Memory Tree Genealogy Journal

Pictured: Maude Ella (MaMa) Parrish, Houston County, Alabama.  Photo scanned from original in family collection.

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...

IMAGE SOURCE There's just something about finding a marriage license application on file from a relative that just speaks to my heart.  I imagine the excitement...the butterflies...the feeling of "are we really doing this?!?!" that must have accompanied the happy couple.  While working on a little genealogical detour of my own, I came across this license application and subsequent marriage certificate for my paternal great-grandparents William Ray SMITH and Catherine Margaretha MILLER.  A few months back, I featured Catherine Miller's family IN THIS ARTICLE pertaining to her father's trade in the steel industry.  William and Catherine are the parents of my paternal grandfather (Papa).  Most significant for me in this record is the listing of William's parents' names - E. A. Smith (Edward A. Smith - 1852-1918) and Cora B. Mead (1863-1919).  Feeling the love in the air!

 Happy Memorial Day weekend! Throughout my (brief) course of work as our self-appointed family genealogist (!), I've loved stumbling upon heroic stories of our ancestors and their military experiences.  While Memorial Day is specifically set aside to honor the memory of our fallen heroes - the men and women who died while protecting our country as members of the US Armed Forces - today's journal entry is a little different.  A few months back, I came across an article in the Aberdeen American (South Dakota) documenting the unbelievable account of Ernest Melvey and his experience aboard the USS Westover in WWI.  Ernest Melvey (1896-1973) is my husband's paternal great-uncle.  I've transcribed the article below in its entirety. Why write about this at-sea adventure for Memorial Day?  While our fallen military heroes paid the ultimate sacrifice...many of our heroes have been affected by the traumatic stress of war and extreme danger.  PTSD is p...

Are you using the long weekend to get a jump-start on your family history research?  Extra time to comb through records, articles, and photos?  After wearing both boys out at the playground this morning (and subsequent naps!), I decided to dig into the state records at Family Search - LDS genealogy website that I love, love, love for many reasons. If you've experimented at all with their state records database, you know what I mean by "dig".  Many of the databases available are simply a collection of scanned records with no index...requiring lots of patience and time to painstakingly "flip" through the digital pages to find your item of interest.  This patient searching has paid off on many occasion - leading to some of my biggest finds!  One database in particular that has been helpful for my research is the collection of Pennsylvania Probate Records .  Unlike some of the other state collections of probate records, this collection is organized by county...

"Love is many things...none of them logical" - William Goldman, The Princess Bride . Marriage has been on my mind lately.  As I write this, I'm taking a quick break from penciling-in names on a beautiful fan tree print that I ordered from Etsy a few months back .  Actually putting names and dates on paper is somewhat intimidating!  After months of research and fact-checking, I'm still nervous writing the information on a print that most certainly will go in a frame on my wall.  Years from now, I hope it will be passed from our meager estate to our sons to share and treasure.  May the facts be correct, so help me gosh. Just double-checking a few marriage dates for my great-grandparents Willis Lester Parrish and Maude Ella (Mercer) Parrish, I noticed that they were 18 and 16 years of age, respectively, on their marriage day.  They lived with Maude's father, George Mercer, until at least 1930...along with their daughter (my paternal grandmother) Margie ...

Inspired by THIS POST on The In-Depth Genealogist, my research inspiration today revolves around my ancestors' real estate values.  Using the 1870 US Federal Census, I decided to choose two households from my family tree - one being my best-guess estimate as "richest relative in 1870" and "poorest relative in 1870".  I don't mean this in any disrespectful sort of way...I'm just curious about getting a feel for the socio-economic standing of my ancestors in relation to their neighbors and community. In this particular census, the value of the family's real estate is listed in $ dollars as well as the total estimated value of their personal property.  For comparison in modern-day standards, I ran values for "richest" and "poorest" through an inflation calculator online.  A small disclosure here...I selected these two households based on an educated guess.  With more time, I can browse through ALL 1870 US Census reports attached t...