Frustration Abounds!

I promised myself that I wouldn't rant.... don't rant, don't rant!

Do you ever use the message boards at Ancestry? It's a wonderful way to connect with others who might be researching your same family lines. It's also a great place to get help if you're stuck. They have boards for surnames and boards for localities. I've had much luck making connections with others there.... I've also had the misfortune of being contacted by someone who thinks they've got all the facts on a family.

How about the trees on Ancestry? Ever consult those to see what others have done on your family? Ever check their sources - when they're listed? Ever simply download a huge gedcom file and call it your own? Hmmmm?

Just a word of caution to all who are venturing into research for the first time - the Ancestry user-submitted trees and information are great, even the One World Tree is great, but you cannot take that information for the "gospel truth" on your family. Yes, there's a wealth of info there and many people who have worked very hard to share their research with the world. But, do you know their research habits? Did they make any assumptions? How much of the information was just passed along from someone who "knew the family"? Lots of people assume that because this information is on the internet, it must be correct - NOT SO!

When you reach out to others and get info, check the sources (which often are not provided), and VERIFY VERIFY VERIFY every fact that you can. This is no small task when you may receive a file containing 10s of thousands of people. But your file is nothing without sources and verification of facts. Don't simply make it your file - pull information from it, enter what you can prove and use what you can. We would all love a huge wealth of family info to land in our laps - although for many of us, it's the thrill of the find that really keeps us going, searching, digging for more info and trying to break down those "brick walls".

My frustration comes from these "researchers" - I recently rec'd a VERY LARGE file from someone who said they had "a lot" of info on a family. Over a thousand sources are listed - over 80% of them reference the One World Tree.

Maybe I'm a stickler, but that's not "research" is it? Am I being too nit-picky?

breathe.... breathe..... breathe.....

Update your Message Board Posts - It really does pay off!

I must say that I'm VERY excited! Tonight I was contacted by my 2nd cousin 1x removed. She is related to me through the McCann family. I have been reaching out for some time on message boards and forums, trying to find a McCann family member in the area of Preston England. Tonight I finally made that connection!

Here's my Great Grandmother
Margaret McCann Bellew
b. Feb 1896 in Preston, England
d. Dec 1968 in Maryland, USA

Margaret would be my new found cousin's Grand Aunt. This photo of Margaret was taken in Jun 1959. I have a few things that belonged to Margaret and will begin a short series of posts about Margaret's Prayer Book and it's contents in the next few days. Tonight I wanted to share this photo - the only one we have.

To all of you researchers - Go back and update those posts on the forums and message boards! John Neill mentioned this a couple weeks ago on his Genealogy Tip of the Day blog (see post here), it's very important to keep those posts current - how many times have you responded to a post when you realized that it was 2 years old or more? With email addresses often changing, people are much more likely to reply to a post that is more recent.

Is there such thing as a musical gene?

Coming from apparently a long line of musicians, this question begs asking. Is it true that musical talent is passed along? My father plays the guitar, self taught, can tune it by ear and can pick up almost anything else that makes music and play it. Although I could never play any instrument - I was the singer in the family, enjoying singing from the time I was a small child until I was in high school. My Grandfather wrote songs, my DH's grandfather was a very well known pianist and much sought teacher of piano. My kids all sing, some better than others, but they've all got the "gene" apparently. Lets face it, some people can carry a tune and others simply can't.

I'm driving my Grandmother home from shopping a couple weeks ago and the subject of kids playing instruments in school came up. One of my kids played the flute for one year - no longer interested so no, none of them are playing anything this year. I asked if she ever played an instrument -

"No, but my brother George could play the piano, just taught himself, never had lessons and could play any song he heard." Why couldn't I have gotten that gene?

