Who?

I enjoy doing family history work.  I hadn't done it in several years.  When my mother came for a visit last May, she reintroduced me to the joys of family history work (genealogy). 

Tonight, my daughter asked me if we have any ancestors that came from other countries.  I laughed a little, and said yes.  I guess that as a child, it is a common assumption that everyone was just here.  It is a different concept to think that you have ancestors that traveled here in boats or on planes. 

She asked me on whose side of the family the people from another country came from, and who it was.  I told her that both sides of the family had people that came from other countries.  The most recent was a great-grandfather on my husband's side.  He came from either Hungary or Czechoslovakia.  On my side, it would be great-great grandfather that came over from Ireland. 

I think it is interesting to children to know where their ancestors came from.  My daughter really enjoyed doing family history work when my mom was here.  I need to take the time in my day to start doing it again, and allowing her to do it.  It gets quite addicting.  The best part of family history work is learning about the people. 

I have ancestors that came over on the Mayflower.  One of those ancestors was said to have been the first to face capital punishment in our country.  He shot a fellow that was stealing on his land.  He paid for the fellow to be treated, but the person didn't take care of the wound.  He got gangrene or another infection and died.  This is the story I have heard in the past.  There are other stories out there about how the murder took place.

We have been up to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and visited the Plymouth Plantation.  It is an amazing place to visit.  The plantation is set back in the days of when the Mayflower landed.  The people on the plantation act as if they are the person that came over on the Mayflower.  It is a wonderful place to visit.   It is an education for sure! 

There is a lot of family history work to be done on my mother-in-law's side of the family.  There is not much of a history, on her father's side, passed her great-grandfather.  I am hoping that at some point, we are able to get a good lead on where to look next!  Until then, I am going to stick to my side of the family and look for leads on that side every so often.