Rerun Friday - Genealogy Research Accurancy and Sourcing

"Genealogy Research - Accuracy and Sourcing" was originally posted on Thursday, August 12, 2010

I find that the more research I do on my family tree, the more questions I have. Who were all of these people on my tree? How did they live? How did they interact with each other? What did they do for a living? Were they content with life or was it difficult? The list goes on. I hope to find some answers along the way. Of course, as more people show up on my family tree, there are more questions.

My brother-in-law asked me recently about the accuracy of my tree. I did admit to him that the further away on the tree I get from myself, the more I have to question the accuracy. When it comes to cousins down other lines, I have to question how far I should take my tree. I’ve been warned by other family “treers” to be careful of the information that you bring into your tree from Ancestry.com. I know that I found a mistake on my tree just last week.

The time will come when I need to, again, carefully review each and every person on my tree. I need to make sure that I have source information to cite for everyone. I need to scan some information and make it source information in the future. I never thought there’d be so much to do and so little time. Again, I need to remind myself that it’s "not a sprint, it’s a marathon". I’ve got to pace myself.

Rerun Friday - People not interested in Genealogy

"People not interested in Genealogy" was originally posted on Saturday, June 19, 2010.

So where you came from, or rather who you came from, can explain a lot about you.  While your immediate family unit has the most influence over you while growing up and moving into adulthood, those extended family members are usually involved too.  I have come across people who are not interested in their family tree because of past experiences with their immediate family unit and extended family.
            
When bad things happen within the family, sometimes people shy away from their relatives.  I can only imagine how people feel when multiple catastrophic or even uncomfortable events occur.  I do say that exploring your family tree is a personal choice.  If you explore back far enough and then drop down into cousins and other relatives, you may actually find some distant cousins that you do want to be around.

Adoption; now, that can be a different story, especially if you are the child of a parent who was adopted.  That does make it hard to trace that line in your genealogy but hopefully not all lines.  I do know someone who was adopted and as an adult she found her real parents.  She has been able to find out why she was put up for adoption, their medical history, and actually build a relationship with them.  That is amazing to me and wonderful.  Her adoptive parents are still her "real parents" by the way.

Descendant - Thomas S. McLaughlin - Part 2

Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 9:41 AM

Subject: RE: McLaughlin Relative

Hi T, 

This is very exciting and I am so glad that you got in touch.  I have been slowly finding other McLaughlin relatives over the past two years.  For whatever reason, the McLaughlin side of our family didn't keep in close touch.  I don't exactly know why.  I have found that though after a few generations pass that people forget to keep in touch or just don't know who people are.

My great grandmother was the oldest child of Thomas Michael McLaughlin and Ellen Maxwell.  Her name was Mary "Minnie" Elizabeth McLaughlin.  Her married name was Flanagan.  She was born in Austin, Nevada in 1870.  Her siblings were Ellen (Ella Heflin once married), Catherine (Katie, never married), Thomas S., Anna "Dolly" (Anna Lewis), Joseph, and Hugh Robert.  The family moved to Napa, CA in 1886 from Austin, Nevada.  All of the children except Hugh Robert were born in Nevada and he was born in Napa.  I also have Thomas Michael McLaughlin's death certificate.

My mom was born and raised in Napa, California as were both of my grandparents.  My grandfather, Richard Joseph Flanagan, was one of Mary Elizabeth McLaughlin's children.  I have quite a bit of family history in Napa.  I spent a lot of time there as a child. 

About two weeks ago, I finally got a photo of the whole McLaughlin family.  My side is definitely short on any photos of the McLaughlin's.  The photo that I have is of Thomas and Ellen McLaughlin's 50th wedding anniversary in about 1919, Napa, CA.  I would love to have photos.  My mom's cousin's can probably identify the people if we don't know who they are too.  So feel free to scan and send them via email.

I must say that where I lack photos,  I have information about our family tree.  There have been at least five researchers that have really paved the way on the McLaughlin/Maxwell Family tree back to Ireland.  Ireland is where the research is rather stopped and stuck right now.  Needless to say, what we have stateside in the way of information is pretty amazing though.  I only found it about 2 years ago.

When it comes to Austin, Nevada, I have never been there but I do have the church records that were retrieved by another relative from Napa.  His name was Thomas Malloy and he is a cousin on our Maxwell side.  That might be a little confusing as there is a bit of information to explain on who is who.

