Genealogy Life Lessons

Every so often, a quote or post resonates in the deepest crevices of my mind. It whispers to the very depths of my genealogy loving soul. When I hear this little voice, I know I need to save the words to re-read time and time again. I affectionately call these my "Genealogy Life Lessons".

Below are my favorites. I hope you'll read and enjoy these as much as I do.

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Walk with Your Ancestors: Peace, Light and Healing in an Abandoned Medieval Village by Roberta Estes on DNAeXplained

The Ghost in Your DNA: Why You Feel Connected to Ancestors You've Never Met by Marc McDermott on GenealogExplained

I’m Done Being Mad at Genealogy by Will Moneymaker on AncestralFindings

Promptile Dysfunction: Why We Can’t Stop Accidentally Hitting ‘Enter’ on Unfinished AI Prompts by Thomas MacEntee on GenealogyBargains

“We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies.”

~~Shirley Abbott 

 "We are braver and wiser because they existed, those strong women and strong men...We are who we are because they were who they were. It's wise to know where you come from, who called your name."

~~Maya Angelou 

 “The world is shaped by two things – stories told and the memories they leave behind.” 

~~Vera Nazarian. Dreams of the Compass Rose

“If you don’t recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are.”

~~Madeleine L'Engle 

“History remembers only the celebrated, genealogy remembers them all."
~~Laurence Overmire, One Immigrant's Legacy: The Overmyer Family in America, 1751-2009: A Biographical Record of Revolutionary War Veteran Capt. John George Overmire and His Descendants

Updated Privacy Policy 2026

With recent changes as Google transitions to data processor for reCAPTCHA (something I don't really understand, but Google keeps sending me emails about an upcoming deadline) I started poking around to see if I needed a more robust privacy policy. 

While this is a personal blog, and I do not receive compensation or consideration for posts, nor do I use any third-party advertising networks, affiliate links, analytics tracking, marketing pixels or other forms of monetization - I decided to err on the side of caution.

I've added a more detailed Privacy Policy page to my main menu. You can also access it from the Privacy Policy section in my footer.

I also made some additional minor tweaks to my footer. In this day and age, there are more rules and regulations about...well...almost everything! I'm just trying to cover my bases, protect my original content, and be as transparent as possible. 

Thank you for being a reader, and if you ever have any privacy concerns with my site, please reach out to me.

Image by Markus Winkler from Pixabay

A Branch Cut Short (TW: Criminal Violence)

TRIGGER WARNING: This post mentions criminal violence. No names or newspaper links are included to shield the living (even if it may be undeserved). 

I've seen tv shows, and read about, people who uncover disturbing stories in their family tree as they set out on their journey to discover family secrets. Yet somehow, I wasn't fully prepared to find this in my own tree. I was taken aback when I started reviewing a newspaper clipping from spring of 1986 (just a few short months before I graduated high school) to find a 3rd cousin 1x removed, in my paternal line, at the center of a horrific story. 

The initial article (a photo hint from another Ancestry user) only mentioned a father, mother and son had been found dead in their home. Their oldest son had been arrested for murder. In almost all cases, murder is a senseless and selfish crime, pointing not to any form of self-preservation, but to someone who decides extreme violence is an acceptable response to conflict. 

After an additional search on Newspapers, I found the story was worse than I first expected. Maybe I could have rationalized if there was some indication of ongoing family violence, or if the son had mental challenges, rendering him truly incapable of understanding his actions. And while not an excuse, I could have wrapped my brain around a drug fueled spree. None of these were the case.

The eldest son, just 18 years old, had been in trouble before for robbery and theft, spending time in a juvenile facility. He certainly had issues, but from those meager facts alone, I wouldn't have inferred he was an imminent danger to anyone. Yet, on Easter morning 1986, he broke into his family's home, brutally stabbing his parents and younger brother - killing them while they slept. The reason? An argument over using a sports car. 

He was sentenced under the terms of a plea agreement, confessing to 3 counts of second-degree murder and 1 count of crime of violence. He received 48 years for each count of murder, to run concurrently. He was eligible for release after only 24 years (in 2010). Another search on Ancestry found him living in an apartment, and as a registered voter, in 2022. I personally find his release deeply troubling. 

In hindsight, it was probably just a matter of time before I discovered something like this. If we look hard enough, there are secrets hiding under rocks just waiting to be uncovered. Newspapers record the happenings of the time...good, bad, and everything in between. We look through them to find clues to our family history. Just because I don't like this particular find doesn't stop it from being a part of my family's past. But I still wish it weren't true. I wish this small branch of my tree hadn't been cut short, leaving only the perpetrator to carry on. 

The reality is, our family members live, and they die. The circle of life weaves the very fabric of the history we seek out - even when it's ugly.