52 Ancestors Challenge Week 39: "Road Trip" - My top 3 favorite family finds while road tripping

I live for road trips. I love them. Anyone who knows me knows that. However, I did wait quite awhile to get my license. Most of my peers rushed out to get their learner's permits as soon as they could, which here in New York is 16. I don't know if I was scared to drive really but I simply was not eager to drive; which now is not at all true. I waited until I was 20 to get my license but now I can't wait to drive. I live to road trip. I find real comfort in driving.

I am not underplaying my road trip experiences either. I have driven to 49 states. You can't drive to Hawaii. For any of you who may be familiar with the book "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" by Mo Willems, while in Hawaii, I was that pigeon. I was with a tour group but I begged and begged and begged that tour bus driver to just let me drive the bus if only so I could say that I have driven in all 50 states. Guess I'll have to go back. Oh well! 

I have also been to all of the Canadian provinces and 2 of the 3 Canadian territories. I am missing Nunavut but so are most Canadians I bet.

My most challenging travel experience has to have been driving around Ireland. Although I can drive a 5-speed transmission, I was fortunate to get an automatic because that driving on the other side of the road business while on the other side of the car was brutal.

My most frequent travel companions are, of course, my cousins! Most frequently Cousin Pete. Cousin Kelly takes a close second. But there have been many others: Jenny, Meghan, Andrew, Rachel, Ashlee, Zach, Adam, Vanessa, Elizabeth...  And they will attest to the fact that nearly every trip includes a little family history whether it be a stomp around a cemetery or a little bit of research time. I mean, you're headed out there, you might as well walk in your ancestors' foot steps if you have the chance.

My top 3 favorite family finds while road tripping have to be the following. All of which I have blogged about before but are worth revisiting and which you can read more about at the links below to old posts:

#3. Running from cicadas in Dayton National Cemetery: Third Great Grandpa, John Joyce, Dayton National Cemetery

The giant cicadas are only part of what makes this most memorable. Imagine bugs the size of half a Twinkie, flying at you. And not just one but dozens of them surrounding you at every step. Yeah, traumatizing.

This cemetery stop was part of my goal last year, 2021, to locate and visit the burial locations of all my direct ancestors back to and including all my 3rd great grandparents. I did pretty well. At the start of that project I had 30 graves to visit out of the potential 59. You have the maximum potential of 62 direct ancestors back to your 3rd greats. With living parents and a nonagenarian grandma, I had 59. I mean, I'm a genealogist, I visit cemeteries. But still there were many graves I had never been to. 30 is a lot. At present I have only 9 I have not visited; 1 great-great grandparent, and 8 3rd great grandparents, many of which are somewhere in Quebec. When I figure out where they are, I'll visit.

Another project that came out of my 2021 cemetery adventure that I am very proud of is the replacement of my great-great-great grandfather, Victor Henry's headstone which you can watch a presentation about on YouTube called, simply, Victor Henry's Headstone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw53oHpcfgA

#2. Stumbling upon the Morleys in a random cemetery abroad: Tombstones in Templenoe

I tell my students and researchers I work with that sometimes there are some relatives that just do not want to be found. And then there are others screaming to be remembered - that would be my cousins', Jenny & Kelly's maternal line.

The Morleys are not my relatives and I wasn't in Ireland doing genealogy research. I wasn't even with Kelly or Jen. I just happened to stop into a random cemetery with Cousin Pete while driving the Ring of Kerry and - BOOM - there they were; Cousin Jen & Kelly's great-great grandparents, Daniel Morley (abt. 1839 - March 17, 1914) and Abigail Meara-Morley (March 1844 - July 7, 1885) of Kenmare, County Kerry, Ireland.

Photo by John (Paul) Hallissey taken from https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2551046/templenoe-burial-ground-(old)

#1. Meeting a Desjardins cousin - my mom's side from Montreal - on Earle family property in Newfoundland: Cousins in Unlikely Places, Part 1 & Cousins in Unlikely Places, Part 2

Not all discoveries take place in cemeteries or even archives and libraries. Some discoveries happen right where you stand.

Again, on this trip I was not actively conducting genealogy research at this location. However, I think I have come to realize I'm always kind of conducting genealogy research. Anyway, I had just traveled back to where my great grandfather was born with my paternal uncle, Thomas. I most certainly did not plan or even consider finding living connections to my mother's side of my family while there. Both lines have Canadian ancestry but Newfoundland is really quite far from Montreal, 2,258 kilometers or 1,403 miles for my imperial system friends.

All parts of these favorite family discoveries made while on road trips had an obvious element of surprise but when you are planning to take a road trip, whether to do genealogy research or not, you have to do a lot of planning, almost to avoid surprises. You want your car at top condition, your hotels all booked, your route surveyed for stops at attractions, gas, and grub. You'll have lists of things to pack; clothes, food, emergency equipment, etc. Add to that a desire to research while on the road and you will want to make sure you have research location addresses, hours of operation noted, and a detailed list of what you are looking for - not only your questions but also a review of the resources the research facility has that you want to see. For cemetery stops, I recommend you call ahead to whomever manages the property to ask for a location. Even with a section, range, row, plot, and grave number, it can take quite a bit of roaming around to find the spot you are looking for. 

Most of all, though, leave lots of time to just marvel at the happenings. 

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 38: "New to You" - Great-great Grandma Mayme's Ring

Below is a photo of my chubby little hand decked out in 2 relatively new rings. 

