Friday, March 17, 2017

Happy St. Patrick's Day

The week is winding down. I can't say its been a long week because this week has been so chopped up with a blizzard day, me getting a good old head cold and staying home to rest  day, and now today is a teacher's work day so we have no kids at school .  It sure makes this month seem like it is going fast (when usually with winter hanging on like it is this month seems to go no place).
So today is St. Patrick's Day for those who celebrate.  In this part of the US we have lots of people of Irish descent so its a big day-whether you are Irish or not. I know with my DNA testing I don't have any Irish in me, but I still had to make this week's spread in my calendar journal have a little St. Patrick's Day feel.
Then I also added the bunny and spring ducks-but my duckies got winter hats and boots to reflect our still wintery weather. :)
I must say, the greens on this spread really make me happy. It is time for some leaves and plants shooting out of the ground in my mind.

So speaking of my DNA(and therefore family tree searching), I had a big surprise the other night when I was putzing around on Ancestry.com. When I put in my grandfather's name I got a leaf (like a flag) that told me this info was in someone else's family tree. So I clicked on it and low and behold it was my cousin's husband's Ancestry page. He had done my cousin's family tree and I was able to get all this info on my paternal grandfather all the way back to the mid-1700's. Wow. Opening it up all laid out like that was quite the rush. All of a sudden instead of this vague idea in my head-because obviously we all have people who are our ancestors, there were actual names and dates of real people.
So I sent my cousin's husband a message through Ancestry and even more surprising was that when he passed that message onto my cousin, I found out she had recently been trying to get in touch with me. In fact, the day after I found his page, I received a birthday card from her in the mail. We hadn't been in touch in a long time and now we were both connecting with the other. Sounds like there was some kind of big force in the universe that wanted us to reconnect.
 My cousin was able to check with her mother (my only living blood aunt who is 94 and still sharp as a tack mentally) and help me answer a couple of questions about one person Ancestry had my DNA related to. Turns out this person's great-grandfather was my grandfather's uncle and his sponsor who helped him immigrate to the US back in the 1910's.  It is another amazing thing to me that there are people out there who you don't even know exist but that you share enough DNA with where some computer can inform you that you are distant relatives.
Not being paid by Ancestry.com to say this, but it is really one cool website.

OK. Enough said.
Happy Friday!


11 comments:

froebelsternchen said...

Your pages are cool! Happy St-Patricks Friday ! I think I haven't any Irish blood - but I like the Irish literature-
that's my turn of Ireland and there is always cool music ( singers) from there as well at the European Song Contest, which I like to watch and hear since I am a child and I like Irish Coffee and I am also sure that some of my ancesters were like Irish people - I mean they drank a lot..lol... my grandfathers for sure!
This is so cool with this DNA and Ancestry website! Amazing!
Happy weekend dear Erika!
Enjoy!
oxo Susi

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you, too, dear Erika. Not only did I forget Pi day (shameful for a mathematician), but I also forgot the Ides of March. Thank you for reminding me. Et 2 Brute (pun intended).

How nice to learn about your ancestry like that. I've been tempted to see about getting one of those ancestry tests. I've been looking at both 23 & Me, sponsored by Natl' Geographic, and Ancestry.com. The tests cost the same, so I'm sort of debating if I want to spend that much to learn who I am.

Have a great day and wonderful Friday.

CJ Kennedy said...

Love your calendar journal page. The duckies with the boots and hat just quacked me up. (-; And I hope this month just flies by. Sick of the cold and late winter storms. Mother Nature shouldn't have teased us with temps in the 70s in February.

I found a distant cousin through a blog about the town where my father's family comes from. She had a draft card from a great uncle. I was just beginning my genealogy search at the time and wrote to her. She sent me my pedigree going back to the 1700s. Didn't know names beyond great-grandparents so it was exciting to at least have names. Ancestry is great. I've "met" a few other distant cousins from there, too. Had my DNA tested. No Irish in me. No surprise there. Haven't found any connections through the DNA yet. Glad you were able to make connections. Have a great weekend.

Valerie-Jael said...

How lovely that you were able to get in touch with some 'lost' relatives through Ancestry, I found a whole new branch of my family last year this way. Hope Spring soon comes. Your journal page is beautiful, as always, Hugs, Valerie

Divers and Sundry said...

Happy St. Patrick's Day! No Irish in my background that I've ever heard, but I'm Irish-minded for the day :)

I've only used the free bit of Ancestry, not knowing whether or not it'd be worthwhile to pay for full access.

Meggymay said...

Its a fabulous page today Erika. I think you will be pleased the week is over.

Your news about getting in touch with your relatives again was good to read, its surprising how these things happen out of the blue and make such a difference in our families.
Yvonne xx

Carol said...

Love your St. Patty's day spread ♥ Researching your heritage can be so exciting. I have a cousin that traced one side of our family all the way back to Scotland and the year 407. I told him I was interested in hearing what he had learned and the next week a heavy package came in the mail with all kinds of family info, names dates and histories. I t was so exciting to read through it all.

Faye said...

I like your St. Patrick's page. I do have a bit of Irish in me. In fact my ancestor who came from Ireland had as his ancestor someone who escaped prison in Scotland and went to Ireland for safety. Several of my family have been interested in genealogy so I have a bunch of info. It's fun to learn things about those who have gone before us.

Jeanie said...

Hi Erika, I have to play catch-up and will be back soon when I can spend time looking at your post and the next few down. But a quick reply to your comment on the Rockwell -- You could make quite a day of it! There's the museum in Stockbridge. Then about 20 minutes away in Pittsfield (Hancock) is Hancock Shaker Village (opens in April, I think) which is one of my favorite spots. Some other great museums in the reason -- Mass MOCA is either in Williamstown or Adams, can't recall. I'll do the Four Freedoms and the Hanna Barbera in separate posts! I know it's a hike but might be a nice weekend road trip!

I'll be back to really read posts -- sorry to reply to your comment with a blog comment but as a no-reply, I don't have email for you!

Jeanie said...

Oh, where to begin! At the top, I guess, with your great and happy St. Paddy's page, which made me smile. I hope by now you're all better. It's hard to believe that spring begins today. I'm so ready! Couldn't tell from the way it feels, but that will be short lived.

I'm so excited about your ancestry research. I started using My Heritage (which I like but I'm still on the free part, which doesn't open all records. I'll switch to paid soon). I only started that one because someone sent me there when I started but I've heard really good things about ancestry. And that's so cool that you connected with your cousin -- and she had been trying! And able to talk to your aunt? Wow! I wish I had living relatives of a senior generation. They not only would be thrilled to know I was doing this but could add so much to the stories. I look forward to hearing much more about your journey!

Sandy said...

Wonderful - I enjoyed this pictures so much. I do love Taos!
Sandy xx