Genealogy discussion

Hi everyone.
My name is Pat Simmons and I consider myself an amateur genealogist. I'm also a Christian fiction author who uses my ancestors as characters in my storyline. In the back of each novel, I give the full background that I've uncovered in hopes that some readers could put two to two together. Currently, I'm developing a character based after my 100 year old great-uncle who died in a house fire. I haven't found his twin since the 1900 census, so in my book, my character is in search. It would be wonderful if I can find him realistically before I finish writing the book.
Visit www.patsimmons.net.
And be blessed today!
Pat

What a clever utilization of a fascinating pastime -- hobby -- obsession -- whatever we want to label this thing which grabs hold of us and doesn't let go. All good wishes that you will make that connection before your book is published.

Wow, I do the same thing. One of the first books I am writing is that my grandmother was adopted, but we havent found her family yet. Just know some names and few other details. Im going to have my charachter ride the Orphan train, and then in later years find her family. But alot of the dates and ideas will be the same.

Stacie and Dottie, my readers love the concept.
When I went to the library the other day to research North Carolina, slavery and slaveholders, my husband said,"Oh, you're caught up on your writing that you have time for genealogy?"
I chuckled and replied, "Genealogy is my sorry."
I was fascinated to see children, some as young as five, as slaveholders. The wheels in my mind started turning. I really see a friendship forming throughout the generations.
Do either of you have any stories about slaves or slaveholders in your ancestry? I would love to hera the good, bad, and ugly.
Pat
www.patsimmons.net

I have one great-great --- I don't recall how many greats grandfather whose family smuggled at least one slave into Canada by hiding her in a false bottom of a wagonload of reeds sold to furniture manufacturers for woven reed seats and backs in chairs. Another of that family actually patented a reed splitting machine of some sort for this purpose. Another collateral line relative joined up with a group which found this slave before the official posse could find her and he then took her to the other relatives to hide and transport. This all came from stories written up in local history books a generation or two or three after the action but I'd love to find more on the story.

I dont have anyone in my family, but really good friends of my moms, their house in Ashtabula, Ohio, was on the underground railroad. Underneath a bed in one of the downstairs bedrooms is a *cellar/hiding space*. But other than that, I dont have anything. One side of my family was Quakers, another Catholic, pretty much the rest of the Lutherans from Germany/Poland, lol. And the Germans didnt come to the states til the Civil War.

Wow!
Truth is stranger than fiction. That's why I don't have to make up stories for my novels.
Pat
www.patsimmons.net

Pat wrote: "Stacie and Dottie, my readers love the concept.
When I went to the library the other day to research North Carolina, slavery and slaveholders, my husband said,"Oh, you're caught up on your writing..."

My family - in South Carolina - was one of the larger slaveholders in the region. When I was growing up, I was essentially raised by the grand-daughter of a former slave: I spoke Gullah before I spoke "proper English" and can still remember the cautionary tales (think of the Uncle Remus stories) that I learned from her in the nursery.

Oh my gosh, how exciting. I would love to hear your tales. I have serached back to S. Carolina on my mother's side. The Jamiesons, I believe. Thank you for responding!!!!
I'll go check my files.
Have a Blessed day.

Hello! I'm Lorna and I'm a professional genealogist living in Ireland. I'm also the author of Only You which is about a genealogy teacher/tutor who discovers that her fantasy man is a student in her class!

I have a pretty varied ancestry - Irish, Dutch, German, Welsh, English and Scottish.

www.lornapeel.com

Hello, I am the author of Celtic Blood which is in part of book of the origins of families. I have always been fascinated by genealogy. Of mostly Irish descent and having visited Ireland, there, they love genealogy and are very knowledgable.

Celtic Blood Promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggy-p6...

Hi everyone.

Just wanted to introduce myself briefly. Genealogy has been an interest for some thirty years (I made my first trip to the National Archives in Washington DC in the early 80's so I could paw through Soundex cards, and I still have my xerox machine credit card!), but it's only been in the past few months that I've become engrossed. My ancestry is Italian, and my ancestors located primarily in the New York metropolitan area. Looking forward to making some new friends here!