And then she tells me about how her father Joseph Leeming played the piano for silent movies... WHAT? That's the kind of cool bits of information that pour out during casual conversation with your family members. Why didn't I already know this? It's not something that I would have thought to ask, and she never thought to mention. She couldn't explain if he actually worked at the theater or in a studio of some sort - I know nothing about silent movies and I'm assuming that the music was actually played in the theater while the movie was showing... ? Can someone answer that for me?

It pays to talk to the elders in your family. The wealth of information about your family history will go with them when they pass. Don't just stick to the facts, go off course a bit with open ended questions about what they did when they were kids, what was their home life like? Ask them if you can record it so you can go back to it later. Just have a casual conversation and the memories will flow from them like a river. I've got many hours of tape talking with my Grandma. I just know that when I sit down and listen to it all some day there will be some shining moment that I'll have gotten something from her that I didn't even know was there.

Thanks to Elyse over at her Genealogy Blog for the recent post about another casual conversation and a great story - she made me remember this little bit about my family and the times with my Grandma when I hear the family stories that make us laugh and sometimes cry.

Military Monday - Form DD214 or Report of Separation

When a soldier leaves the military and has had active duty (or active duty training for more than 90 days), a DD214 is generated showing his military history. During WWII, this for was referred to as WD AGO 53 or a Report of Separation. For US military researchers these documents are available from the Archives. On their main page look under the "Most Requested" box and choose military record. The Archives site states that the DD214 can be obtained for free by a soldier or next-of-kin to the soldier. I was interested in getting another copy of my Grandfathers because as you can see, his appeared to have been carried around in his wallet for 30 years.

This Report shows the following information:

• Name
• Army Serial Number
• Grade
• Organization
• Date of Separation
• Place of Separation
• Permanent Address
• Date of Birth
• Place of Birth
• Color Eyes & Hair
• Height
• Weight
• Number of Dependents
• Date of Induction
• Date of Entry into Active Service
• Place of Entry
• County and State
• Home address at time of entry
• Military Occupation
• Spec Ser Number
• Military Qualifications
• Battles
• Decorations and Citations
• Wounds Received in Action & Date
• Immunizations
• Service Outside of the US - where stationed
• Reason for separation
• Pay Data
• Insurance information
• Right Thumb Print
• Signature of Soldier
• Signature of Officer

This form can be ordered on line using the archives vet rec system. One warning - there may be additional paperwork to fill out after your request has been received, get as much info as you can on that soldier before applying, some of which may be available right there on the archives site.

If you go to their AAD (Access Archival Databases) search area of the Archives site and enter your ancestor's name in the search box, all databases that the name appears in will come up. If you'd rather target a specific battle or time of duty, select the military campaign your ancestor fought in first (for instance, I chose WWII) and on the next screen there is a search terms box as well. On this second screen I entered BELLEW, WILLIAM. This gave me results for where his name appeared in their available electronic databases for WWII. In this case, I chose "View Records" for the Electronic Army Serial Number database, which brought up seven results:

My Grandfather being the last on this list, I chose his record and the following screen came up which gave me a bit more information necessary to complete the request for his documents.

Check all the available databases for your ancestors, you may just have a vet in there somewhere. Happy Hunting!

Don't forget to look for church records!

I am the happy holder of two documents from my family history. The Certificates of Graduation of my Grandfather, William Bellew and his brother Hugh Bellew (the one we're still trying to figure out what happened to). These documents are rather oddly large, so I've photographed them and have one pictured here. But, it's not what's in these certificates that gave me information necessarily, it's where they lead me that made me the happy recipient of another few small pieces of my family history.

The School of The Holy Trinity was a catholic school in Central Falls, Rhode Island where my Grandfather lived when he was younger - that much I knew. But, was it still there? Did they hold any records? This is what I set to find out. I quickly found reference to The Holy Trinity in Central Falls, so I found a contact us link and sent them an email. The kind reply said that they didn't have the school records any longer, but she did let me know that they hold church records for this family and she would send them along to me. A few days later I received a Confirmation Certificate in the mail for my Grandfather and a Baptism, Confirmation & Marriage certificate for another Bellew brother Alfred.

