Researcher Hallie Borstel thought she knew the basic details of her great-great-grandfather's life, from his hometown in Germany to his work as a stonemason in New York City. But unexpected records and a confirming DNA match revealed an episode of her ancestor's life that family stories had left out—and connected her to relatives she never knew existed. Read the Story
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“An 1836 blaze destroyed thousands of records that catalogued the young nation’s ingenuity, but recent discoveries indicate that originals may still exist.”
The Beehive, the blog of the Massachusetts Historical Society, looks at entries from a 1906 diary describing two road trips through Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut.
“Gold miners made themselves sick on smelly, hard loaves.”
The Weekly Genealogist Survey
Last week's survey asked if you have uncovered any family secrets in your research. We received 3,610 responses. The results are:
14%, Yes, and I told only one or two trusted confidantes and not those involved.
10%, Yes, and I told only those involved.
29%, Yes, and I told those involved, as well as a wider circle of family members.
14%, Yes, and I published my findings or shared them publicly in another way.
6%, Yes, and I have so far kept it a secret.
6%, Yes, and I will wait to share it until those directly affected have died or more time has passed.
3%, Yes, and I do not plan to ever share the secret.
37%, No, I have not uncovered a major family secret in my research.
This week's survey is a questionnaire for our readers about The Weekly Genealogist. We want to hear from you! Which features do you like best, and how can we improve? Take the survey now
Want to share your thoughts on the survey with us? We are always happy to hear from our readers. Email us at weeklygenealogist@nehgs.org. Responses may be edited for clarity and length and featured in a future newsletter.
Readers Respond: Family Secrets
By Jean Powers, Senior Editor
Last week's survey asked about uncovering family secrets through research. Thank you to everyone who replied. Below is a selection of reader responses.
Emily Hegarty, Brooklyn, New York: I found records of a brief marriage and short-lived child of my second-grand-aunt. She was an impoverished Irish immigrant who married shortly before the baby was born; after the baby died, her husband divorced her. Soon after I included the information in my public Ancestry tree, I received a message from a descendant of the ex-husband asking why her ancestor was in my tree. Apparently his proper New England family had hushed up the incident. We may not always know when we’ve found a family secret—it wasn’t a secret in my family, but it was in hers.
Kathy Dickey, Chesterfield, Missouri: My Ancestry DNA test matched me with a second cousin I did not know. I learned that mother of this match was my first cousin through my “childless” uncle. The mother and my uncle had a relationship after WWII that resulted in a pregnancy, and her family sent her to a home for unwed mothers in NYC—without a word to my uncle. She and my uncle both eventually wed other people. My new cousin and I have become friends and family—a happy ending after 68 years!
Nanette Pigaga, Santa Barbara, California: My father was adopted as an infant. In 1995, my husband and I found my father’s 90-year-old biological mother and a 73-year-old brother. Twenty years after our initial discovery, with more descendants entering DNA, we determined that my father and his brother shared their mother as a common ancestor and were fathered by different men. My father passed in 2008 before this discovery was made. His half-brother is alive and will turn 100 years old this October. In 2018 we discovered my father also had a sister. They shared the same mother and father. Like him, she had been adopted out.
B. C. French, North Chili, New York: I discovered that my second-great-grandparents, Norman Rude and Lillian Hall, were never legally married. Lillian had married at age 17 in 1870 to an older man named Charles Searles; their son John was born the next year. There is no evidence they divorced. Lillian married Norman in 1876. When Charles remarried in 1892, he stated it was his second marriage—although it was really his third! Charles had been married and widowed prior to Lillian and had three children by his first wife. Charles died in June 1913, leaving Lillian free to marry Norman—but there is no evidence they pursued legal marriage. Technically speaking, all her children with Norman, including my great-grandmother, were illegitimate.
Database News
Updated: Westfield, MA Baptisms
We've recently added document images and data to Westfield, MA: Baptisms Performed in the Church of Christ, 1679-1836. Additional data includes full names, relationships, locations, and race, where available. This database is available to American Ancestors members. Search Now
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Spotlight: Federal Hill Irish of Providence, Rhode Island
by Valerie Beaudrault
Federal Hill is a neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island's capital city. Federal Hill Irish, a website created by Raymond McKenna, provides resources and information about the neighborhood's Irish community. The Old Stone Bank Project, an in-progress database of transcribed Providence bank records from 1844 to 1897, has been completed through the year 1873 and contains 29,000 records. Data fields include name, address, birthplace, age, occupation, and depositor’s name. Beginning in the 1860s, depositors’ birthplaces are listed more frequently, and beginning in the 1870s, many accounts are held by immigrants from other countries. The website also hosts a blog about the history and origins of Rhode Island’s Irish residents, the Civil War, and Rhode Island and Italian American history. Search Now
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