My copy of Mennonite Family History just arrived in the mail (12:30). I eagerly opened the envelop and scanned the list of contents. “There I am, page 77.” I’m always surprised; I never know which story they will publish. (If this looks familiar, it was a blog message on 5 August 2018.)
T
he following is the comment I attached to an individual in my Ancestry family tree.
This isn’t remotely a connection to “my” family tree. It all started very innocently (yesterday) when I was documenting a “shirt tail” relative. But the name “Remen Happreck Peters” appeared as a child of Jonathan Peters. That name didn’t make sense (imho) so I set out to find–and document–the individual. It has taken hours but I’m confident I have all the accurate information. I suspect someone transcribing Census records couldn’t read writing (lol) and Carrie Happock became Remen Happreck. ~~ The name, and locality, did not “fit.” I found her with another set of parents (with the same names) in the proper locality. ~~ My “Nancy Drew” mystery is solved and I can return to Frantz/Garst family history.
There’s more to the story, of course. Personally, I strive for excellence; I attempt to have my information accurate (right down to dotting the “i” and crossing the “t”). It makes me so angry when I check my information against other individuals family tree. They are so careless!! Sometimes ten or more individual family trees have the same misinformation (because they copied…). I shout at the computer sometimes (directed at the culprit): “Don’t you check your information? You have each child listed three times!”
Recently, due to extreme heat and frustrations, I’ve spent a lot of time indoors on Ancestry.com attempting to correct all the misinformation that has crept into the Frantz family tree. I published Frantz Families–Kith & Kin in 1996. The information is readily available including the website. Every individual is listed with sources, in the published book. There’s no excuse for wrong dates and locations.
It’s almost three o’clock and I’m still in my nightgown. My only meals the last couple of days: watermelon, peaches, strawberries, protein bar, coffee, and iced tea (“fast food”). I can’t tear myself away from Ancestry. Well, preparing my blog messages is pretty addictive, too, and I thought I had a good topic for today.
Twenty-five years ago, I thought it was my God-given assignment to document the Frantz family–and collateral lines. Now I want to correct the data on Ancestry before old age clouds my memory. I offer thanks to my Heavenly Father for reasonably good memory, and reasonably good health, at eighty-three years of age.
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Perhaps I’m the only one to find “a new find” heartwarming. Two days documenting the “Peters” family led me to the “Angle” family. Carrie Happock Peters had a sister named Louiza who married James Daniel Angle. During earlier documentation, I could say (to myself) “I’ve been there; I know that area” (genealogical research trips). Now I could exclaim “I know that family; I was in the home of a descendant” (in Rocky Mount, Virginia). The memories brought me to tears!! I had been attending the Garst Family Reunion in Salem, Virginia (2004). Just before it ended, an “extended family” member invited me to their home in Rocky Mount. At her home, she served me a tomato sandwich (homegrown large yellow tomatoes). True story: I had never eaten a tomato sandwich!! Numerous family members greeted me; I visited several homes; I was an overnight guest. I can distinctly remember the beautiful quilts adorning the wall, and second story balcony rail, of an attractive log house. I was in the presence of my Old German Baptist Brethren “cousins.” More recently, several days ago, I was documenting Old German Baptist Brethren, and Church of the Brethren, extended family members. I thought I got side-tracked but it was a (Divine?) circle right back to ancestral roots. I don’t travel any more but memories are precious of those earlier years, earlier travels.
Three Quarters & Counting 