I am happy to announce I was awarded the Ancestor Approval Award by Jo of Those Who Went Before @ arnspiger.blogspot.com. The award originated from Leslie Ann Ballou at Ancestors Live Here @ ancestorslivehere.blogspot.com. I am thrilled to share my blog, even happier to know that followers enjoy reading it.
Recipients of this award are asked to list ten things about their ancestors that have surprised, humbled or enlightened them and also to pass the award on to ten genealogy bloggers that they feel are doing their ancestors proud.
1. SURPRISED, HUMBLED, OR ENLIGHTENED THINGS AOUT MY ANCESTORS:
1. I was surprised that my paternal grandfather had been married three times between 1918 and 1924 prior to his marriage to my Grandmother. One wife died of TB, the other two perished in the flu epidemic.
3. 2. I was enlightened when I located both of my mother’s Grandfather’s naturalization records at the Cook County Court House in Chicago, Illinois. I had been told that one of her Grandfather’s resided in Indiana, never filed in Illinois and that the other had filed after the Cook County stopped accepting naturalization requests.
4. 3. I was surprised to learn that my 2nd Great Grandmother buried a husband, baptized my Great Grandfather and married her new husband within eighteen hours.
5. 4. I was surprised to find out that my 2nd Great Grandmother (same as above) was married to a bigamist prior to her marriage to my 2nd Great Grandfather. The bigamist husband was brought to trial, found guilty and sentenced to prison.
6. 5. I was humbled to learn that Great Grandmother Mary Elizabeth Clark nee Durbin had been raped as a young girl, became pregnant, and raised the child named with the rapists’ last name. She always told her grandchildren to live without shame.
7. 6. I was surprised to learn that my Great-Granduncle Reinhold Miottel had been reported to the FBI as a German sympathizer. Apparently when he drank he spouted about how much he liked old Germany (Prussia) – rantings not well received during wartime.
8. 7. I was enlightened after reading the court filings of the Macon County Attorney’s office regarding the murder of my Uncle Bruce Clark. My Uncle was murdered in 1968 – his murderer arrested in 2009 – trial to begin 1 June 2010. I never understood the brutality of his death or why the family began fighting among each other. At one point it appears that the sheriff accused one of my uncles and then a cousin of being involved in the murder. Funny how after forty years the evidence they had then was actually used to arrest the real killer.
8. I was surprised to find out my Maternal Great-Grandmother died of Arsenic poisoning. The arsenic was a treatment for Bright’s Disease.
9. I was enlightened to discover that my mother’s sister who was adopted was actually my mother’s cousin.
10. I was surprised to find so many living relatives through blog posts and posts to sites such as Ancestry. Connections to my living relatives has brought me deeper into my family’s past!
BLOGGERS TO NOMINATE FOR THE ANCESTOR APPROVED AWARD
Ø Colleen McHugh – The Oracle of OMcHodoy www.omchodoy.blogspot.com
Diana R – Random Relatives www.randomrelatives.blogspot.com/
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