(This is part of the Canada's 150th Genealogy Challenge) 3rd great-grandfather, Charles Stewart Wood:  Charles was living in Ontario, likely in the South Dumfries, Brant County area.  He was was 24 and likely working as a farm laborer on 1 July, 1867.  He came to Ontario with his family (see Jane below) from County Cavan, Ireland around 1854.  Charles left Canada for Michigan a few years after 1867, but returned (to British Columbia) and spent the last years of his life there, dying in 1918. 3rd great-grandmother, Didame "Damie" Beam Wood:  Damie was living in East Z ..read more

While browsing issues of The Bremen Enquirer, I found an article of particular interest.  The "Michael and Frederica Berger" mentioned are my 3rd great-grandparents.  I knew that they left a lot of descendants, and everyone mentioned is in my tree, but 226 attendees is shocking to me. I have to wonder if anyone from my branch was there as my ancestor, Michael and Frederica's son John, had left for California many years before.  Since those who traveled a distance are mentioned, and doesn't include anyone from California, I have to think my branch was likely absent.  I wond ..read more

I knew that since my great-grandmother chose to come to the US, it was possible that a sibling or two of hers might have as well.  Unfortunately it has taken me awhile to find any of those elusive siblings.  The ones I have found so far are 1) a brother who died in infancy, 2) a sister who disappears from records after birth, 3) a sister who remained in Italy and lived a long life and 4) a sister who married and also came to America. This sister who came to America was born Donata Maria D'Accia in Peschici, Foggia, Apulia, Italy on 19 April, 1883 (her death certificate gives a date ..read more

I've yet to find estate paperwork for Robert, but a notice in the Niles Daily Times, page 18, dated 26 June 1935, tells me that there was an estate.  It also helps me to fill in married names and addresses for some of my collateral Allen relatives at the time, and for that I am very happy. "LEGAL NOTICE     Lavina Allen, 27 Wells Street, Caro, Michigan; John Allen, State Penitentiary, Jackson, Michigan; Mrs. Anna Sheperdson, Wyman, Mi-chigan, George R. Allen, Taft, Ca-lifornia; Jane Allen Ott, 1107 Ne-ville Street, Follansbee, W. Virgin-ia, Jemia Jane Adams, 1107 Neville Stre ..read more

The biggest surprise I've come across so far while looking through Ancestry's new collection of wills and probate records, was the 1886 will for my third great-grandmother, Barbara Steiner vonAllmen. Barbara's estate consisted of a $1,000 loan to her son, Joseph, and the interest it was accruing.  What was so wonderful about the record for me, personally, was that it confirmed a lot of information I had long suspected, like the married names of two of her daughters, and the earlier death of one of them. Barbara mentioned each of her "... beloved children Abraham Allmen, Maggie Ma ..read more

I'm a day late, but Randy at Genea-Musings picked an intriguing topic for this week and I wanted to join the fun.  As of now, these are my direct ancestors known to have been married fifty years or more: John Grant Allen and Marion "Mary" Wood John and Marion married in 1890 in Blanchard, Isabella, Michigan.  Marion died in 1944, which would have meant they were married over 54 years.  However, they appear to have separated some time around 1930.  I have been unable to find a divorce record for them, but they don't appear to have ever reconciled. Giuseppe Lapiccirella and ..read more

When I first became interested in genealogy, I began by looking through what I already had on hand.  Among those items was my mother's copy of the book The History of the Shinn Family in Europe and America.  While this is an excellent guidebook, it has errors, omissions and lack of source citations.  The book also doesn't usually provide much information on spouses who married into the Shinn family. One of those aforementioned spouses is my 5th great-grandmother, Jane Herbert. Through research I do have some thoughts regarding Jane's family: Jane or her family might not ..read more

I have often heard that when it comes to DNA testing, older relatives should be the first priority.  Unfortunately for me, by the time autosomal testing came around three of my grandparents were long gone.  Fortunately for me, the one grandparent still around was also my link to my most frustrating to research families.  Obviously, I should have tested her sooner than 2015 but regardless of when, the spit has officially been collected and processed. My grandmother was a bit bewildered when I presented the test to her on Christmas morning, but she was quite willing and I will be ..read more

I've been concentrating on my possible x-matches a lot lately.  After filling out a chart (I used the ones here) to see what my inheritance pattern was, I've started whittling down the unlikely lines.  By unlikely lines I mean those that haven't been in the US all that long, originated in small, rural localities in Europe, and/or were small families that didn't, to my knowledge, leave many descendants alive today.  I'll revisit these lines somewhere in the future, but for now they are on the back burner. After all this, I am left with the lines that are likely candidates for an ..read more

When I found my third great-grandfather's death record, I expected it to close the book on his story.  I never thought it would be the gateway to an entire last chapter of his life. In looking for the death record, I searched British Columbia records.  I know I did.  Why I didn't come across this when I originally looked, I don't know.  I suspect what happened is that, at the time, I still hadn't given up my belief that he had died in Michigan.  So, anything less than an exact match anywhere else, was likely disregarded by me. In any case, Charles Wood died in Burnab ..read more