Other than the names of their God Parents and the dates of these sacraments, these documents weren't glowing with any new tidbits of information, but they are now part of the history package I have for these two members of my family.

1911 England Census Release

The 1911 Census Release site is a wonderful thing! I enjoyed using it, and found the records I was after very quickly. In a way, I'm glad it's not a subscription site, allowing me to limit my spending by purchasing credits to buy just the images I'm sure that I want. The searches are very intuitive and allow you to continue to narrow your search etc. In the 6 or so records I actually viewed, I found two transcription errors - which I am always quick to let someone know about and the site of course has a button to do this.

Once you've done the basic search (name & location) the database lets you know how many records it found but leaves the search entry screen up if there are many of them, to give you the opportunity to narrow it down by birth dates etc. Once you get to the results screen, there is actually a good bit of information provided on each individual. Then you can select the one you are fairly sure about and request to view either a transcript of the record (10 credits) or the actual image (30 credits).

After viewing several search results I selected one to 'buy' - Of course it was my Bellew line again. My Great-Great Grandfather Patrick and his wife Elizabeth were there in Preston, Lancashire, England in 1911. But, as I held the printed copy of this form in my hand I quickly realized something - it is in HIS handwriting. Patrick himself filled this form out for me! No middle man, no stranger's attempt at the spellings, just a form filled out by dear ol' great great granddad. The 1911 census had an individual form for each household. He even signed it at the bottom.

I have found 2 of my 2nd Great-Grandparents in the 1911 census. And I must say, the site is wonderful to use. Now that I've purchased access to those records, they will remain on the site in "My Records" and I can also save the images to my PC.

The REAL Story - Sarah Leeming falls and breaks ankle

I am absolutely amazed that this type of thing was considered news of the time but apparently the reporters back then were looking for every little tidbit to put in the local social section of the paper. This is totally not the kind of thing I was looking for when I started searching the Ancestry newspaper collection for the North Adams Transcript newspaper. North Adams is where my grandmother's family is from - much to my surprise, her mother was pretty well known around town... and not for her baking or parties!

This news clipping is about a woman, apparently on her way home from a local "restaurant" and she takes a fall in the street and breaks her ankle. The date is December 8th, 1952.

I can't believe I found this tidbit about my Great-Grandmother and immediately call my mother:

"Mom, I found this news clipping about Grandma Leeming, when she was knocked down and broke her ankle."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, it says that Sarah Leeming was walking home when two large boys came into the street and knocked her down, breaking her ankle." "It says she was walking home from the Greylock Restaurant."

..... Long Pause from Mom ........

"She was probably drunk." "The Greylock also was a bar that she went to, when I was a kid we used to have to go over there and get her sometimes."

Okay, so this conversation wasn't going where I wanted it to go, but my Mom has a great sense of humor and was already laughing at this point so we shared a good laughter moment and talked more about the article. I later talked to my Grandmother - Sarah's daughter and she said the same thing! "Yeah, she liked to have her drinks" she said.

I can tell you from this experience - be careful what you mention when you find it. What if Great-Grandma's drunkenness was a big family sore spot or secret that wasn't discussed? Many older generations simply didn't discuss such behavior (and lots of other stuff). I would've opened the genealogists can of worms and possibly upset my Mom and my Grandmother in the process! Keep in mind when you do find something that's possibly controversial, approach it gently, there could be reason why you haven't already been told about it.

In this case, I had no idea that the lady liked to drink so I kinda had an excuse :-)

Watch my blog for more interesting "Social News" from Adams!

Who Has The Family Bible?

One thing for sure in our family... I don't! And I'm having a very difficult time tracking it down! We think Aunt Mary had it after Uncle Charles died; but then Aunt Mary died so one of their kids must have it.... I'm in an endless circle chasing my tail - unlisted phone numbers, people losing touch, not to mention the commonality of the name; Anderson... how many are out there named Charles? LOTS and LOTS!

