Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Questions 1-5

Randy Seaver’s Saturday night Genealogy Post this week refers to another blogger, Ellen Thompson-Jennings.  She’s created 20 questions about genealogy. This week Randy gave us the first five which I’ve edited for this post:

Which ancestor has had the most children?  Hiram R. Dunbar and his wife Jemima (nee Wolf) had 10 children between 1828-1850. Nine lived until adulthood, some until nearly 100, same as Jemima  who was 96 years old. I have found and contacted at least one descendant from each branch. Only one branch has been less than cooperative, but there was a lawsuit between that branch and the others that went all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court..so I kinda understand.

When did you start genealogy? In 1979, I really started getting serious about it. Two events happened that year, my grandmother’s death, and my own wedding, giving me the opportunity to ask questions from family I normally don’t see.  (Yes! Even at my wedding reception I was taking notes.)

Do you collaborate? I DO collaborate. I love solving family mysteries. When I start a new project, I email others who might be interested is solving the same issue. Sometimes we split the cost of ordering a document, or maybe one of us gets a great idea.  It’s fun.

Have you hired a professional? Several (maybe 6) times, with mostly good results. I hire when I’m pretty sure I’ll never travel to the area. Only one was a disappointed. When I paid $300 up front, and did not hear anything for a year. Then suddenly I got a huge packet of papers, some mildly good information but not local land and will records I’d asked for. Another time that was excellent, I’d asked for a will, and when the researcher dug in, she also found a will from the spouse with names and dates of all the children. Found out where each child lived, when some had died and where, and realized the females had not died as I had assumed, but married and had children.  She also (for free) drove by the old homestead, and took a photo. In the photo was the postal number on the mailbox.  I wrote the family living there, and they sent me many photos of pre-1900 items left in the house that were my 2^nd gr-grandfather’s. This dear researcher asked for less than $100.

If you have family heirlooms, what is your plan for their future? Between my husband and I, we have several dozen heirlooms.  My plan is to take photos them (I’ve started that part) and make a little booklet with a photo, a description, and whether it’s a valuable item ($) or sentimental.  That way, there’s a better chance that someone, our children, grandchildren, or nieces and nephews will take them.  Especially if they knew the story behind them. I’ve also purged a bunch of items. I just returned all but a couple of pieces of my mother-in-law’s jewelry to her daughter, who appreciates it more than anybody else.  My goal is to just keep the number of things I really enjoy. My new year’s resolution, to distribute un-wanted items to someone or an organization that can re-use them. (I took nearly 30 Luxembourg history books to a genealogy archive. They were very happy. (Not a library to sell at their book sale.)

Looking forward to next week’s questions!