Tag: Family

Another FAN Consideration

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 13 Jul 2016

I definitely enjoyed the following article, Letter of Recommendation, written by David Rees, that was published in the New York Times Magazine recently.  He identified with his grandmother, who he never knew, based on reading excerpts from her diary.  I have experienced similar emotions after reading the diary of a 2 x great aunt of my husband.  I think the major message here is that the more things change the more they stay the same. Although technology and societal changes continue to occur, people really don’t.  Rees’ read a diary written about 100 years ago and I read a diary that was written 130 years ago – both individuals had experiences and reactions that were basic to humanity today.

Rees’ article saddened me as he had no connection with his ancestors before coming across the manuscript.  I have a very small family, too, but the connection with my past was strong.  In hindsight, I guess I can attribute that to my grandmother, Mary Koss, who as the family matriarch, insured that the extended family kept in touch.  After her passing, the family contact ended.  I had to stop and calculate the following number, which shows how long it’s been since the family got together – I have 10 maternal cousins and 5 great cousins of which 2 are deceased.  Since my grandmother’s death, I have only seen 1 cousin in person and that was 5 years ago when I initiated the visit.  I have emailed with one of the great cousins but it ended rather abruptly as our theories of how the family name was changed don’t agree.  One simple little letter – an added “s” – at the end of the name created a gulf.  Silly?  Definitely.   It would have made my grandmother distressed.

For the majority of my cousins, though, we had no disagreements.  There was no wars, famines or other adverse situations that arose to part us.  Rather, we just led our lives in different places and with different circumstances, and along with the passage of time, we became disconnected.  I know my family is not alone.

This month, my grandmother would have celebrated her 116th birthday.  As I get ready to head out on a research trip combined with a business trip I’m thinking I’ll try to make an attempt at reconnecting when I return.  I know it’s time.

A New FAN Idea

Originally published on genealogyatheart.com on 17 Jan 2016.

FAN – Friends and Neighbors – of your ancestors is a tried and true way to help uncover brick walls. It didn’t dawn on me that checking out your current Friends and Neighbors can also help you connect with the past. In December, I was talking to my office mate about my genealogical plans for the holidays.  She has no interest in genealogy but inherited from her grandmother all of the family heirlooms which she keeps in her garage.  GASP!  I almost had a heart attack when she told me she has an indentured servant record of an ancestor from the 1700’s in her garage, along with civil war letters and tintype photos.  The look on my face must have said it all as she immediately told me I shouldn’t worry as she had “all that stuff in acid free folders and binders” in rubber totes.  I mentioned no air conditioning, high humidity, bugs and rodents (hey, this is Florida and that is in everyone’s neighborhood!), not to mention dust, mold and temperature extremes.  She decided she would spend a few minutes over the holidays cleaning out a closet to store these family treasures.

That evening, I got a text from her with several pictures of documents and a question about how she could find out the name of a man in a photo and how he was related to her.  Since I didn’t get her a Christmas gift I told her I’d check it out.  Three hours later I had discovered the man’s name, occupation, place of birth and sad tale of his daughter who had been the clue in identifying him.  Still working on how she’s related to him and I suspect she isn’t.  My present hypothesis is that she is related to the man’s daughter’s husband.  They had no living children so the photo may have passed to the husband’s surviving family members.

Oddly, my husband’s got family with the same name in the same location at the same time with the same occupation and I bet I can tie everyone together.  If so, this means that my husband is distantly related to my office mate.  If not, their families were definitely neighbors.

We live in the Florida.  The family I’m researching lived in New York in the 1800’s.  My husband was born in Indiana and my office mate in Massachusetts.  If she hadn’t mentioned the stash of heirlooms in her garage I would have never discovered a connection.  Yes, the FAN method works but not the way I expected!