Week 5: Challenge (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2025 Version)

The theme for Week 5 is “Challenge.” Which ancestor has been challenging to research? What ancestor faced an enormous challenge? Click hereto view all of the 2025 prompts.

I have been researching my family genealogy for over 40 years. Various ancestors over the years have been challenging. Sometimes break throughs come out of the woodwork.

For example: Currently I am researching the descendants of my 3^rd great grandparents, Thomas Goodwin and his wife Jane. Jane is my challenging ancestor because as a woman, her maiden name and thus parents are a challenge to find. Even though I have found items that state her surname is possibly Burns, I haven’t been able to figure out who her parents are, or if she even has siblings.

In February of 2023 one of my DNA Matches reached out to me about Ellen Scott and Bartholomew Kernan line. My DNA match, was trying to figure out the parents of Ellen Scott.

Thus, I looked at our shared matches and found that Bartholomew’s parents were most likely Bartholomeus Kernan and Mary Byrne. Suddenly, I was noticing a few more matches whose trees went back to Bart and Mary. I found that Bart was living in a small community in Wisconsin called Lost Lake, Dodge County, Wisconsin. I am very familiar with this small community, because I had lots of relatives who lived and died there. In fact, this is where Jane is buried.

I surmised, that our DNA match wasn’t through Ellen Scott but through her husband Bartholomew Kernan. At the time of this message, I had just started my descendant project and found a family tree that referenced a small booklet titled “Some Goodwin and Kieffe Families of New York, Wisconsin & Nebraska” which was complied by William R and Helen (Kral) Houk in July 1997. In this booklet Jane’s will was referenced. The executor of her will was Edward Kernan since her sons had preceded her in death. I also found a marriage record for Thomas Kernan whose parents are listed as Bartholomew Kernan and Mary Burn. Therefore, I found Mary’s maiden name listed as Burn and Byrne. Finally, I found that Thomas and Jane were witnesses to Bart and Mary’s son Edward Kernan’s wedding, the same Edward who is the executor to Jane’s will.

This led me to making a hypothesis that Mary Burn/Byrne and Jane Burns may be sisters. They are the correct age to be sisters, I have lots of DNA matches to Mary’s descendants and their relationship to me would fit this hypothesis.

Since that original message from my DNA Match, I found several trees with parents for Mary Byrne. So now I have a new challenge to determine if Mary is actually Jane’s sister, are Mary’s parents really her parents, do I have any other DNA matches through another siblings of Jane.

In genealogy, our challenges never end, but it’s these challenges that are the driving force for my genealogy.

Remember to have fun and Just Do Genealogy!

Week 4: Overlooked (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2025 Version)

The theme for Week 4 is “Overlooked.” It’s close to impossible to research everyone equally. Who is someone in your family tree who you haven’t researched very much? You could also consider those ancestors for whom it feels like you are the only person in the world searching for them. Click here to find all of the 2025 prompts here.

Last year for Week 40 Theme of Least, I wrote about the relatives who have the least amount of interest to many researchers. I mentioned that some researchers only are concerned with their direct line. They don’t research the siblings of their ancestors, and thus the children who died young might get researched the least.

However, “overlooked” siblings could be holding the clues to your direct line. When I could not find a marriage record for my 2^nd great grandparents, I turned to their siblings. I found a sibling of both of my 2^nd great-grandparents marriage records, which had the names of the couple’s parents. One marriage record had one of my 2^nd great grandparent’s parents and the other marriage record had the other set of parents for the other 2^nd great-grandparent.  This was helpful in finding out what was the mother’s maiden names. Thus, this took my research back another generation.

Do you lose track of your direct ancestors, perhaps they went to live with another relative. Young boys often worked on their uncles’ farms and went to live with them. Young girls might move in with their aunts to help her with household chores or younger children. Thus, researching these siblings can often open clues for us.

This is why I advocate that if you aren’t researching all your collateral line like me, at least research the siblings of your direct lines. Concentrating only on our direct ancestors could mean that we are overlooking valuable clues.

Remember to have fun and Just Do Genealogy! 

Week 3: Nickname (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2025 Version)

The theme for Week 3 is “Nickname.” Nicknames can hint to a person’s personality, occupation, or appearance. But be careful to not always take them literally! (Think of all the burly guys nicknamed “Tiny!”) Sometimes they have an “origin story” – like “Coco,” a classmate of mine. She got the nickname because her little brother couldn’t pronounce her real name (Colleen). Which of your ancestors had a nickname? Do you know how they got it? You can find all of the 2025 prompts here.

My grandpa Crinion, my dad and his only brother all had the nickname of “Chick”. I googled to see what might it be a nickname for and it reported Charles. However, none of them are called Charles. My grandpa and uncle have the same first name of John. My uncle also had the nick name of “Jack” too. My dad was Robert, and I found a work name tag with “Chick” Crinion on it along with some of his work jackets often had “Chick” Crinion on them too.

I did try asking my dad many years ago where the nickname came from. Either he told me and I forgot or he avoided giving me the correct answer, which was his normal response. I think he didn’t like us kids knowing all his secrets. 

Below is an ad that has my Uncle Jack “Chick” Crinion listed in his ad.

Just remember to have fun and Just Do Genealogy!