Strong Roots, Beautiful Leaves

This post is very different from my usual, but I felt inspired to write about a sensitive subject that I think affects more families than what people would like to admit or even realize. I frequently listen to a genealogy podcast called Genealogy Gems by Lisa Louise Cooke. She had a psychologist on as a guest speaker to talk about the psychology of genealogy. They first talked about feeling like having a spiritual and deeper connection to ancestors after researching them. This is something I definitely feel. I have always felt close to my family. Learning their stories, why they made the choices they did, what affected their everyday lives, has brought me even closer to my family. I love knowing what led to my existence today, and knowing that one little change, one different decision by even just one of my hundreds of ancestors would mean I would not be here today. The rest of the podcast talked about how what our ancestors have been through bleeds into the following generations, and ...

This ancestor is close to me, not because of her achievements or great stories, but because of the hard work and different detecting skills it took to uncover even a part of her story. My fascination is held by the unknown, the what-ifs, and what could have been. "Brick walls" is a term used for road blocks in genealogy research. My first serious road block came early in my research and tree. My great grandpa, Papa Andy, died early in my life. Although we lived with him in his final months, I do not remember him at all. I knew very little about his life other than he served in the Navy. When starting my research, I asked my paternal grandpa about his dad's parents, as I had never heard their names before. Papa Ronnie knew a few details about James McDaniel, but it baffled me how little was known about Papa Andy's mom. Papa Ronnie told me he knew she died when Papa Andy was little and that her name was either Goldie or Golda and surname either Fletcher or Fetcher. That...