I know, I know, it's not the end of world - I'm thankful that I can get some info in other places BUT to have the gems of info that are contained within the pages of a family bible - that would be the icing on the cake! And I would venture to guess, which is always the case - the one thing that I cannot get my hands on will tear down my Genealogy "Brick Wall". I have an old bible - as a matter of fact, it's very old. But alas, the family pages are empty, yes, completely devoid of Marriages, Births & Deaths. Every time I pull that old book out, like something magical is going to happen and the names will have appeared since the last time I looked, I feel the great frustration that many genealogists face - WHO HAS THE FAMILY BIBLE??? If it's not in the right hands, it will disappear never to be seen by the one who really wants to see it.

With today's technology, there's no reason that everyone in the family can't have a copy of the all important pages of this book. My ancestors couldn't run over to Staples or Kinko's and make copies or even better, warm up their scanner and make sure that the pages of our family bible would be around for the rest of us.

So, if anyone out there knows where my Anderson/Holt family bible is, please get in touch with me! If you're just beginning to do your research, find out if your family had a bible that held this information. Lastly, if you have possession of your family bible from generations gone by, make sure that the genealogist in your family and any one else who wants them, gets copies of those pages!

Is there a West Virginia Union Soldier in your ancestry?

Ok, you'd think that after all these years of doing research I'd pretty much know everything there is to know? NOT TRUE!!! Genealogists are learning all the time, whether it be a new tip to finding a document or somthing about military history. I tell you, military history is a whole other animal to me. Yes, most genealogists just love history itself, and I often wish I had paid more attention in high school :-) but the actual history of the military (and all the paperwork that's necessary to get ANYTHING???) It's just a giant black hole full of red tape to me.

Today, while visiting a site that I visit every week (sometimes several times a week) I found that they actually have a list of Union Soldiers who never claimed their medals awarded during the war. I cannot believe I had never visited this area before and was just amazed at the size of the list and my ignorance! I understand from reading up on this that these medals are still in their original packaging AND can be claimed by someone proving their relationship to the person. Note: According to the information below, it does not have to be a Direct relationship. I have seen comments from others stating that they claimed a Great-Great Uncle's medal.

Here's some info directly from the site:

"Many heirs of West Virginia Union veterans of the Civil War may be eligible to claim medals struck to honor their ancestors years ago. Most of the medals were claimed by the veterans themselves, their immediate families, or their descendants, but several thousand medals remain unclaimed. A list of the unclaimed medals is available in the Archives and History Library and on its website.

To claim an ancestor's medal, a claimant must submit his or her line of descent from the veteran along with documentation to support this line of descent. To establish line of descent, claimants must include copies of primary sources, including birth, death, marriage, will, deed, military,census, Bible records, etc. Old letters, diaries, marriage announcements, or obituaries may also prove helpful in supporting a descendant's claim. Please note that a family chart submitted without primary source documentation is not sufficient.

The claimant who establishes the most direct relationship to the veteran will be awarded the ancestor's medal six months from the date the fully documented claim is received by Archives and History. The purpose of the six-month waiting period is to allow for sufficient verification of the descendant's claim and for submission of counterclaim(s) by other potential descendant(s). In the case of equal claims, the descendant whose claim was received first will be awarded the medal."

If you know of a Civil War Union Soldier in your family's past, it's worth checking the site just to check the list. I've been busily checking mine this morning and comparing surnames with those on the list. It helps that a lot of my family comes from Virginia/West Virginia. I find it heartbreaking that these medals were never retrieved by the soldiers to pass down to us....

Heres the website link: http://www.wvculture.org/history/medals.html

Born in Canada, England or the US???

