A Woman’s Lot: Three Generations of Maternal Forebears

Or, Subtitled: “A Woman’s Lot“ The collage above, which shows the three generations of female ancestors prior to me, happened to be on my Ancestry page when I opened it on International Women’s Day (8 March). Ancestry had prepared this collage from photos in my tree, and, though I doubt that Ancestry did this to … More A Woman’s Lot: Three Generations of Maternal Forebears

Family Stories and Surprising Ways New Documentation Can Confirm Them: The Story of Robert Allen Sumrall and Margaret and Catherine Ryan

Or, Subtitled: “May her soul rest in peis.” This posting tells a story. It tells a story about a story, one told to me in my formative years. It also tells a story about how sudden genealogical surprises can either confirm or disprove our long-cherished family traditions. So that we do well to keep ourselves … More Family Stories and Surprising Ways New Documentation Can Confirm Them: The Story of Robert Allen Sumrall and Margaret and Catherine Ryan

Notes on Identifying Old Family Photos as a Genealogical Project: A “Gathering” of Batchelor Family Photos (3)

And, Subtitled: “Let us now praise famous women, and our mothers that begat us” In a few days, I’ll resume my project of following family lines down from the earliest proven ancestor in my Brooks family, Mary Brooks, who died testate in Frederick County, Virginia, in 1787, and whose maiden surname I don’t know, as I … More Notes on Identifying Old Family Photos as a Genealogical Project: A “Gathering” of Batchelor Family Photos (3)

Notes on Identifying Old Family Photos as a Genealogical Project: A “Gathering” of Batchelor Family Photos

Or, Subtitled: Mystery Photos of Two WWI Soldiers I’m going to take a short break from my current project of chronicling family lines descending from Thomas Brooks (abt. 1745 – 1805) and wife Margaret (probably Beaumont/Beamon) of Frederick and Wythe Counties, Virginia, to talk about another project on which I’ve recently been working. It’s a … More Notes on Identifying Old Family Photos as a Genealogical Project: A “Gathering” of Batchelor Family Photos

Family of Valentine Ryan and Bridget Tobin of County Kilkenny, Ireland, and Grant County, Arkansas: New Information

Or, Subtitled: Things Are Seldom Quite as Simple as One Would Like in Genealogical Research, Are They? Throwback Thursday they call it, right? This posting is a throwback to a series of posts I did in April 2018, which began with this posting entitled “In Memory of Valentine Ryan, Born in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Feb. 23, 1810, … More Family of Valentine Ryan and Bridget Tobin of County Kilkenny, Ireland, and Grant County, Arkansas: New Information

“In Memory of Valentine Ryan, Born in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Feb. 23, 1810, Died Feb. 22, 1881. Erected by his son Patrick Ryan”: Irish Roots of Ryan Family, Grant County, Arkansas (3)

In my previous two postings in this series, I’ve explained how I eventually found my Ryan ancestors’ roots in County Kilkenny, Ireland, after many years of searching. I now want to tell you what I found, once documents began to open to me after I had determined a specific place of residence for the family and a … More “In Memory of Valentine Ryan, Born in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Feb. 23, 1810, Died Feb. 22, 1881. Erected by his son Patrick Ryan”: Irish Roots of Ryan Family, Grant County, Arkansas (3)

“In Memory of Valentine Ryan, Born in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Feb. 23, 1810, Died Feb. 22, 1881. Erected by his son Patrick Ryan”: Irish Roots of Ryan Family, Grant County, Arkansas (2)

In my first posting in this series, I began telling you how, after years of searching, I eventually located the specific place in County Kilkenny, Ireland, from which my Ryan ancestors emigrated to America in 1852-3. My family had long known that Valentine  Ryan and his wife Bridget, my great-great-grandparents, brought their family from County Kilkenny … More “In Memory of Valentine Ryan, Born in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Feb. 23, 1810, Died Feb. 22, 1881. Erected by his son Patrick Ryan”: Irish Roots of Ryan Family, Grant County, Arkansas (2)

“In Memory of Valentine Ryan, Born in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Feb. 23, 1810, Died Feb. 22, 1881. Erected by his son Patrick Ryan”: Irish Roots of Ryan Family, Grant County, Arkansas (1)

In two previous postings in my series about Patrick Ryan (here and here), I’ve shared a few pieces of information about Pat’s Irish roots. As I told you in those postings (the first link has a copy of his baptismal record), his parents were Valentine Ryan (1810-1881) and Bridget Tobin (1818-1873), who married 21 September 1836 in … More “In Memory of Valentine Ryan, Born in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Feb. 23, 1810, Died Feb. 22, 1881. Erected by his son Patrick Ryan”: Irish Roots of Ryan Family, Grant County, Arkansas (1)

Prob. Died Young, Or How Pat Ryan Lost His Eye (As a Union Soldier) (9)

This will be my final posting in this series about Patrick Ryan (1846-1893) and his Civil War pension file. If you’re just discovering this blog, you may want to read the whole series of which this is the final piece. What I want to do now is provide some footnotes to  previous postings in the … More Prob. Died Young, Or How Pat Ryan Lost His Eye (As a Union Soldier) (9)

Prob. Died Young, Or How Pat Ryan Lost His Eye (As a Union Soldier) (8)

I’m floundering a bit as I try to draw to a close this series of postings about Pat and Delilah Rinehart Ryan and their pension applications for Pat’s Civil War service and injuries. The problem is that the deeper I reach into the treasure trove of information this file contains, the more connections I’m spotting … More Prob. Died Young, Or How Pat Ryan Lost His Eye (As a Union Soldier) (8)