Not back to myself but I've been keeping busy with genealogy.

@sissy15 (12269)
United States
May 15, 2016 7:39pm CST
With everything going on here I've found myself needing something to keep my brain busy, so I started looking into my family tree. It has helped me keep my mind busy and from going into depression. It's something I've always been interested in, because my mom's family has this sordid past. My grandma's (my mom's mom) mom died when my grandma was still very little due to complications from a gallbladder surgery (from what I could read on the death certificate...doctors even back then had crappy handwriting), and that left behind my grandma and her 3 siblings with their dad, who about a year later was shot and killed by his best friend who accused my grandma's dad of running around with his wife in front of my grandma and her siblings. My grandma never fully recovered from witnessing it. My grandma and her siblings were then shipped off to her grandparents to be raised. Her grandfather was a reverend and his family founded a church in southern Ohio. It was just something I wanted to know more about. Anyway, no one really knew anything about my grandma's mom. They didn't know her birthday or her parents names, which I always found odd. On her death certificate all of that was written as unknown. How do you marry someone and not even know their parents names or birthday? My grandma's father was still alive when her mother died, he should have known that information, but it's all written as unknown. I did a lot of research based on various records and others family trees on ancestry, and finally found my great grandma's parents names, and I found out they were Quakers and there were even records from their meetings. I actually traced the family all the way to Ireland in the 1600s. I also did some digging on my dad's side. Much like my mom's mother my dad's mother also died when my grandma was young, not as young as my other grandma though I don't think, only her dad lived until 1981 and had later remarried and had a bunch of other children. I traced my dad's family all the way to Germany. It took me a long time to get somewhere out of the US with my dad's side as most of them came from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and they changed the spelling of their last name somewhere along the way. Ironically my last name was traced to Switzerland and not Germany (my last name is very German sounding), it was my dad's grandma's family that was traced to Germany. My mom's side came from Ireland sooner than my dad's side came from Germany and Switzerland. My dad's family made its way from Germany and Switzerland to PA, and my mom's side came from Ireland and mostly lived in the south until making their way to Ohio. It makes sense since my dad's side mostly resided in NW Ohio and my mom's side was all southern Ohio until some of them moved to NW Ohio in the 30s and 40s. I still don't know the reasons for why they moved out of the south or why my dad's family moved to Ohio, but I guess everyone back then had their reasons. I also managed to help my boyfriend find his father. Ever since I've been with my boyfriend he hasn't known much about his biological father besides his name and his place of birth, but that has never seemed to be enough, and he has always wanted to know, only to find nothing but brick walls. It seems his father has no real virtual trail, however today I finally found him. I know it's him based on some information his mom remembered about him. I managed to get his home address and phone number assuming he still resides in the same place and has the same number, I'm not sure what my boyfriend will do with it, but the point is he has it. My boyfriend has been searching for this information since his teens, and today I was able to find it for him. I'm glad that I have been accomplishing a lot since I've decided to keep my mind busy. I'm still not back to myself yet, but I'm glad to report I am on my way, and I'm glad my new hobby has kept me from becoming depressed. I just knew something needed to change, and I knew that if I didn't do something soon I'd sit around and think and dwell, and this keeps my brain active and thinking without it drifting to places where it shouldn't. You'd be surprised the things you can find when you put your mind to it.
5 people like this
4 responses
@marguicha (216082)
• Chile
16 May 16
Keeping our mind busy is also keeping it out of mischief. I´m glad that depression could be shooed away by that.
2 people like this
@sissy15 (12269)
• United States
16 May 16
Thank you, I'm glad it's working too. I still have moments, but I've been able to keep myself from going somewhere I don't want to be.
2 people like this
@Jdaw1985 (3967)
• Harrells, North Carolina
16 May 16
That is pretty cool i would also love to do that one day. I am glad you are finding things out now and able to keep the depresstion down i know now that can be and it is very hard some times.
1 person likes this
@sissy15 (12269)
• United States
16 May 16
Thank you, it can be hard. I have been doing mine through ancestry.com. The thing is I've been a member for a long time, and just never bothered to go very far with it until recently. I've had a friend who wanted to join and do what I'm doing with the family tree, but couldn't because now they require you to do a free trial and give credit card info that it didn't when I first signed up. I just recently chose to do the free trial to try and get as much info as I can before I have to cancel it and I've really found a lot from it. I ended up letting my friend use my account so she could work on hers as you can do multiple trees.
1 person likes this
@sissy15 (12269)
• United States
16 May 16
@Jdaw1985 Depends I have the basic one where it's just information based in the US, which is 20 a month after or you can pay for I think it's 6 months or a year not sure off hand. They have various levels you pay for each one offers more information from various places.
@Jdaw1985 (3967)
• Harrells, North Carolina
16 May 16
@sissy15 Oh ok i got you i was going to ask you if you have to pay for it. How much is it after the free trial do you know?
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
16 May 16
you get good enough at that you might have a job at it, people often try looking but dont know how!
1 person likes this
@sissy15 (12269)
• United States
16 May 16
I doubt I'll ever be that good, I've been finding info from other peoples family trees and comparing with my own lol. I didn't even find all of the info myself.
1 person likes this
@sissy15 (12269)
• United States
17 May 16
@Jessicalynnt Haha, well I'm not sure all of the information is accurate. It is to the best of my knowledge but you just never know.
1 person likes this
• Centralia, Missouri
16 May 16
@sissy15 dunno, sounds like you are enjoying it, and have a talent for it! part of knowing how to do something is how to plumb others for info too
1 person likes this
@Chellezhere (5363)
• United States
16 May 16
Happy searching! I am at least a 5th generation genealogist and have been researching since 1978. I am also a native Pennsylvanian and a Quaker. My family has been in Pennsylvania before Penn's ships arrive, and in America since the early 1600 - settling anywhere from modern day Maine on down to and including Virginia. I am of English, Irish, Scots, Welsh, German, Dutch, French, Belgian, Swedish, and Italian descent, but I generally just take the easy way out and say, "Pennsylvania Dutch" (because I am a direct descendant of the original German settlers and founders of Germantown, PA).
1 person likes this
@sissy15 (12269)
• United States
16 May 16
@Chellezhere I might try that later. I think it's cool that I have been able to find actual documentation. My issue with one is that all they knew was the maiden name and not the first name of a parent, which I found odd. I don't get how people can be married to someone and not know basic information about their spouse.
1 person likes this
• United States
16 May 16
I just realized that my cat had me distacted and I never saved, nor attached the picture that I mentioned above. At least you got the gist of what I was saying.
@sissy15 (12269)
• United States
16 May 16
@Chellezhere Yeah lol.
1 person likes this