by Jena Galifany

Have you ever had a family reunion? I bet it was interesting seeing everyone you hadn't seen in many months or maybe even years. It must have been hard to say good-bye again after it was over. I have to ask these questions because the last one I was at was for my father's family and I was eighteen years old. That was in 1976.

At that get-together, I was able to see my Uncle Bob, Uncle Billy, and my Aunt Marge. I got to meet cousins that I'd never met before, thought we were only related by marriage. It was interesting but not the blast I thought it would be. We were worlds apart. I was older than they were and they only wanted to go skateboarding around the neighborhood. They grew up in Arkansas and Texas, and I grew up in California. Needless to say, I spent my time with the older generation.

I've only seen my Uncle Billy once since that day, at my first wedding in 1979. He's passed away now as are most of my aunts and uncles on both sides. I don't mean to make this article a sad event. What I'm leading up to is the fun I have in tracking down information and putting together my family tree.

Wm Provins. Sr. Family

Have you ever done genealogy? It can be quite the adventure discovering your roots and how far they go. On my father's side, I've only just begun to do the research. What is making it difficult is that after three generations, the family disappears. My dad thinks that maybe the name was different but we have no one to ask about it. That is the importance of asking questions and making notes on your family history before they are all gone. Out of eight siblings, my dad, Uncle Bob and Aunt Marge are the only ones left.

(My father is on the left on the bottom step followed by Bob and Billy. Aunt Marge is on the next step, holding Barbara. Margie Pearl (Grandma) and Wm Sr (Grandpa), holding Julia, are on the top step. Dad's oldest sister was already married and his youngest brother was not yet born when this photo was taken.)

Mary and Bill Provins, Jr.

On my mother's side, we have a family tree back to 1857 in County Cork, Ireland. We know that Elicum Briggs set out for a better life and traveled through England where he married a nice young lady with the family name of Churchill. Shortly there after, the family sailed for America and settled in Ohio. Through the generations, after moving through Iowa and Missouri, the Williamson family merged with the Thompson family. After fourteen other children Riley and Ferne Thompson produced my mother, Mary.

I am fortunate to have the family tree on this side as my mother is the only one left of her siblings, mother and father. I'd only met two of my aunts on this side, and none of the cousins.

The one I know the most about is my Uncle J.R. Thompson, my mother's brother. His name is only J.R. He joined the Army when he was seventeen and shipped out during the Korean Conflict. He was killed at the age of eighteen. My mother was twelve and she was devastated by the loss. Since she was the youngest and he was six years older, she was closer to him than any of the other children in her family. Most were married before Mom was born.

J.R.Thompson

There are so many little stories I've learned about my family that would have been lost if my mother didn't share them with me. Like the time my mother was throwing a fit in the school yard so J.R. picked her up and spanked her right then and there. She never threw a fit again but she worshiped the ground he walked on. I'm glad she shares these things with me because once she is gone, there will be no one left to share her family history.

Do you have a family tree? Do you ask about the old days when you are talking to your aunts and uncles? Do you still have your grandparents to talk to? If you do, take advantage of the memories they have and write them down for the generations to come. My grandfathers were both gone before I was two. The last time I saw one grandmother was 1966 and the other was in 1979. They are also both gone now.

Make copies of photos and share them. If something should happen to my computer, both my sisters and my brother have copies of all the photos that can't be replaced. Be sure to make notes of who are in the photos and when they were taken, too. Years from now, that information might be lost.

My father and I in 1967

It's fun to research your family tree. See how many "nuts" you can find. There may be a few gems there as well. That lady named Churchill who married Elicum so many years ago is my family connection to a great man by the name of Winston. You see, he is related to a family in Britain with the name of Spencer. One more step takes me from Diana to her son, William, who is now married to a lovely lady by the name of Katherine. It's nice to know there are a few princesses in the family.

I know this was supposed to be about family reunions but when you find out something new about your family history while doing genealogy research, it's like a reunion with a past you didn't know you had. It can be fun and rewarding. You are compiling a great gift for your children and grandchildren as well. They will know where they are from and what kind of wonderful people were their forefathers. It is a unique way to meet those who have gone before.

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Doing research for historical information is one of my favorite parts of writing. I loved the information I found when writing "Shyanne's Secret", my historical inspirational romance. I felt a connection to what Shyanne and Cole were subjected to in 1880s Oregon. My grandmother, Margie Pearl, was a Native American and William Sr was of German descent. I haven't heard stories of any problems they may have had with the mixed culture marriagey. That is another thing I need to talk to my father about.
 
Cole Jackson promised to take care of Shyanne Bennett, to keep her secret. It was a promise he intended to keep—and then her father lynched him. It might take time, but he’d

find a way.

Shyanne Bennett loved Cole Jackson, that sassy half-blood. She lost her mind when he died to keep her secret. Cole promised to take care of her but how could he once Harvey Bennett hung him? Maybe her heart might find solace in becoming the wife of his look-alike cousin, Will Marshall. And then again, maybe the heartache will only begin again.

Discover how it turned out for Cole and Shyanne by reading "Shyanne's Secret", available from Whiskey Creek Press.

Cheers,
Jena Galifany
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