My Grandmother and her sister, Aunt Edie, always had an argument when it came to the birthplace of their father. Grandma believing England, Aunti Edie believing Canada. Both of them being stubborn people, they never could prove to each other their point so they just argued it forever... well leave it to the genealogist grandchild that has to know everything! Yeah! another puzzle to solve! I can find my Great-Grandfather's family in England in 1891 and then in Providence Rhode Island in 1900, the very large gap in time included the supposed birth date of my Great Grandfather - Joseph Leeming. There was no record of the family arriving on any ships in the US, and the 1900 US Census states that Joseph was born in Canada, - yes, a lead but not rock solid. So, rather than have the argument with Grandma myself, for by this time after all my research, she knew as well as I did that the census records weren't always 100% accurate... I continued my search.

Then, Ancestry released the Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection) and seeing the location, I decided to give the database a try. Well, what do you know? He WAS born in Canada! Not only that, but he also had another brother and a sister born, baptised and buried there as well. The really neat thing about the collection, (don't we all love to see the images of original documents?) is that they're hand written by the record keeper and signed by my ancestors!

Now I had records of Joseph's birth and baptism, his sister Sarah & brother Walter's births, and deaths/burials.

I then had the pleasure of informing my Grandmother that her father was indeed born in Canada and I had found "proof".

These records gave a seemingly tiny tidbit that had driven my grandmother and her sister to arguments all those years. I wonder if Aunt Edie is watching us talk about it now and saying "See! I told you he was born in Canada!" ? Just goes to show you - sometimes those little family bits turn out to be true - no matter how much the point is argued or may seem incorrect. It also pays to go looking for a record again on your subscription sites - they're updated constantly and you never know when a new gem will appear!

Did you know that we're related to.....

Ok, we've all got some weird family story that has supposedly been passed down for generations - mine just happens to be that one of our relatives was "BORN on the Mayflower" - mmmm talk about making a child's mind race! Come to think of it, this very well could be the genealogy bug that bit me, way back when I was like 10 years old! Grandma told me, "a long, long time ago" that one of our relatives was born on the Mayflower. Come to find out we weren't pilgrims - not that I can prove anyway. The Mayflower people have been very well researched and well documented - I've not found a direct connection in my line (yet :-). Some of my family certainly were among the "settlers in the new world" - they were indentured servants with a 10 year debt to the person who paid their passage, not pilgrims!

What about the story that you're related to someone famous, someone royal, someone who EVERYONE has heard of? Got one of those stories? Well, any genealogist will tell you.... "Prove it!" go find DOCUMENTED proof of that ancestor AND your connection to them. Just the same last name isn't enough, as I can tell you from first hand experience, names changed many times through the years and for varying reasons. If you're ancestors were Irish, they may have changed their names to get jobs. Maybe they just didn't like the spelling or maybe they came from a "less than prominent" family. Stay on your toes when researching family names, often they were written down incorrectly by someone else along the way and voila!, a new name is born!

You may have the belief that your family is English or French or Irish. Unless both of your parents and grandparents on both sides and so on are from that same country, you're probably like the rest of us here in the States - part of the Great American Melting Pot - a mix of lines from different countries and heritages. That being said, there's also nothing wrong with saying "My family is French", but often the question remains - "how much?" I was told that I was English, Irish, German & Dutch.... I've found the English, Irish and German connections with many others mixed in. If the ancestor was in the US during early times, they obviously would have met people from other areas of the world and their spouses weren't always of one single heritage either. So I claim to be part Irish -but how much really???

One line I was researching was a family that just knew they were Irish AND in fact related to a prominent government official "way way back". I couldn't prove the connection to that famous ancestor - although they still want to argue that point and probably always will. When researching the line, I found that only one generation back there was a pure Greek woman in the line and another generation back was a Polish woman... just goes to show you that you can't always judge by the name or the story that's been passed down for generations. I say, "Prove It!"

So where do you start?

