Most of this website is dedicated to Genealogy. Why? Because I work to support my genealogy habit. It is my true passion. If you are not tracing your family tree, you are missing out on learning more about who you really are. We are the sum of all of our ancestors. Finding out who they are – and learning about who they were – can be the most rewarding thing in the world.
I have created this section of the site with two purposes:
Sharing Information
I want to share information I have found with others who may be searching. There are few things less rewarding than to find someone who has hit a brick wall in their family tree and being able to fill in that missing piece. This is true even if the ancestor in question isn’t a direct relative of mine.
Though my tree on ancestry.com, I encountered someone who was totally stuck. They had an entire branch of their tree that was a complete brick wall. Turned out that the ancestor who had them stuck was married to an ancestor of mine. I had located a newspaper record that verified this person had married my ancestor. Through that I was able to find the marriage record, which listed the parents names. A few leaf’s (ancestry.com’s hints), I had added much more information on this person and one of those records matched something this person already knew about their ancestor.
Finding New Cousins
Through this site, I am hoping to find cousins that I am related to. Maybe some who have more information on the ancestors we share then I have. Even more than that though, I would love to get a chance to learn more about those who are walking amongst the 7 billion people in this world who share that link to the past with me.
I have a different post about meeting some cousins the you can read here. The post also covers why researching those married into the family can be helpful.
If you are browsing through any of the genealogy post on this site, here is a key to some of the icons you will see next to a link:
Dollar sign means that the requires membership to view the site. Some sites offer a trial membership and I’ll note that with a different icon.
Free Trial icon that means the link requires a paid membership BUT they offer a free trial. Word of caution, while some sites give free trail memberships, some require you to give your billing information in order to get the free trail. In these cases you need to make sure to read how to cancel before your credit card is billed – each site does it differently.
Links to a page on ancestry.com. Usually this will link to the direct page for the ancestor I’m referring to.
Links to a page on findmypast.com. Usually this will be the source page for information I have posted related to an ancestor.
Link to familysearch.org. This site requires a free membership – yep, totally free. If you are interested in genealogy, go sign up!
If you are related to anyone I post information about and would like to see a copy of a record I have and do not have a membership to the site it is link to, please let me know.
The short list of names I am searching in my own family tree:
Name: Villemaire:
a.k.a. Villermaire, Villemarie, Villmare, Vilmare, Vilamarie, Vilamaire, Vilmere, Villmere, Villamere, Vilamere, Vilamare, Villamare
Location(s): Massachusetts – with a focus on Boston, Dorchester and Cambridge & Canada (French Canadian)
Name: McArdle
a.k.a: McCardle
Location(s): Massachusetts – with a focus on Boston & Dorchester, County Louth Ireland
Name: Kelly
a.k.a: Kelley
Location(s): Massachusetts – with a focus on Boston & Dorchester, Ireland, England
Name: Ruzenskis
a.ka. Rusenskis
Location(s): Lithuania & New York – with a focus on Brooklyn from 1910 through 1930 and Great Neck, New York from 1930 on.
Not only do I work on my own family tree, but I love helping others. If you have questions, feel free to ask. I will do my best to answer. This doesn’t mean I’m going to complete your family tree for you. If you want someone to do that, you will miss out on what makes genealogy fun (and sometimes frustrating).