52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy - Week 4

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy - Week 4


52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy 2012 prompts suggested by Amy Coffin; thanks, Amy!

    •    Week 5 – Life Experiences: Sometimes the challenges in life provide the best learning experiences. Can you find an example of this in your own family tree? Which brick wall ancestor are you most thankful for, and how did that person shape your family history experience?

This week’s prompt runs from Sunday, January 29 through Saturday, February, 2012.


I cannot claim one individual, but I really appreciate a set, a class, of ancestors WHO MOVED at the right time to meet a spouse in a totally new location that allowed me to exist. A few examples:

• A great-grandfather, born in Iowa, but his family had mostly lived in Illinois; at marrying age, he moved 'back' to Iowa with an uncle, met his wife, and settled there the rest of his life.
• Another great-grandfather, in the gold rush in CA, ID, MT, went back to Ohio for a visit with family. Met and married my great-grandmother and moved her to Montana where their children were born.
• One of those children 'was moved to Iowa' when the parents split; there, she grew up and met my grandfather.

We can dig out some information to justify some of the moves… but if any one of them had not taken place, when they did, across big patches of the USA, the family could have been VERY different. One of the interesting sets of stories that comes from our family history research. What is your story?


Families are Forever!  ;-)