Ancestry Tree

This week some fairly colorful characters have emerged from Ancestry.com. I decided it was time to load my tree for the world to see.... or at least for those who I invite to see it. Having decided that, I had no idea how much work it would be to connect all the source information for 4500 people who are in my tree...and most people have several different sources which can be associated with them...What was I thinking all these years by not doing it sooner? And as soon as you load it, the hints begin to arrive about people in your tree. Who knows how many I have to connect, safe to say tens of thousands...oh my!

I made the decision to load it because I made contact with a couple of people who are closely connected with our Smiths thru a DNA match. The funny thing is they are a Stephenson and a Stevenson family lines. I sent an email to the one person and before I knew it both had responded. They offered to try to help me sort out where our family connects. I am not sure what I expected when I did the DNA tests but I guess I thought that it would clear things up more...not muddy the water. It is so strange that our closest matches in the DNA database are to two Musgrave families and two Stephenson/Stevenson. Oh and a Shepard...who isn't a Shepard at all... This person was adopted and they have no idea what their original surname was. Father and Mother are unknown! We match all the same markers with each of these families with only two markers that are different.

So ..it appears for all practical purposes that Smith, though it is our name today...may not have been a name 10 generations ago...Interesting! It could be that for some reason we had a name change, an illegitimate birth, an adoption, both parents died so they were orphaned or they had a good or bad reason to disappear...It is at this point, anyone's guess what happened...the facts remain that within 10 generations our families connect with the Musgrave and the Stephenson/ Stevenson family...The genes do not lie...

I figured out how to invite the Stephenson/ Stevenson researchers to view my tree and we will see what we find. I also contacted the Shepard family and offered to give them access too. I will contact the Musgrave again at some point.

SO adding my tree to ancestry.com added a host of other issues which I had not planned on...as I said...I am now connecting the hints from public documents which are readily available through my ancestry.com subscription. I have also found that there are Smith's from our trees who think that James's father was Jonathan P Smith born in Pennsylvania in 1783 and lived in Ohio in the 1850 census. I have contacted them in hope that they can tell me how they determined this.

In the coming weeks, we'll write about some other colorful character as I attach source information to members of our tree and find out more about who we are and where we came from.

Father's Day - June 17, 2012

I have thought an awful lot about my Dad lately. It's probably because of Fathers Day, as it drew near.  We have been doing a lot of " Dad like" things too.  Greg has been working on our walkway.  We have a bridge of sorts which allows people to have easy access to the porch and our most often used side door from our driveway.  He removed the old railing structure and has replaced it with a new one.  I watched him carefully "measure twice and cut once"!  He did a great job and it looks really nice.

Walkway from the driveway

Looking from the yard

Or maybe it is because our annual Smith camping trip is around the corner and I am looking forward to it.  It was Mom and Dad that planted the seed about camping in our heads and for all of us it seems to have taken hold. Dad would spend time in the winter with maps plotting out where we would go next summer.  Not sure if he planned it then because he needed to put in for vacation...Like we all still do today or if it was his escape from the snow and the winter which was roaring outside.  When I realized that it was that time again, he had already decided where we were going.  He would get out the square card table, unfold the map.  With campground book in hand, he would plan the route.  I am not certain if he would make reservation ahead of time or if it was even needed back then.  His excitement would lead to ours.  He would spend a number of January and February Sunday afternoon planning the summer vacation. It would always prove to be one the best "two weeks"  of the year!

1966 vacation to Washington DC with the Tinknells

  












I will have to ask Clare about Dad's reference to Clare's Gears on the map just east of Elkmont!

Close of the 1966 map

1967 vacation to Expo and Boston.

This is our 1967 trip which included a visit to Expo67 in Montreal, Canada.  I was a bit disappointed before the 1967 trip because we we would be taking it on our own.  I had so much fun on previous trips when we went with other families that I was certain that I would be bored.  As usually we had such a good time.  I believe that it was this trip which included Boston, was the reason that I love history (and family history) as I do today!

So as you can see I have been thinking of Dad.

Happy Fathers Day, Dad!

Love, Jan

Tombstone Tuesday - June 12, 2012

So sorry for the pause in the action here.  I have been meaning to get back to regular writing here but everything imaginable has gotten in the way...including a new blog which my siblings and I are writing called Shared Smith Memories which came about because when we get together, we often find ourselves reminiscing about when we were kids..."Do you remember when?..." and often we conclude "We should write these down..." so we don't forget!

http://sharedsmithmemories.blogspot.com/

So now my sister Pam and I have started to do just that but I need to make sure that I have time for all my other blogs because they are equally as important!

So today I plan to get back on track with my other blogs too! It is a good thing that today is a new day.. it's a new beginning...

Harold E Tietz - February 3, 1935 - June 8, 2005

Today we're going to talk about Harold Tietz.  We called him Uncle Harold or "Happy" because that was just who and what he was...I loved him dearly.  He was my first husband's Uncle.  I grew very fond of Harold and his wife Mary. ( who I still get to see from time to time)  When I was young and still married to Gary, I often wished that they were my inlaws... Mary and I became good friends and have alot of shared interest...

Harold was born on February 3, the same day as my mother's birthday so it was easy for me to remember his birthday.  He was the co-owner of Tietz's Family Restaurant in Imlay City, Michigan He worked along side his brother, Howard and with his son's and nephews for his whole life.