Lots of people ask me this question when they find out that I do genealogy research. I've also heard "Aren't you done yet?" (mostly from family members who are sick of hearing about it :-) Are you kidding? 15 years and counting - and at this point, I don't think it'll ever be DONE. Considering that I've worked on it for that long, adding thousands and thousands of people to my family tree software and hundreds of sources, media files, notes, emails, census records, and list after list of possible connections and I'm still looking for information for one of my great-great grandfathers.. nope, it's never gonna be "done".

When I first started, my paternal grandma had just passed away and unfortunately took the family secrets or "skeletons" with her. Her husband, who passed two days later wouldn't have been much help as he was a second marriage. Funny how my interest peaked when she died - prior to that I hadn't thought much about it. One day while on a mini road trip with my parents, we began talking about Grandma and her parents and that's the day it all started.. "Who was her Mom?" Kidwell? Never heard that name before! Suddenly I realized that there was an entire world of people out there and many of them could be related to us. And how intrigued I was to know that they didn't know her father's name! And so, my search began. Of course, I had no idea what I was doing so I quickly dove into several books and every one of them tells you the same thing...

START WITH WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW.
Get out a notebook or whatever (or one of those pedigree charts I linked to in my post of 11/25) and start with yourself, record your name (maiden name for women, always), birth date & location, marriage date & location; move on to your parents, same info on them. Now, your Grandparents and so on.

CHECK FOR INFO IN DOCUMENTS IN YOUR POSSESSION
Got an old box of papers from someone in the family? This is a genealogist's dream come true - go through them, piece by piece and absorb what you can from them. Keep filling in the info for people in your tree. Make copies of those papers and put them away in a safe place, keep the copies out for future reference.

INTERVIEW / CONTACT LIVING RELATIVES
Now get in touch with others in your family who may have information - grandparents, uncles, aunts, anyone who may have more information and names to fill in this basic chart. Be very specific with what you want, "I want to know when your father died", "where he was buried", "Do you remember the full names of your grandparents?" etc. You can of course get more details during these conversations, make sure you've got a notebook handy to jot down other info that they may mention. I often get clues from talking to my maternal Grandmother when I ask her about a date and she'll say "I know it was after so-and-so passed away" Now I've got at least a window of time to work around, rather than an open blank and nothing to go on.

You can also write to family members asking for information and copies of any documents they may hold (many won't part with original documents and who can blame them?) If a family bible exists, find out who has it and ask them to check the family record pages for entries. If there are some, ask for the information contained and also arrange copies/photos to be made or taken, or visit the relative to view it.

TRY TO STAY ORGANIZED
One thing I quickly found when I started researching is that the paperwork (charts, documents, census records, military documents, birth certs. etc) and info can pile up very fast and it becomes difficult to keep it organized - it's best to try to stay ahead of it.

A folder worked fine in the beginning but several months later I was constantly digging through it looking for a note or scrap that had some gem of info. I suggest that you take baby steps in the very beginning, researching one side of the family first for a bit and then delve into the other side. Have a folder for each side of the family.

I also used a 5-subject spiral notebook with the dividers for note taking on different lines and my to-do list. I always dated my notes and they were all there in that one book, no matter which side of the family we were discussing, I had all my info. This can also serve as another very important item, your research log. It is recommended that you document where info comes from, who gave it to you, where it is stored, etc. If you ever need that info again you'll want to be sure to remember where you got it - also, just as importantly, you want to make note of when no record was found - this will keep you from repeat searches of the same info later.

Very Importantly, this notebook can serve as your Source reference when building your tree into a software program or book. A good genealogist ALWAYS cites their sources of each bit of info. For instance, if you order great-granddad's birth certificate and from it you get the names of both his parents, this would be your source for those two pieces of information. It's best to start this habit now, I've seen very large family files on the Internet with no sources and I've received info that was totally bogus (and of course not sourced). I can't trust the research because it can't answer my "show me" or "prove it". I then have to attempt to track the fact myself to confirm it or bag it altogether and keep searching.

