Wednesday, March 30, 2011

family tree project

i have always been intrigued by my family history and just last night helped a long-lost cousin complete my mother's father's family tree....

we found so much information and are so exited!
my great-great grandmother and her sons in illinois taken about 1930
we can trace our family back to the 1600s in england, 
with immigration to virginia 
and have found we have some danish and irish blood, too!
my great-great grandfather (right) as part of wild bill hickock's wild west show
there was wealth, poverty, entertainers, a murder, orphans, scandal, prison....
everything you could possibly think of 
(as i'm sure most families have if you trace them back far enough!)

the old pictures intrigue me the most,
as does one story about a little girl named sunshine 
sunshine, renamed josephine, and her husband about 1940

sunshine was my great-grandfather's half sister 
and following her mother and father's deaths 
(they were both very young when they died) 
she was given up for adoption and her name was changed.

just this very week, my mother's aunt found out she was living AROUND.THE.CORNER. from sunshine's daughter, 
and has been for over 20 years! 
They are FIRST COUSINS! 
my grandfather (right) with his brother and their pet goat in 1932
this has truly been an amazing experience 
and has made me want to find out even more about my other branches!

do you know who YOU are?!?

3 comments:

  1. I have been working on my family tree too - have you been using a website to find info? Would you do me a favour and let me know...I have some to a standstill with one of the lines in my tree and would love to go further back.

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  2. So fun to see the photos to go along with the stories - how neat!

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  3. I too can trace my family back to the 1600s. It's wonderful! Four of my ancestors were on the Mayflower... And one fell overboard and had to be rescued!

    Have fun with your project!

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