CategoriesPersonalSite

Wiki?

I setup a wiki-based area of my genealogy site that I can use to store all of the miscellaneous information from my tree. Tidbits, letters, information, etc. The first thing I posted is a letter that my great-great uncle, Edwin Corrigan, had wrote to some other family members. Sadly, Edwin died just last June at the age of 95. The letter includes a lot of insight into life in the early 1900s in northern Wisconsin. It’s a very interesting read for anyone who enjoys history. Here is a small excerpt, but you can read the whole thing on the wiki if you’d like, but it is pretty long. Plan on more than few minutes.

To begin with, the were two Corrigan families ““ the first four children were born in Orillia (Mara county, Ontario.) Pa’s first wife, Ellen Ferguson, was buried in Washburn, WI across the bay from Ashland. Don’t know just when they came to the area ““ nor how long they lived in Washburn. The youngest child, Thomas Francis, was born in Washburn, Sept. 15, 1886. Shortly after that they must have moved to Sanborn, where Pa built a saloon and boarding house (the building is still there, but has had an addition put on it.) Three of our family members were born while the folks lived in Sanborn, the rest born (at the Summit) in Ashland. Due to an early stroke, Pa had to get out of the business. He did some kind of a trade with property and got property on the outskirts of Ashland, which included a small five room house and building which house a saloon, dance hall and gambling rooms. Remember these were in the early logging days when Ashland housed many saloons, houses of ill-repute, etc. They lived a short time in the large building and then had the small house moved closer to the road ““ eventually he sold the building (the hall, etc) to the Town of Sanborn to be used as the Town Hall.

Read the whole thing – Edwin Corrigan Letter

CategoriesNews

It bites back..

It’s about time something like this happened. The world needs less of these jerks. I remember when I was a kid, we used to sled down a hill in our local cemetery. It had no headstones on it, it was an empty hill. But, there were always knocked down headstones and stories about kids who used to do it. I really don’t see the fun in it. Turns out, neither does this kid…
Police: Vandal Trapped By Tombstone

Authorities said it took four firefighters to lift a 600-pound gravestone off the 16-year-old boy’s leg early Tuesday after he helped knock over that headstone and dozens others.

Though, it does make me smile a little bit.

CategoriesPersonal

Escape from Wisconsin

There is an interesting story about my great-great-great grandfather that was told to me by my grandmother.

Charles Van Price was born in the mid 1800s. He came to the U.S. in 1874, and went to Dousman, Wisconsin. He worked for Mr. Dousman, later moved to Little Chute, Wisconsin, then to Phlox, Wisconsin in 1887. Tragedy struck however, because he, my great grandfather, decided to see Holland again. He sold his land earlier, and was now one of the wealthiest men in that part of the state. While staying with his daughter, Effie, in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 1922, he went grocery shopping for her and was not seen again. His daughter found he had withdrawn all his savings (a very sizeable amount) and left for Europe. They traced him to Antwerp, Belgium — then all trace was gone. He was never heard from again. After investigating, it was assumed that he returned to Holland from Milwaukee.

I haven’t had too much luck finding any more info on Charles in Holland/Belgium myself. I plan on seeing what I can find.

CategoriesPersonal

Tear Down the Wall

Good news. Today I may have broken through one of my genealogy walls. I was doing a little searching on some of my loose ends to see if I could find any more information. Today, I was in my maternal line, specifically on the Peter & Ida Muhm family. I’ve not had much luck on this family, except for finding the names of Peter’s parents in the 1860 census. I had “Schwandie” as Ida’s maiden name, but that was direct from family. I’ve never had any luck finding info on it, not even one person with that last name.

So, I came across a WorldTree entry at Ancestry for the Muhm family. It had the Muhm line back 3 generations to a Johannes Muhm born about 1741 in Germany. Very nice. Also, it had Ida’s maiden name listed as Schwinte. Different, but it may come in handy since I have no luck with the other one. The only downside is that the contact info for the submission is listed as “Unknown.” Though, I put the info in my family tree file in case it’s correct. It’ll at least help me dig further.

CategoriesGenetic GenealogyLinksTips & Tricks

Interesting Links

Here are some interesting genealogy links for today. I’ll try to do this every few days.

Stay tuned for more interesting links!

CategoriesGenetic Genealogy

Genographic Project

Speaking of genetics and genealogy, I caved a bought one of those DNA tests from National Geographic for their Genographic Project. I find the tracking on ancestors and evolution via DNA very interesting. It turns out that I am part of the Haplogroup R1a which are believed to have been nomadic farmers in the steppes of northern Central Asia about 10,000 years ago. Current theories point to them being the first speakers of the proto-Indo-European languages and the first ones to domesticate the horse.

Along with this great knowledge of my paternal ancestors, it also allows you to transfer your Y-DNA info off to sites such as Family Tree DNA, which will then allow you to search other individuals who have submitted their DNA info. In some circumstances you can find a distant cousin who is directly related to you. Most of the time you’ll find a perfect DNA match with someone with a different surname, they say that these people are more than likely not directly related to you in the recent past, but more likely from the time before surnames were used frequently. Your genealogical DNA test would not show that information and you would not be able to be informed since medically related information is not revealed by genealogical DNA testing. “The testing lab would not know be able to find you positive for a genetic disease, as the lab is only testing your DNA and looking at  specific loci on the Y Chromosome, or in the case of the mtDNA, the markers associated with that test, which are located at different positions on your DNA molecule than where the genes for known gene related diseases are located. Genetic Genealogy DNA markers are located in the vast areas of “junk DNA” in between the genes.” [1]

Give it a try, it’s fascinating and it could help you get over that brick wall, or even find new distant cousins.

CategoriesSite

Welcome

I’ve moved my “weblog” posts into this area because this allows me more control over everything. Watch this site for the latest info on my major surnames, genealogy news, genetic genealogy, and all kinds of other genealogy-related stuff. I promise to keep it updated and fresh. Feel free to comment.

I’ll be moving all of my surname info and other items over here in the next few days.

CategoriesGenetic Genealogy

Irish Descendants

There is a cool story over at MSNBC stating that a lot of Irish men descend from one Irish king from the 5th century. It’s similar to Genghis Kahn and his 16 million descendants.

DUBLIN, Ireland – Scientists in Ireland may have found the country’s most fertile male, with more than 3 million men worldwide among his offspring.

The scientists, from Trinity College Dublin, have discovered that as many as one in 12 Irish men could be descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages, a 5th-century warlord who was head of the most powerful dynasty in ancient Ireland.

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