Memory Tree Genealogy Journal

My research lately is leading me down a Massachusetts rabbit trail of sorts.  Having spent the majority of my life in the Deep South, little did I know that I had such roots in New England!  One of my favorite parts of family history research is taking time to learn about locales that are completely new to me...familiarizing myself with geography, culture, and historical aspects of that particular town/state/country. For context, today's ancestor is my 6th great-grandfather through my mother's father's paternal grandmother's side of the family :).  Papa's grandmother was a MEAD, and Col. John Powell (1752) is connected through that branch of the tree. Col. Powell is one of four patriots connected to the MEAD side of our family.  While digging through newspaper archives in GenealogyBank.com this week, I located the following mortuary notice from The Sun in Pittsfield, MA: John POWELL married Lois CURTIS (1753-1838) on 20 November 1755 in Berkshire County, Ma...

Over the past several weeks, my brain has been immersed in the surnames Smith - Mead - Curtis - Palmer.  Branches of my maternal grandfather's family who trekked from Massachusetts to Vermont to Ohio and finally to Michigan.  More detail than I possible could have imagined - learning about their births, marriages, deaths, estates, land transactions...the list goes on!  Truly fascinating research for a special project that has stretched my genealogical skills to the max. At one point, I felt like a private investigator calling obscure libraries in search of obscure, defunct local newspapers in teeny-tiny local libraries in parts of Michigan I've never even seen.  I owe a debt of gratitude to the power of genealogical serendipity (mentioned before HERE ).  One final, magical detail of this research project emerged last week in the form of a sweet librarian in Coopersville, Michigan who voluntarily found the following obituary on microfilm, scanned, and emai...