Sunday, February 25, 2018

How Many Ancestors: 2018 Edition

Finally!

Here is my update to the ongoing "how many ancestors have you identified" quest.

The idea is to list the "known by name" ancestors at each genealogical level: parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. As the potential ancestors double and the available records decrease over time, the challenge increases. Let's check mine and see what I've found.

Here's my chart from 2017:


And here is 2018's:


Some improvement...

In blue above are the generations where I found new ancestors over the last year.

In Level 7, the 4x great-grandparents, I made zero progress. The missing ancestors are my Irish lines. I may be forever stuck here. I have some new leads, but they are still speculative.

In Levels 8, 9 and 10, I located new records for my maternal grandmother's West Prussian family. I had great success with her Wuerttemburg lines in 2017, and now Ancestry added West Prussian microfilms that I had rented years ago, but were now much more complete and had some search capabilities. Many of these records are from what is now Poland.

Numberswise, I added 2 percentage points to my total, and now know fully a third of ten generations of ancestors (including me!) by name. Not bad!

I know were aren't supposed to be name collectors, but I enjoy this post every year ;)

One great record I found was the marriage of a pair of 7th great-grandparents, Marcin Mazciewski to Maria Nyckzynski, in Sommerau, Kries Rosenberg, West Prussia in 1744. I love how the marriages are just squeaked in on the page:




Happy Belated New Year and Happy Searching!

© 2018 Sally Knudsen

Snips: Ancestry.com. Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1518-1921 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017.

Monday, January 8, 2018

#52Ancestors Favorite Photo

Choosing just one favorite photo is tough!

This is a photo I snapped of my sons (who are now young men) in front of the gravestone of their 4x great-grandparents, Wright and Sally (Joslin) Spencer. Sally died in 1895 and Wright in 1899.



Wright Spencer was the guy who started it all for me. Taking my sons to "meet" him didn't mean much to them but it did to me. I'm so glad I have this photo!

Wright and Sally are maternal ancestors, and are buried in Rowley Cemetery in Locke Township, Ingham County, Michigan.


Wednesday, January 3, 2018

#52Ancestors 2018 Version: Start

Happy New Year!

I have decided to start the 52 Ancestors challenge by Amy Johnson Crow.

The first prompt is start. Just blogging again is a big start. Sadly, I only managed 5 posts last year. While I have been researching all along, I found that my real life was getting more challenging. I anticipate 2018 will be even more so. Getting back to blogging will be a fresh start for me, and a way to retreat from the real world (in a good way!).

I do maintain a website of my ancestors here at sallysearches.com.

I also completed a 52 Ancestors Challenge in 2014. Here's the wrapup.

I'm not sure how I will approach this version, but mulling it around in my head is a good start! Thanks for following along and I'll see many of you out there. Cheers!

-Sally