As many of you know I was raised by my mother's parents. I never knew my father. My parents separated before I was born and divorced when I was about two years old. I knew no one in his family.A few years ago Rob gave me some genealogy software for Christmas and I started playing around with it. It was pretty easy to trace my mother's side and I soon filled in my family tree, but it was lopsided. I knew my father's name but nothing else.
Several people remembered reading that my father had died, so I contacted Social Security and they provided his birth and death dates. Then I wrote to the librarian in the city where he was from and she was kind enough to look up his obituary and send me a copy. From there it was easy. His obituary named his parents and several siblings. I was able to find my grandfather's obituary and it named his parents.
Then things really opened up for me. There is a lot of documentation on the paternal side of my family tree and I was soon able to fill it in so that my tree is full and rich. On Friday evening I found tears streaming down my face as Sarah Jessica Parker said that her discoveries changed the way she felt about herself, because I feel exactly the same way. Here are a few of the things I learned about myself.
My ninth great grandfather on my fathers side came here in 1630 from England. He was one of the founders of the city of Hartford, Connecticut. Amazingly, one of the other founders, who also came in 1630 from a different city in England is a maternal great grandfather. Above is the monument to the Founders of Hartford.
Sarah Jessica Parker discovered that one of her ancestors was charged as a witch in Salem, but she was fortunate to never go to trial. My ancestor was not as lucky. My maternal grandmother's family also came here in 1630 and one of our ancestors was Rebecca Nurse.
Rebecca was in her seventies when she was accused of witchcraft and she was hanged.
Again, it was amazing to me to learn that I was related not only to someone accused of and executed for witchcraft, but also to one of the judges who sentenced her to death.
One of my favorite ancestors was Samuel Adams who orchestrated and probably took part in the Boston Tea Party. I like the idea that I'm related to someone who actually pushed for freedom.
I have great grandfathers on both sides of my tree who fought in the Revolutionary War. Thomas on my father's side and Hezekiah on my mother's side. They were both farmers who could have ignored the political situation or even sided with their mother-land, but they both put down their plows, left their families and fought for a new country. How many of us today would do that?
When the Civil War came along, my ancestors again left their farms and went to fight for the Union.
I only knew half my family. I never felt complete until I traced my ancestry. Now I have a whole history and it's a history to be very proud of. My history is inseparable from the history of this country. I feel differently about myself than I did before I started my research.
In the last two years I've discovered a half brother and half sister that I didn't know I had. I have met a niece I didn't know existed and then I found and made contact with my father's sister who lives in Florida. We've talked on the phone and written many times. She has told me about her family, my father, grandparents, aunts and uncles.
I'm not done yet. I plan to trace my family across the ocean, back to the cities in England where they came from and see how far back I can go. Yes, this has changed how I feel about myself.
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