I too have been to Ireland but was not researching our family tree at the time.  I did stay with Flanagan Relatives.  My Flanagan's first came to Napa in 1870 and kept ties to Ireland.  There was a brief break in ties but they found our family in Napa and we've kept in touch ever since.  The Flanagan Family farm is in Termonfechin, Louth, Ireland.  For 240 years, generations of Flanagan's have lived in that same location.  It's pretty amazing.  They actually drove over to County Longford almost two years ago to find McLaughlin information for me but to no avail.  I have not given up on that just yet though.

Did you go to St. John's in Napa, CA to do some research?  Funny, I have never been there to look at their church records but have been to that church many times.  I was baptized in Napa at that church.  My parents were married there and the history goes on.  The original church was torn down in the 1960s and the church was replaced.  Both my mom and my grandfather went to St. John's Catholic School.

There is a lot of longevity in our genes. I can share a lot more information with you too.  My great grandmother, Minnie McLaughlin Flanagan, passed away in 1949, aged 79.  My grandfather, one of her sons, Richard Flanagan, passed away in 2000 at the age of 88.  My mom was basically an only child. 

I leave you with this information:

Thomas Shaffrey McLaughlin's parents were Thomas Michael McLaughlin and Ellen Maxwell.  Thomas Michael McLaughlin was born in Upstate New York on 19 Feb. 1840, at the Irish Settlement in Newport, Herkimer County, New York.  He was the oldest of 7 children.   His parents were James M. McLaughlin and Mary Ellen Gartlan.  James was born on 25 Oct. 1816 in Ringowny, Parish of Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Ireland.  He immigrated to the Irish Settlement in New York around 1823 via Quebec, Canada with his parents and siblings.  Mary Ellen Gartlan was born on 1 Aug 1816 in and around Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, Ireland.  She too immigrated to the Irish Settlement with her parents and siblings around 1824.

James M. McLaughlin's parents were Michael and Marcella McLaughlin.  Mary Ellen Gartlan's parents were James Gartlan and Hannah Fox.  They are all buried at the Irish Settlement Cemetery just outside of Newport, New York.

Thomas S.'s mother, Ellen Maxwell, immigrated from the Shancarnan area, Parish of Moynalty, County Meath, Ireland in 1854 with her parents and siblings to the Irish Settlement in Newport, New York.  Ellen was born in Ireland on 22 March 1846.  She was the 4th oldest of 8 children for Joseph Patrick Maxwell and Judith "Julia" Shaffrey.  After Julia passed away, Joseph married Rebecca O'Harriet and had two more children.

I have more information.  A McLaughlin researcher dug through all of the church records in Newport, New York and wrote it all down.  He also visited Austin, Nevada, to complete extensive research.  He found information in the local newspaper archives there.

Thomas Michael McLaughlin and Ellen Maxwell (married in 1869) were not the only ones to leave the Irish Settlement in New York and head to Austin, Nevada.  Thomas' brothers followed.  They were James, Francis "Frank", and Hugh McLaughlin.  Ellen's sister Catherine Maxwell also ended up there where she married Philip Duffy.  The Duffy's moved onto Napa, CA too.

I hope that I did not just throw too much information at you to overwhelm.

I have more.  I'd love any photos that you might have too.

Let's chat soon. 

By the way, I live in Carmichael, CA near Sacramento.

I was recently looking for Thomas S. McLaughlin's last resting place.  I have it written down in family records at Rockville Cemetery in Fairfield, CA (Suisun Valley).  I actually grew up near there in Fairfield.  Upon my visit to the cemetery, they could only find Alice Loney's headstone.  They went through records but did not find information to indicate that Thomas is buried there.  I could send you their reply.  He and Alice both passed away in Mendocino County.  There are other Loney's buried at Rockville Cemetery. I am assuming they are more of your ancestors. 

KME

Descendant - Thomas S. McLaughlin - Part 1

Just as I received a photo of my McLaughlin's of Napa, CA a few months back from a cousin, I found a descendant of Thomas Shaffrey McLaughlin, my great grandmother's brother.  Ever since I started researching my family tree just over 2 years ago, I have been slowly finding living descendants of Thomas Michael McLaughlin and Ellen Maxwell.

The irony of my search was that I was working and continue to work on finding the final resting place of Thomas Shaffrey McLaughlin.  According to the Rockville Cemetery in Fairifield, California (Suisun Valley), only Alice M. Loney is buried there.  There is no sign of Thomas S. McLaughlin despite my own family records that indicate he is interned at that location.  I might need to check in Napa.  Why wouldn't he be buried with his wife?

Anyway, as has become my habit, I have started including email correspondence in my online blog/journal so that it does not get lost in a drawer or in my Outlook folders.  As always, living people and details of their current lives, are kept private.

