While I never had a chance to meet my uncle, as he passed before he was even two years old, I felt the need this year to commemorate his birthday. If all goes well, this summer I’ll go out to the cemetery where he, his brother, and my grandparents lie […]
Transcribing a Gold Mine
When I first started looking into the Judkins side of my family, I realized that a lot of the family members were from Weld, so, naturally, I stared looking for the vital record for Weld, Maine, online. They were there, but they weren’t tagged, transcribed, or quickly searchable by any […]
Emma M. Place’s divorce from William H. Wing
One of the prompts in the #52Ancestors challenge had to do with “courting.” Partakers were given the ability to decide what form of “courting” they wanted to look on, whether it be court documents and the like or romantic courting. I decided to hit a bit of a middle road: […]
The Search for Julia – Part III
As I’ve shared in The Search of Julia and The Search for Julia – Part II, I’m on the hunt to find one of my 3rd great-grandmothers. She has been a brick wall in my research for a while now, and I figure sharing some of the tactics I use […]
The Search For Julia – Part II
(I promise, no cheesy shoe metaphors this time!) So, as I shared in The Search For Julia, one of the projects I’m currently working on is trying to track down the lineage of my 3rd great-grandmother, Julia Light. Julia was born in 1819/20 somewhere in Maine. Unfortunately, I have yet […]
The Search For Julia Light
Have you ever lost something? Like a book or a shoe, and no matter how long you look for it, you just can’t find it? Then, one day, as if by magic or the Universe clicking into place, it miraculously shows up. You should feel a huge sign of a […]
Ancestor Hide and Seek
Some people are lucky in the way that their families were so involved with their town that it seems every newspaper had a picture of at least one aunt, uncle, or sibling. The Simard family, on my paternal side, is nothing of the sort. In documents I seen thus far, […]
Dorcus – Wild Cat Catcher
With so many dreams and schemes boiling away in my mind, I can only hope to find the fortitude to take the reigns of this New Year “With presence of mind, and courage amounting heroism” of my 3rd great-grandmother, who was “plucky” as all get-out. Dorcus White is one of […]
The Foundations of My Quest
I grew up in the White Mountains of Western Maine, in a mill town where I knew nothing of the rich ancestry, heritage, nor history of my family and hometown. It’s hard to mourn what you never knew, and so I went to college knowing practically nothing of the place […]
The Judkins Brothers
Growing up I always had a love for learning about the Civil War. It was an insatiable thirst which had no tangible reason to exist. Maybe it was because it was a war that held so much promise to bring our nation even closer together, to create a more just […]