Frustration. Brick walls will
rear their ugly heads. And finding the maiden names of those elusive
female ancestors can also result in much hair loss.
Outrage. My outrage story is
the murder of my grandma's sister, but even more, the fact that her
murderer spent a few years in the hospital for the criminally insane
at Ionia before being released and pursuing his life in Kalamazoo.
By the way, three state psychiatrists stated that Salpatrick was
completely sane, but the judge unanimously decided to commit him. To read about how that happened see Christmas Morning Murderer Gets Off Easy.
Joy. Finally finding a great
record or a new photo of your ancestor is a wonderful feeling. I
only wish it happened more often.
Disgust. I uncovered the story
of a bigamist in my tree. Solon Lane even abandoned two of his four
wives leaving them with children to raise alone.
Excitement. It doesn't take
much to elicit this feeling for me. My poor husband must think I'm
addled when I turn to him with sparkling eyes and say “Eureka, I
found three potential death records for a family which explains why I
couldn't find them in the census.” Well, I don't usually say
Eureka.
Disappointment. I found out,
much to my dismay, that my great-grandmother's brother was convicted
and imprisoned for rape when he was just seventeen. See also
Disgust. I can't help but think about the embarrassment and shame
his parents must have felt about this.
Sorrow. Obviously there are
many opportunities for this. The three deaths from diphtheria within
a month in the Harrigan family
(The Dreaded Diptheria)
was one instance. Another was the mysterious death of my great
aunt's only son while on an air mission in WWII. Lulu never found
out how he died. Thanks to the Missing Air Crews records at Fold3 I found the answer.
Shock. I really was not
expecting to discover that my great-grandmother's sister, Nettie, was
a thief. I also didn't expect to read that she ran off, taking her
youngest daughter with her. Nettie's mother put a notice in the
paper stating that if Nettie didn't give up the girl she would
publish the name of the man Nettie was involved with (he was NOT her
husband). The young girl was apparently returned.
Exasperation. Where, oh where
is the Civil War pension application file for Philo Brown of the 1st
MI Cavalry?? Of the fourteen men I have found in my tree who filed
for Civil War pensions there is only one that cannot be found by
NARA. Naturally, it is the one for Philo, the only one of my people
who suffered a gunshot wound. I would love to read his account of
what happened. NARA has searched for the file two or three times
over the years and I have been referred to the Michigan VA, to no
avail. The file must be somewhere, but I'm not sure where to look
next. Grrr!
Surprise. I received a pleasant
surprise when a woman contacted me after finding my tree on
Ancestry.com. She had a photo of one of my people to send to me.
This was a wonderful find as I didn't have an identified photo of
this woman and it allowed me to identify her in at least one other
photo.
Confusion. This can easily
happen when records disagree and you have to find a way to reconcile
the differences. I'm still trying to determine the truth in a couple
of cases.
Suspicion. Did John Harrigan
really commit suicide or did his son, Henry, slit his throat? For
more on this story see my previous posts: Suicide or Murder and John Harrigan, Who Done It?
I love the idea of the various emotions your research has inspired. I'll bet most of us can identify with almost every one of them. This would be a good idea for one of Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun prompts!
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