Leaves and trees

Ah, yes. "You can't see the forest for the trees." In my case, I couldn't see the leaves for the tree.

I've been researching the tree for about five years now and have been intrigued by what I found, who I found and little snippets of their lives. Sometimes, fate has had a hand in not only what I've found, but when.

As you know, I've discovered a deserter from WWI and it's hard not to sympathise. That was Sunday. The previous week, I'd requested a copy of my great-grandfather's marriage certificate, not expecting it to arrive until late March. It came today and I now know my great-great-grandfathers names on my mother's side - cool!

Using the certificate, I've found a lot more:

That who I thought were my great-grandparents weren't actually related. I couldn't work out why the 1881 census had them married when another site had them hitched six years later. Living together was most definitely frowned upon, and they were both Roman Catholic - it wouldn't have happened. But they had the same names, were born in the same areas and even had the same jobs. Only the timing was out. It's bugged me for some time, even though I knew a couple on the other side of the tree had to marry because of a wee bairn on the way.

That a family unit I'd downloaded from the 1881 census some years ago, are related. The problems? The surname was spelled different, as was my great-great-grandmother's name. Names like 'Hannah' were often abbreviated to 'Anna' or 'Ann/e'; my GGM's name was Rosannah, but every one knew her as Rose Ann and the surname ended in 'ie' not 'ey' as I was used to. Light-bulb moments are sooo useful.

That my great-grandfather might not have been born in Ireland at all, but his father and father-in-law were. I still have to track them down, and following the tree through Ireland is an exercise in frustation as a lot of the censuses were destroyed. I have to know where they were born before I can tackle the church records.

Then on Wednesday, I was contacted via Genes Reunited by a second cousin! and I've managed to secure what happened after my Mother's family came to Australia. He's promised to send me a small family tree that his cousin (and mine, I suppose) did.

It's strange how things work out. I've gleaned more information in the past week than I have in five years of looking.

Now, I have a lot more to do before I'm satisfied I have the tree done for future generations. So far, I have four hundred years of history, but it's not even. I know I can go back further, to the origin of my surname in the twelve hundreds and beyond, if only I can find those generational connections to other trees.