I'm at the point now that I've got a manila folder for each COUPLE in my family line. I also have folders full of literally hundreds of sheets of paper with details on people that don't yet fit in my file. Remember, 15 years ago the PCs weren't like today's, large files weren't as easy to save and to keep - I had no choice but to print it out. At one point I remember that my family file was holding about 1/2 the space of my hard drive. Thank goodness technology has advanced!

So, these are my suggestions (and every book I've read) on where to start... with what you know; review records you may already have; interviewing family members; and staying organized. Most of all, do what works for you and enjoy climbing your family tree!

Cindy

Got old photos? Identify those people!!!

Today I want to share a photograph of my great-grandmother May Kidwell's sisters. Pictured are Marjorie and Ethel Kidwell, two daughters of Silas & Bertie (pictured two posts below). They're all dressed up, hats and all, and don't you just LOVE the shoes?

My Grandmother, Edna Keener, had this photo among her things. Although her mother died when she was only 9, she held on to the very few things that her mother had from her family for her entire life. Amazing really, considering that she lost all contact with the family shortly after her mother's death, and was raised by her stepfather.

This photo had writing on it, which is how we identified it - a gem that many don't have. Which brings me to today's "Tip" ALWAYS, ALWAYS identify people in photos! New and old (make sure you're using photo safe pen). If you've got old pictures of unidentified people, someone older in your family might be able to tell you who those people are. Get in touch with them, send copies if you have to - don't let the identity of those people slip away when someone passes on. If your parents have a box of old photos (don't they all?) spend an afternoon identifying them and while you're at it, get the story behind the photos. If you identify them now, and have a family tree showing how they 'fit', it'll be a treasure for your children's children.

I don't have any idea what the occasion was in this photo and every time I look at it I wish I knew. But, I am happy knowing the identity of these two ladies, so it's not just another old picture in the box.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

Cindy

Who were they.... really?

Everytime I do a bit of research on the family, I'm compelled to know about what their lives must've been like. What kind of people were they? Was their life difficult? Did they work hard to have very little or were they successful in what they did? These are the bits that are difficult to find out without having the information passed down to you from someone who actually knows. You can't find this info in general records on the family. I posted previously about this family, the Kidwells, who lived in Fairfax County Virginia. Apparently farmers (according to census and land records) but who were they? What kind of people were they? Sadly, I may never know.....

These are the questions you need to ask of the living RIGHT NOW! Time is very short when it comes to your genealogy. Bits of memories and family stories are lost everyday when someone passes away. I may never know what Silas & Bertie Kidwell were like as I didn't ask these questions when I had the opportunity. You see, it's not just about the who and where and when - these are just names, places and dates. All very intersting and helpful to build your family history data, but no where near the full story.

I'm going to start a new series of posts about this family and how I attempted to find out more about them. I still don't feel that I know enough, but a few nuggets of info that I came to know along the way are what I've got to share with my children and their children. In the meantime, you should contact all the eldest members of your family, talk to them about their parents and grandparents, get copies of any documents and photos. Get info from them while you still can and ask more about the people and their lives, homes and jobs, not just the who, where and when.

Have a great day! Cindy

My Quest to know more... Post #3

This is a news clipping from March 11, 1944 from a local paper in Adams MA where my Grandparents lived at the time my Grandfather entered the military. This clipping states that Grandma has received word that Granddad is in England. All of this sort of "news" was published in the local paper.

