Beware! Genealogy is habit-forming.
Once you begin seeking your ancestors, you won't be able to rest, because as soon as you find one elusive uncle or grandmother, you discover new connections.
I started out trying to discover where and when my mother's father had died (young, was all I knew) and who the Katie who addressed Nellie Holmes as "Mother" really was (as far as I knew my maternal grandmother had only one sister). Now, twenty-odd years later, my family file numbers in the hundreds, and there are still mysteries to be solved.
I am more-or-less actively researching these surnames:
HOLMES
LYON
BREEDLOVE
BENNETT
WRIGHT
KING
LARRIMER
SANDERS
WATSON
JOHNSON.
Nearly all of them are pretty common, so it's a challenge. So is actually doing it.
I've traced my Holmes line back to William Holmes, born in 1760, where I hit a blank wall. He was in Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1800 and probably as late as 1816, but where he came from is still a mystery.
Read the transcriptions of wills for several of my ancestors in the Holmes line. The Holmes family were early pioneers in Indianapolis, and Holmes Street is adjacent to their original property, where they settled around 1823.
Neil's parents, Neils Christian Marinas Andersen Glad and Lina Hansen, both emigrated to the United States. His father's family is well documented, but not his mother's. I've found the ship she came to the US on, but that's about as far back as I've gone.
Five Thousand Ways to Earn a Living
Did you ever wonder what your ancestor REALLY did for a living? Are you looking for a different way for your hero/heroine to earn a living? What does a Barilla Manufacturer build? Does a mangle keeper keep the keys to the local instruments of torture?
Now here's your chance to discover the truth. A delightful British gentleman has compiled hundreds of trades from parish registers and census sheets in England and graciously offered to share it, as long as the whole thing isn't published on the Web.
Warning: the list is not mobile-friendly.
Write to me and I will provide you with the definition of up to five trades at once.
Join the List for researchers of any variant of the Holmes surname (from Holme to Hume, with assorted detours). To subscribe, send email to HOLMES-L-request@rootsweb.com with nothing in the body but the word "subscribe".