As 2019 draws to a close, my count of known American ancestors stands at 353, with 211 being immigrant ancestors. Jett’s counts are 556 and 330, respectively. There were no major breakthroughs this year, though I did change my opinion as to the identity of her Egan great-grandparents. A deep look at the Egans that I had originally identified revealed some troubling discrepancies. Some research by a findagrave.com volunteer – an incredible amount of work from someone who had no skin in the game – convinced me that I had the wrong couple in her tree. It is amazing, first of all, that a complete stranger would invest so much time and effort in helping me out (thank you!) and, second, that after several years of research I can discover that I had the wrong great-grandparents in her tree. That branch is still a dead-end as I could discover nothing at all about their parents.<\/p>\n
As part of this deep research into Jett’s recent ancestors – her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, I took a detailed look at all the supporting documentation and discovered a few interesting details that I had missed on the earlier passes. For example, one of her great-grandfather’s middle name was ‘Scribner’. Not exactly a common name and probably a family name. But there were no Scribners in her family tree, so where did it come from? Answer: from her great-great-grandfather’s first wife, Mary Scribner. She is not an ancestor, but he honored her memory, after her death, by giving his firstborn from his second wife her name as a middle name. Touching.<\/p>\n
I also found a map of Otisfield ME where this branch resided, so I can now find their actual farm if I ever get up that way.<\/p>\n
I also found some new mysteries. Her father, for example, was born in Victoria BC from an American father and a British mother. His citizenship, as listed on his first entry into the US, is ‘UK’. I am not sure about the rules of birthright citizenship, but it is possible that he was never an American citizen. I can find no record of naturalization. But he traveled out of the country a lot so he must have had a passport. His birthplace on one of the immigration entry records is “Cambridge MA” which is false. It is possible that they simply asserted US citizenship for him and were never caught. Mystery.<\/p>\n
A second mystery: I discovered that her grandfather Edward had at least two children by a first wife. Jett never knew that she had a half-aunt and half-uncle. I didn’t try real hard but found no further record of them. Tracking them down might be interesting.<\/p>\n
I will likely be teaching a genealogy class at the resort in 2020. That will show me, I am sure, how little I really know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As 2019 draws to a close, my count of known American ancestors stands at 353, with 211 being immigrant ancestors. Jett’s counts are 556 and 330, respectively. There were no major breakthroughs this year, though I did change my opinion as to the identity of her Egan great-grandparents. A deep look at the Egans that … Continue reading