Another info packed post today on my search for my Grandfather's military service. Last week I promised to talk about military papers - all boring and such if you're not into this kind of thing but what a treasure to find for a genealologist!! However, if you don't look at every detail you could miss something AND all those details can also raise more questions. Of course, I have the subscriptions to the major records available on line at Ancestry and there is such a mass of info there it's sometimes overwhelming. But, nothing can compare to having the actual original documents in your hands. All tattered from time and folded and torn. At any rate, having Granddad's Seperation Report, his enlistment information and even his medal award documents wasn't enough. According to the docs he was discharged for wounds he rec'd on July 29th - a mission he volunteered to take due to a shortage of a gunner in another crew. How was he wounded? Where was he at the time? What plane was he on? All these things I wrote about in my previous posts - But, most importantly - where were these medals he received? No one in the family knew. Grandma couldn't recall what ever happened to them - probably lost in the many moves the family made after the war. Off I went to the 94th Bomb Group website again to see what info was available on medals - turns out I was referred to the National Archives website. To my surprise, the website stated that you could order replacement medals - Huzza!!! So, after many many many forms and paperwork and phone calls and months of waiting ..... they finally told me (in Sept of this year) that he had been out of the service too long - more than 60 years. Somthing they could have told me in the beginning, for I had provided them with his discharge date on the VERY first document completed, way back in February of this year!! This simply was not fair!! I set out to see if I could purchase replicas of the medals for they told me that "the military has more than met it's obligation in issuing replacement medals" this simply did not apply to my family!! It's not my fault that they fail to keep track of this stuff!

I heard along the way that your local state representatives of Congress could help in dealings with the Federal Gov't (after all that is their job) and election time was upon us so I decided to give it a shot - do you know that they responded to me IMMEDIATELY and began to look into the problem. Last week I received a copy of a letter from the National Personnel Records Center (the folks who issue the medals), sent to the Congresswoman's office and would you believe the order for the medals has already been placed? No long paperwork burden, no "form letters" just a nice letter stating that the medals have been ordered and the copy of the form was included. Unbelievable!!!! Today's Nov 19th and I don't have word of their receipt at the Congresswoman's office just yet but needless to say, I'm anxiously awaiting word from them every day.

My Quest to know more... Post #1

I've been researching my family for years and only during the last 10 months or so have I ventured into the Military history. My Grandfather, William Bellew, was in the Army Airforce during WWII and was injured (lost his left eye) during a mission on July 29 1944. Already having his military documents in hand, I set out to find out what else there was to know - the rest of the story if you will. I came across a message board for his bomb group that put me in touch with a now dear friend in England, Chris, who lives near the base where Granddad was stationed. He is very knowledgeable in this area and, unbelievably, he managed to track down a living member of my Grandfather's regular crew! I was amazed and very nervous to call and speak to this man on the phone. He and his wife are just wonderful people and they were very glad to hear from me. He told me that Grandad volunteered to go up with another crew who was short a gunner on that day that he was wounded, and he was never seen again by his regular crew - they were never even told what became of him. He was glad to know that Granddad lived, returned home, had more children and lots of grandchildren.

Connections come in strange ways sometimes. It certainly pays to venture into other areas of the internet, such as message boards, rather than sticking to the records sites. You never know, a post might put you in touch with someone who actually knew your relative and you might make some really great friendships along the way! I called this post #1 because there's much more of this story to share... next week.

My Kidwell Connection

I'm not as "artsy" as some of my other blogging friends but I love to dabble in all sorts of things that I see them doing. So to my "Artsy" friends that might venture over here at some point, don't laugh at my blog, just visit now and then and put up with me :-)))))

Today I want to post a photo of my Great Great Grandfather, Silas Kidwell. He has his truck all loaded with peaches for the local farmers market in Washington DC. I got this picture from my Great Uncle, Marshall Kidwell who I managed to track down while I was doing research on my Kidwell side of the family. Uncle Marshall has since passed away but I'll never forget him and the many bits of information that he shared with me that I never would have known had I not met with him.

Grandad Silas


Uncle Marshall


Another interesting note for today... I've been doing some research for one of my neighbors lately and while I've not found a connection yet, his family was from the same county as mine and so we're assuming at some point our tree branches will join together :-) I've already found a connection to his wife and my family (through an in-law) so it's only a matter of time!!!