52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

          When I first read the theme for this week’s blog, I thought the address in question would need to be an historic old home, or one that was in our family history long ago. But the more I thought, the more I realized that any address would have a story, and it would not need to go back hundreds of years. So with this in mind, I am choosing to write about the home where I spent the majority of my childhood, 12 Cherry Lane Rd, Brookside, NJ, on the corner of Cherry Lane and Colonial Road.   1956 - foundation being constructed - photo has been colorized July 3, 1957 was the day our family moved into our new home on Cherry Lane. And yes, there were tall wild cherry trees along the the road and in our backyard too. The house was brand new. My dad, with the help of friends and construction crews, built this house from the ground up on a one-acre lot in an area that was just being developed in rural, northern New Jersey.   It was a beautiful wo...

         It was cold. It was dark. It was raining. But all George was concentrating on was “keeping his powder dry.” It had been a long two week ride on horseback from Sycamore Shoals (near Elizabethton today) in the Watauga Settlement, where over 900 infantry road off across the Blue Ridge Mountains, headed south to do battle with the Loyalists.   During this rare, quiet moment, camped in Cowpens, South Carolina, George was reliving the two week journey that brought him to this point. It was then September 25, 1780 when he left, with three of his brothers and his father. Before leaving, all the men were blessed in prayer by Rev. Samuel Doak, with his parting phrase “Help us as good soldiers to wield the SWORD OF THE LORD AND GIDEON.” Depiction of the scene at Sycamore Shoals 9/25/1780 leaving for SC George was the youngest son, and had just only turned 18 when they left for battle. Weather in NC mountains in September can be unexpectedly brutal. T...

    The Emerald Isle - Ireland Happy St. Patrick's Day        As sometimes (or many times) happens in family history research, what you think you know about a person/family’s origins can change as more facts come to light. Don’t worry, we still have the same amount of Irish DNA from mom (Dot’s side of the family). We are still descended from the Reillys and the Mervins. I am, however, reconsidering the Mervyn family line from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. That castle (even though it no longer exists anyway) probably wasn’t “our” castle. Good news is that there could be another one in County Cavan. And it still is from a Mervyn/Mervin line. It would make no sense to give three of your sons the Mervyn middle name, and then repeated for generations after that, if it didn’t hold some significance. My challenge is to find that exact significance.   However, discovering more about the Mervyn/Mervin line, as well as the Reilly line could be ...

          Ever since I took the plunge into Irish waters over one month ago, there have been many false starts and conflicting clues along the way. Imagine looking for a John M. Reilly and wife Matilda (just Matilda, no maiden name), with little else to go on. It seemed to have been a fruitless swim in the Irish Sea, wading in these waters for over 10 years now and making no headway to speak of. This latest go round has been different. The main reason for this is that I have had 12 years of on the job training, so to speak. I am more cognizant of little clues in records. In addition, more research tools and records are available now. And I have learned to think more critically about details. Details that seemed unimportant to me years ago all of a sudden took on new significance. One example of this is the middle initial “M” in two male descendants of John M. Reilly, which until this time I never considered a clue. Map of Ireland, with County Cavan in g...