Memory Tree Genealogy Journal

Every so often, I browse through the new searchable resources available on Ancestry.com.  The majority of my research these days is done on the local level, or using free sites such as FamilySearch.org , Castle Garden (for immigrants arriving in New York before 1890), newspaper archive sites such as Genealogybank.com and Newspapers.com , and Fold3.com for military information.  I still pay pay a monthly subscription (begrudgingly!) to Ancestry because of my DNA testing and results; also, I occasionally use the local search features by state or county.  This week, I noticed a GREAT new resource for anyone with veteran ancestors who served in the US Navy - "Registers of Patients at Naval Hospitals from 1812-1934" .  My husband is the one in our household with family members who served in the US Navy (he's doing his job to keep that tradition alive!).  Since our surname - Melvey - is very uncommon, I always start there when searching a new database.  Neve...

Welcome back!  Yes, that was self-directed.  The entire month of January - it seems - was a bit of a wash, due to our upcoming move, a kitty health "cat"-astrophe, and overall craziness after the Christmas holiday season.  Our home is packed and all belongings are on their way to Virginia from Sicily.  The day of the pack-out, the movers did a fantastic job...but I was sweating bullets over my large plastic tote of genealogical files.  Of course I have scanned copies of the critical documents - but the remainder of the files represent hours of digging, printing, browsing through old newspaper archives online.  Buried stories resurrected with care.  Please, oh please do not let anything happen to my box of treasures!  Yesterday, while the boys napped, I worked a bit on my #1 genealogical goal for 2015 - tracking down naturalization paperwork, passenger lists, and potential hometowns for my half-dozen "German" immigrant relatives.  For each f...

This month, I have been spending the majority of my research time working through one particular family unit from my mother's side of the family - John (Johann) ETZEL (1826-1904) and wife Maria (Schumacher) ETZEL (1837-1894).  Here are quick links to previous installments - part I (from 2013) , part II , part III , part IV , and part V , and part VI . Research Goal: To locate information about John ETZEL (1826-1904) and wife Maria SCHUMACHER (1837-1894) prior to their listing in the 1860 US Federal Census in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Context: John Etzel  is my 3rd great-grandfather on my mother's maternal side of the family. Happy New Year!  In my last installment of ETZEL research, I outlined the discovery I made concerning the hometown of Johannes Etzel and wife, Maria Schumacher.  A breakthrough!  Just before I stumbled upon the couple's immigration and marriage records, I made another discovery that enabled me to start to link Johannes ...