Monday, February 15, 2010

Dad and Michael Joseph

I have been doing genealogy since 25 May 2007.  What started out as a few names and dates, has quickly turned into extraordinary lives and stories, some of which, I couldn't make up if I tried.  I have two people who are responsible for my journey to the past.

Dad (1949- )
It was a few months after my Grandfather died, when my Dad decided to take another shot at figuring out who Hiram Blanchard and Elizabeth Ferris were.  As I watched him click around ancestry.com, I became more and more frustrated with how slow he was working.  I also realized some of his research techniques were a little "shady."  For example he would just open a directory and look for the name Blanchard.  It wasn't long before I took over the whole project.  I quickly found out Hiram and Elizabeth were not my family, and all the Blanchard's listed in the 1851 New York directory weren't either.

Michael Joseph Lyons (1884-1891)
The name Michael Joseph Lyons was on one of the first interment lists I ordered from Calvary Cemetery.  I had  to figure out who he was, so I visited the Italian Genealogical Group.  Armed with the certificate number, my next stop was the  NYC Department of Records.  How excited I was to find out his death certificate stated his Mom was born in Prince Edward Island.  Maybe I was related to Lucy Maud Montgomery!  

So why am I writing a blog about all this.  First I would like to capture my feelings and emotions, as I continue my journey to the past.  Second, and more importantly, I need to record what I am doing, and what I have done.  I have found I have been forgetting my reaseach, and in some cases doing research I have already done.  Hopefully this blog will help prevent me from doing this in the future.

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