whimsicalcynic.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

One of the more interesting surprises I stumbled across is that my paternal great-grandfather, who died and was buried in Cleveland … also has a tombstone in England, with the grave of my great-grandmother, who died 9 mos. after my grandfather was born. He remarried and immigrated (and died) later.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

The thing I hate about brick walls in research is not just the frustration about being unable to solve a particular mystery, but also the pause in the researching that I love to do. I can try to work around it, but it’s nibbling on the edges rather than a glorious deep dive

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

I don’t know why, but I’m obsessed with finding some relatives on the family tree who literally have disappeared off the historical record. I know the chances of me finding them are slim (damned common names!), but I just keep finding myself trying again and again.

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

One of the best things about this research is now my GG’s brother now has a name and a life story … to most of my cousins, he was just the brother who had been in India. No name, no other info. But now my research has reclaimed his past and allows us to remember who he really was, warts and all.

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

These old patient records are not only gratifying to get because of the brick walls they’re helping me to break down, but also because they are helping to confirm things I researched via other sources! I love stuff like this! And I’ve got a request in for possibly one more file … fingers crossed!

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

Ooooh, the State Archives of PA hooked me up!! It turns out that not only did they have state hospital records of my GG’s sister, but there was also a file for his wayward brother, and I have them both. Bonus, his file has a photo in it! As far as I know, we never had a photo of him. Until now!

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

Near as I can tell, my GG worked oil and natural gas wells in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Japan, Ohio, Texas, and Arkansas. At least, that’s what I’ve found so far. Maybe there’s more? One his brothers drilled in West Virginia, Indiana and Oklahoma, while another went to Burma to drill!

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

One problem with having ancestors who were oil drillers is that they followed opportunities, so they moved around a lot, making it difficult to track them with the traditional documents like censuses and property deeds. Children tended to be born all over the place, and some relatives disappeared

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

So after learning that my Irish GG and all his brothers, AND his father-in-law AND all his brothers-in-law were oil drillers, I’ve been spending a lot of time researching the American oil business in the late 1800s/early 1900s, and how drillers worked so I can understand what their lives were like

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

Found some kinda sad family history … two siblings of my great-grandfather passed away in hospitals, and no one claimed the bodies, so they were donated to medical schools for dissection. I found state anatomical board records that indicated their remains were buried several years later. #genealogy

submitted 29 days ago • 1 comment

Delighted that the Pennsylvania State Archives have old state hospital records … I was able to get the records of my great-grandfather’s sister Maggie, who spent the final years of her life in the hospital; the records include info about her upbringing that I couldn’t find anywhere else!

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

Who captured these historic 1960s San Francisco snapshots? 📷 Abandoned for years in a storage unit, these unseen photos are finally seeing the light of day, but the photographer's identity remains a mystery. Can you help solve it? 🕵️‍♀️ Join the search: blog.archive.org/2025/01/10/e...

submitted 43 days ago • 9 comments

Experimenting a bit with the BIRLS database (birls.org) and I’ve submitted some FOIA requests for several of my great-uncles who served on WW2, to see if I can find out more about their service. Who knows what I’ll get, if anything, but it’s worth a try! And if it helps solve some mysteries, great!

submitted 47 days ago • 0 comments

I’m a huge disappointment to my fitness tracker today.

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

I think I’ve hit the holiday week sweet spot, where I have absolutely no clue what day it is!

submitted 56 days ago • 0 comments

Relatives Gather From Across The Country To Stare Into Screens Together theonion.com/relatives-ga...

submitted 60 days ago • 103 comments

While I love digging up facts and documents of my ancestors, I also really enjoy doing research to provide context, by researching their towns, their occupations, and everything surrounding their lives. I think it gives me a better understanding of who they were. #familyhistory

submitted 65 days ago • 1 comment

Even though I know I shouldn’t be, it’s always disappointing when I come across other people researching the same ancestors who don’t appear to be verifying whatever they find, and just accepting any and all hints suggested, without looking at them critically. #familyhistory

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

It’s always nice when a relative asks a question about their branch of the family tree, and I’m able to give them all sorts of details because I have it all documented in my research! #familyhistory

submitted 73 days ago • 0 comments

Kind of a weird find … a baptism record potentially for my paternal great-grandfather … birthdate is right, parent names are right, city in England is right … but it’s a Roman Catholic Church, and as far as I know, he wasn’t Catholic! Not sure what this means. Need to dig some more #familyhistory

submitted 80 days ago • 0 comments

An interesting find lately is that my maternal grandfather is listed in THREE different birth registries … two from Ohio County, WV (from June 1913) and one from Harrison County , WV (from June 1914). Same parent names in both. He did consider 1913 his birth year … but maybe it was 1914?

submitted 87 days ago • 0 comments

Another great find last night, courtesy of FamilySearch Labs’ full-text search … the 1845 naturalization papers from Butler County, PA for my 4th GG, Dennis Logue. So this establishes that he at least was in the US 5 years and Pennsylvania for 1 year. So he definitely got here before the Famine!

submitted 88 days ago • 0 comments

Had a good few days researching … found a couple of articles mentioning my great-grandfather John William Grace going to Japan to drill oil wells for Standard Oil in 1902, and then literally stumbled on a great but hitherto-unknown obituary about him from 1923. Persistence pays off! #familyhistory

submitted 88 days ago • 0 comments

Unfortunately I can’t find a whole lot on the Logue’s. I’m fairly sure they came over from County Donegal, though I don’t entirely know when. My 4th GG Dennis Logue appears to have been naturalized in 1847, and may have purchased a big piece of land in 1848, so they probably came over a bit before.

submitted 89 days ago • 0 comments

A good example is my 3rd great-grandfather, Cornelius Barry. I found a lovely obituary on him from 1901, claiming he was 108 years old! That may or may not be true, but each census has a different birth year for him: 1793, 1794, 1796, 1810, 1814 … and other newspapers also aren’t sure of the year!

submitted 91 days ago • 2 comments

While I’ve been using all the usual suspects (Ancestry, FamilySearch, Findmypast, MyHeritage, RootsIreland, and others), I’ve had remarkable luck filling in blank spots with historical newspapers as well, and have been able to solve some family mysteries and myths with newspaper stories.

submitted 91 days ago • 0 comments

The interesting (to me, at least) is that all three of my Irish family lines came over and settled in rural western/northwestern PA; the Barry’s and Logue’s in VERY small farming communities and the Grace’s in a small town. I’d love to know why those towns … but that’s still a mystery.

submitted 92 days ago • 0 comments

Of the three families, I know for a fact the Grace’s came from New Ross, County Wexford, though they might have originated in County Kilkenny; the Logue’s are likely from Donegal, and I’m not quite sure where the Barry’s are from. Not sure I’ll be able to find out!

submitted 92 days ago • 0 comments

So far what I’ve found is that two families of my ancestors, the Logue’s and the Barry’s, appear to have come over prior to the Famine, and bought substantial acres of farm lands in the late 1840s, so they had money. The other family, the Grace’s, came over in 1881, and didn’t really have money.

submitted 93 days ago • 0 comments