Here's the first correspondence with Thomas S. McLaughlin's descendant that was sent to me found via Ancestry.com.

Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2012 6:01 PM

Subject: McLaughlin Relative

Hello,

I am the granddaughter of Thomas S McLaughlin.  I never met him since he died before I was born.  My father never spoke of him and I don't believe my mother ever met him.  It wasn't until I was in high school that I learned I had an aunt and uncle.  My uncle had no children but my aunt had one son.  Unfortunately, he is now gone so I have no information other than what I find from the census.  His widow did have a lot of old photographs from the Napa Valley photography studio.  I am going to have her send them to me so I can try to figure out who they were.  There was one family picture in particular that was a little creepy looking.  It looked like a patriarch, his wife and all the children.  You could certainly tell they were Irish because of the bushy eyebrows.

I went to our public library and did some family history research years ago.  My father's side of the family is the only information I found out of all the relatives I looked for.  From the census, I was able to see that Thomas was born in Austin, Nevada and that his father was born in New York.  I did not have Thomas' father's name or where in New York.  My goal is to eventually travel to Ireland to where it all started.  I have traveled to where Thomas was born in Austin, Nevada.  The Catholic church has been sold and all the information is in Reno at the Archdiocese.  One of these days I will go back to Reno and look at the birth, death and baptismal records to see if there are any other names to investigate.  The cemetery in Austin did have an Elizabeth McLaughlin headstone.  She was an older woman.  It is funny while in Nevada I visited a tourist stop that had silver mining equipment and history.  They mentioned a McLaughlin discovering silver nearby.  One can only wonder!

It looks like it is only the females of families who care about the history of the family.  On my mother's side, a relative has done all the research on the female side.  I still need to investigate the male side.  I have been to the church where my grandfather grew up and seen some of the records but not all of them.  Most churches will let you look for yourself, they do not do the research for you.

I hope I did not scare you off with my rambling.  I am in the middle of getting a 90th birthday party together for my mother.  At our last reunion in 1995 we had my parents, four daughters and six grandchildren.  This time there will be my mother (dad passed away at the last reunion), four daughters, five grandchildren and six great grandchildren.  The age range is from 2 years to 90 years!  I am glad there is longevity in my genes.  There are more but not everyone can attend.

I hope to hear from you soon.

TM

Weekly Rerun Friday - It begins with where you came from.

Currently, I post new journal entries on Wednesdays and Saturdays for the most part.  I've decided to add another "post day".  It will be on each Friday.  The catch is that it will be reruns.  I've decided to pick out some of my more interesting posts and rerun them on "Rerun Fridays!"  My first rerun is the very first post of my blog from Monday, June 14, 2010..............

It begins with where you came from.

It begins with where you came from. Right? Well sure. You came from your parents after all.  Where did they come from?  The simple answer might be "their parents". As we all know this builds on itself and follows a line backward in time.  The line also splits off to others, creating more branches.  I suppose that's why it's called a Family Tree. Genealogy is more than that.  In my opinion, it is the network of family histories that builds on each other.  It can allow us to discover our national origins and others who are distantly, or not so distantly, related to us.

I am seeking to discover not just my family tree but a network of family who may be scattered across the United States and beyond, or who might be living in my neighborhood.  Sometimes it disappoints me how family can lose touch over time.  In another instant, I start to think about my own situation and how "busy, busy, busy" I am in my daily life.  I run out of time to keep in touch, I suppose.  Or is it a choice?  Personalities can sometimes interfere as can life's experiences some of which are not so kind.  They can really split up a family despite individual's best efforts to remain close.  I see that in my own family line going back and find that some days I am confronted with it in my own expanded family dynamic.

Anyway, I thought I'd start a blog of sorts about genealogy called "Mine, Yours', and the Other Guy's Genealogy".  I've been working on my family tree off and on since about 1990.  In the past, whenever I had an opportunity to grab onto to some information, I took it.  At the age of 19, I recall sitting at my grandparents dining room table in Long Island, New York, asking them about their parents and on up the line.  I wrote the information down as quickly as I could on one sheet of paper. I remember my grandmother correcting my granddad on facts of his family line.  It was pretty funny to witness. They knew each other very well along with all of those family members which they really weren't in contact with any longer.  For various reasons, everyone seemed to have gone their own way.  Maybe some individuals or families moved away, passed away, or just got "busy, busy, busy".

My mother recently gave me the sheet that she'd held onto for the past 20 years.  It had some definite "hints" on it that I'd forgotten. I only wish that I'd asked for more information and written more down.  On that day in the summer of 1990, I did receive a gift though......a gift of finding out where my dad came from.  At least it was a start.