The one on my ring finger is really a mother's ring. I am not a mother. A mother's ring, though, is one that presents the birthstones of all of a mother's children. My grandma has a lovely one with her birthstone and that of her 5 kids. This one has 4 birthstones representing my beautiful nieces; Sofia (October - really should be an opal but they use some pink stone. Pink tourmaline, perhaps), Breanna (March - aquamarine), Emilie (July - ruby), and Molleigh (June - should really be a pearl but they use some purplish stone. I think it is alexandrite.). I bought that ring for myself for my recent birthday.

The ring on my middle finger was given to me by a cousin I recently connected with through AncestryDNA. It was a gift from her and her mother. It belonged to my great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth "Mayme" Sharp-Gardner (October 2, 1891 - January 25, 1961). She is the woman on the left in the photo below.

I am sure it is not of great monetary value but it is of great value to me. I am not sure when she acquired it. I wear it on my middle finger because that is where it fits me best. I don't want to have it resized. I like that it has evidence of being shaped to Mayme's finger.

Maybe someday one of my magnificent little nieces will inherit their great-great-GREAT grandma Mayme's ring from me.

Thank you, Cousin Kristen and Cousin Anita.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 37: "High and Low" - Not in the 1950 Census

Every presentation I attended regarding the recent release of the 1950 U.S. Federal Census has gone on and on about the great lengths the government went to ensure that every household and individual was recorded accurately. Welp, my dad is not there, nor are his parents, or his paternal grandparents who were, by all accounts, living together. I have searched "High and Low" for my father in the 1950 census with no success.

I know the exact address they were living at in 1950, 15 Berkshire Road, Merrick, New York in Nassau County. My grandfather bought the house shortly after he returned from service in the U.S. Navy during World War II. I believe he purchased it in 1947. He lived there until his death in June of 2001. In fact, my grandparents met on that block.

The story goes that there was a terrible blizzard while my grandmother was at her sister's house on the very same block. My grandfather went over to help his neighbor, my grandmother's brother-in-law, shovel and that is when they met in the great blizzard of December 1947 which began on December 26. You can read the Life magazine coverage of the storm here in this blog post by Ben Cosgrove: https://www.life.com/nature/snow-blizzard-of-1947-photos-of-new-york/  My grandparents were married less than 2 years later in February 1949. In late December of 1949, they had their first child, my dad.

Now, my grandmother's sister, brother-in-law, and their two eldest children are on the 1950 census as are all the even numbered houses on the block. But the odd numbered homes aren't there.

Everyone I have asked to look have told me, "Well, they lived very close to the boarder of the next enumeration district (ED)." Yes they did. They are very close to the southern boundary of ED 30-338, in Nassau County, New York. However, the block south of them is recorded in ED 30-338. The house directly behind my grandparent's is there, where expected, in ED 30-338 but not my grandparents and not any of the other odd numbered houses on the block.

Now, let's for a minute consider that perhaps they weren't living where I know they were. Maybe for that month they were all living somewhere else. I don't know. Let's pretend the house was being renovated and they were staying with some friends somewhere in a whole other state. Didn't happen but let's pretend.

Where are their neighbors? Where are the odd numbered houses on their block? Not there. Not in ED 30-338 of New York; not in any of the surrounding EDs either.

I am 100% convinced that the people I so eagerly waited to see recorded in the 1950 census (my dad, his parents, and paternal grandparents) were missed. 

Mistakes were made, people. Mistakes were made!

Prove me wrong. I dare you. And I would be eternally grateful if you could find them.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 36: "Exploration" - Or not so much

Hmm...exploration. I am not sure how to interpret this theme in the context of my family history. I don't feel like I have explorers in my family history. In fact I feel the very opposite. I feel like my family got off the boat and was like, "Heck with that, we're staying right here!"

I have cousins everywhere but when there are stories of brothers, the one who went off and made his fortunes and the other who stayed at home and held down the homestead, I am always descended from the latter.

When I was in the 3rd grade we had to do a report on where one of our grandparents came from. Some of my classmates did reports on Ireland, Israel, Greece, etc., etc., etc. or about other states like Georgia, Maryland, Oregon, etc., etc., etc. I could practically walk to where each of my grandparents were born.  I was really jealous.

According to Google Maps it would take me just over an hour to drive from where Grandpa Earle was born in Bellmore, NY to the far off location of Astoria, Queens, NY where Grandpa Gardner was born, while passing both my grandmothers' birth locations. I guess Google hasn't driving the Cross Island Parkway recently though because that is going to take way more than an hour.

In any case, I did my 3rd grade report on the Town of Hempstead, Long Island, New York. Boring (Sorry, Hempstead).

As genealogist I have come to value the fact I live in close proximity to where my family has lived for hundreds of years. All my documentation is right here! Well, not all of it but quite a bit. And New York is pretty good about holding on to all their records. They aren't great about freely sharing their records but they got 'em. Pay up!

I don't have a European immigrant in my family tree until my great-great grandparents and even then, only 2 of the 16 were born across the pond. I've got many ancestors who emigrated from Canada but from Europe there are only these two:

1. My great-great grandfather on my mother's maternal line, Johann Nepom Prinz (May 2, 1853 - April 21, 1929), was from Mladá Vožice, in the Bohemia region of what is now the Czech Republic. He arrived with his family in New York on November 28, 1866 when he was just 13 years-old.

AND

2. My great-great grandmother on my father's maternal line, Annette Hinch-Henry (February 22, 1868 - March 2, 1952), was born in Barnamelia, by Knockanna, in Co. Wicklow, Ireland. She came to New York sometime between 1886 and 1890 when she was in her late teens or early 20s.

That makes Annette my most recent European immigrant. Again, not big on explorers in this tree o' mine.