Hi everyone
I am also new to the list this year and began looking into family history in the early 1980s, well before the internet. Sent many letters and cheques to all sorts of places!!! Left it for a number of years and returned again about 4 years ago.
Although living in Australia, my heritage is primarily English and Scottish, with many ancestors coming out due to the Clearances and the goldrushes of the 1850s. I have discovered some amazing (and sad) stories, including my great great grandfather who spent the final 20 years of his life in a "lunatic asylum" as a criminal insane, stemming from his attempted murder of his wife with a cut throat razor. There is a novel in this, if only I get the time!
As a librarian, stories are my passion, as well as the basis of my professional and personal life.

Welcome, Bronwen! Surely there's a great backstory to your gggf's solution to his marital discontent....looking forward to hearing it.

Nothing (so far) that juicy in my research. Best I can offer is an errant brother who ran off to South America with his dead sibling's money to establish a mini-dynasty in Argentina and leave the widow and offspring so destitute that they have to borrow the money in 1892 to travel steerage to America.

I am Robert Jones married to Carol Moss and have traced the following names: Jones, Hoyt, Tinker, Sherk, Lane, Matthew, Humphrey, and many others.

I am also an amateur genealogist who inherited my grandfather and great-aunt's passion. Luckily I got into it before they both died several years ago, unfortunately none of the rest of the family shares my enthusiasm. I too have used family names in my writing (I'm especially pleased at how many "Harry Potter" names come up in my family tree). I also recently "discovered' Ancestry.com etc. and am more than a little irked that relatives I've (presumably) never heard of have pictures/records of my relatives. Still, the information is invaluable and absolutely fascinating. Now if only I could get more information about them and maybe write about them.

The most fascinating thing I've found is how far back my surname goes and the multitudes of historical people I'm related to, or my ancestors came into contact with or are (unfortunately for the most part rather distantly) related to.

Hello. I am Pat Layton and I live in Ky. I began my addictive search in genealogy in 2009, a few months prior to my retirement as a real estate broker. I was really fortunate that my mother(Mabel Wilson Douglas) gave me a copy of her fathers Family tree(Wilson). It did not include her or many or her siblings, since she had not been born yet.She was born in 1913 and descended from Henry Adams brother.I help neighbors and friends with their searches. My late husbands family, LAYTON came from Washington Co. GA Cannot find his great grandfather's Father and Mother's names. His great grandfather was Alpha Alford LAYTON. He served in the Civil War from Troy AL. That is my highest brick wall. since I'm a driven person, I guess I will never give up my search.Maybe I will learn new ways to find these ancestors by reading more genealogy books and hearing from those with similar experiences.

Make sure you join Black Ancestry on FB. This is another good group.

Thanks for the suggestion. Here at the Los Angeles Family History Library there is a Black History and Genealogy discussion meeting once a month.

Thanks for the post Pat

Im an amateur genealogist and a writer and often put the stories and legends of our family into verse!

I've also been blogging on some of the interesting if tragic story of the Irish involvement as slavers in the Caribbean, something glossed over in the history books, that has a strong Longford connection...

http://www.writingsinrhyme.com/index....

Dear Tomas, As a genealogist & writer, Please know that my award winning book, OUT-OF-STYLE:A Modern Perspective of HOW, WHY & WHEN Vintage Fashions Evolved is used by genies to time-date old family photographs by matching clothes worn in the photos to 700 sequential illustrations separated by decades. These are not "designs", they are "composites"of style clues unique to each era. Does your interest in Irish history extend to Scotland? If so, a story I recently wrote for Ancestry.com titled "How Kilts Were Built" will interest & inform you because the Irish sometimes wore kilts...see blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2016/05/2...
Note the numerous comments people added .Best, Betty Kreisel Shubert: Costume Designer/Fashion Historian/Author-Illustrator www.OutOfStyleTheBook.com Good luck, Tomas!