Week 25: Broken Branch (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

After the storms that blew through my area last week, it seems appropriate that this week's theme is "Broken Branch." Have you had to trim a branch from your family tree after you figured out it wasn't the right line? Are you researching a branch that it feels like there is nobody else in the world who is researching them? What about a collateral line that seems to have gotten lost? Click here to check out all the themes for 2022.

My major Broken Branch came in 2013 when I discovered my mother’s secret. She was born out of wedlock and her mother’s husband was not her biological father. Read my previous blog post “My Mother’s Secret”. Anyway, I had researched her entire maiden name line with my Aunt Mary. So this way a very broken branch, however it was the only family my mother ever knew and it is my Aunt Mary and Aunt Shirley’s family, so I kept this branch in my tree.

A branch that I had to trim from my family tree was the Parent’s of Elizabeth Lighthall. Actually, I didn’t trim them, because I never added them since I couldn't prove the relationship. See my blog post, “Who are Elizabeth Lighthall’s parents?”. I have researched more on George Lighthall and his family, however I haven’t found the connection to my Elizabeth. 

I do remember actually trimming off a branch after going down the wrong path. I had a woman in my tree Mabel Hiltz who married Albert Salisbury. They married in Missouri and I found them in several census records. I traced her all the way to Find A Grave to only find out that somewhere along the way, this was no longer my Mabel. Find A Grave had her maiden name listed and after investigating a little better, sure enough, I found two Mabel Salisbury’s. Normally, I open tons of browser tabs, sort the tabs in date order and verify that I am still looking at my Mabel. However, for what ever reason, I got ahead of myself and added the children of the 2nd Mabel whose husband name was Al but not short for Albert. I had to go back and remove my citation entries, delete the children and possibly grandchildren. My Mabel moved from Missouri to California with several of her siblings’ families. Lesson learn, don’t get ahead of myself.

Anyway, you can see “Broken Branches” are common when researching. Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

Week 24: Popular Name (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

Week 24’s theme is Popular Name.  When I was in kindergarten, there were 3 girls named Amy. We liked to sit next to each other, which drove Miss Rockwell crazy. She'd call on "Amy" and all 3 of us would respond. Good times... Click here to check out all the themes for 2022.

It’s been a while since I participated in Amy Johnson’s Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. I either didn't feel the prompt, or was on vacation and then I got the dreaded COVID. So even though I thought of writing, my brain was not cooperating in any way, shape or form.

Anyway, I am back and I will be trying to do better.

I don’t have a common name. In fact, when my family would travel and camp across the United States, finding souvenirs with my name was a challenge. I hated that my name wasn’t common. As I grew, I appreciated having an uncommon name. Teachers would forget what my name was and thus, I won’t get called on in class. I remember sitting next to a Charlotte and the teacher would look over to us and say, I hate that you too are sitting next to each other. Many people would call me Charlotte because people could not remember Charlene.

When I met my husband and he asked my name, I told him he probably would forget. Turns out, he had an Aunt Charlene. Aunt Charlene thought it was cool that my name was Charlene too. I am always a little too excited to find other women named Charlene. 

A recent funny story is while watching HGTV show “Fixer to Fabulous: Welcome Inn”, this is a home improvement show with Dave and Jenny Marrs from Arkansas. They purchased a truck that came with the name, wait for it... "Charlene". They had a scene where they were talking about how Charlene was good at first. Dave was excited to have Charlene in his life. But then Charlene led him on and left him high and dry. My hubby and I never laughed so hard in our lives. View it here. Don't forget to turn your volume up and think of me as they describe Charlene. It makes it so much funnier.

Back to real genealogy, well sort of.. I ran a report on my main tree of 13,229 individuals to see what the most common names first names were. For females it was Mary and John for males. No surprises there. I did find five other Charlene's in my database. Not too bad, maybe I need to start a Charlene club. Any Charlene's out there?

Remember, Just do Genealogy!