FAMILY PEARLS, YOU GET WHAT YOU GET

My great grandmother’s pearl necklace was borrowed to me to wear on my wedding day and later, after my mother’s death, it became mine. I treasured those pearls. Then I ended up in a situation in which I desperately needed money. After much soul searching, I took my great grandmother’s pearls to a local jewelry store that dealt in fine estate jewelry. Much to my surprise and disappointment, after checking the pearls out, the dealer informed me that they were faux pearls. In other words, fakes. I was disappointed on several different levels, on the other hand I was relieved that I still had the pearls, real or not.

The point here is that preconceived notions while looking at family history can be disappointing. Every family has that “legend” that has never been proven. You know, the stories that we grew up with and were told and re-told at every family get-together until they became real in our minds. While the legend may contain a grain of truth making it a good starting point for some family research, as a family genealogist your task at this point becomes providing proof of the legend’s authenticity. 

On the flip side of the coin are the stories that are whispered over the years. Generational gossip if you will. Stories that our ancestors were ashamed of and tried to cover up or sugar coat. Every family has at least one of these. While I am not advocating disrespect of our ancestors, it is part of the family history which we all strive to present truthfully and respectfully.

Happy hunting!

GENETIC GENEALOGY

Have you ever looked at an old photograph of an ancestor and seen yourself looking back at you? It can be an eerie experience but it can also make you feel connected to where you came from. My favorite discoveries as I research my family tree have been finding old pictures. This is why I have decided to look into genetic genealogy with DNA testing. 

As far as the DNA goes, I will be the first to admit I don't understand the raw data making learning how to read this my top priority. While I continue to chase down cousins found through DNA testing in the family tree, I will be working on understanding this DNA. The posts here will mostly be a reflection on genetic genealogy for the time being.

Happy Hunting! Roni

New Free Tree Going Up

As I posted before, I have left Ancestry.com but the tree remains for viewing by those I have invited to do so.

There is a new tree going up WikiTree and here is the link to My Hall Family Tree . Here also is the disclaimer. There are some family members who have expressly asked that I not share the information they have deliberately or inadvertently shared with me in any way and I am honoring this request. All information shared on WikiTree was researched through several internet genealogy sites and through genealogical books purchased both in hard copy and digital form.
 
While this tree is named Hall, it does include all known branches of my paternal and maternal ancestors. I have chosen to leave the Hall surname on it simply because this whole project started years ago with wanting to find out more about my father, Ronald William Hall, and his family origins.

As soon as I figure out how to get a live feed embedded here it will happen.

The Genealogy Trail Continues

Recently I cancelled my subscription to Ancestry.com. The biggest reason for this is that I believe I have exhausted this resource for now. Since Ancestry has bought Find A Grave, the only hints popping up for me are the memorials I myself have added to Find A Grave, seems a little redundant. When I run searches, there is nothing new popping so for now it is bye bye to Ancestry. 

The next step has become a scientific one. Yup, you got it, DNA testing. I am approaching this very gingerly and will see where it goes. First of all, there is great potential for spending massive amounts of money for tests which range from $59 upwards to $500 and $600 for complete panels. This cost can double when you start to look at testing for both male and female DNA. 

Being the cautious person I am, I have opted for the lowest priced test, one for myself and one for my brother who will be doing the Y DNA test which can only be done by male descendants. I on the other hand will be doing the mtDNA which can only be done by female descendants. These tests are meant to give you an idea of where in the world your family originated. 

There are two reasons I am interested in both my maternal side and my paternal side. The first is to know where my Hall family line originated. After trying for over 20 years to break through the brick wall there, I have come to the conclusion that the best I can hope for is to maybe find out where our ancestral lands are. 
The second is to confirm or deny where the maternal ancestral lands lay as I have come across many different family stories through my years of research. 

This new genealogical path promises to be interesting and I can't wait to find out where my ancestors actually came from.

Wheeler Park

Recently we moved to what is affectionately known as "Lower" North Mankato. It is an interesting neighborhood rich in history and diverse in culture which I am just starting to tap into. One of the reasons we moved to where we now live was the architecture. The buildings are brick and the apartments are styled with a hallway arch and lots of light and windows, the two things that sold me on the place.

Through incidental conversation, I have found out that these apartments were built in the 40's  for troops returning from World War II. I also learned that Wheeler Park, across the street from the apartment buildings, was once the Wheeler & Bennett Brickyard and the reason the park is below street level on our side of the park is that this was where there was once a clay pit there. From this pit, workers dug the clay from which the Wheeler & Bennett bricks were made. It would also be my guess that the building we live in was built from Wheeler & Bennett bricks from this brickyard.

Here is a picture of the Wheeler Brickyard from the Minnesota Reflections Collection of the Minnesota Digitial Library <http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/blue/id/2895/rec/1>.

Brickyard, North Mankato, about 1895

This picture was taken facing the area that would eventually be Page Avenue with Wheeler Avenue the next street down and then Belgrade Avenue, North Mankato's main street..

Here are some pictures I took last fall facing the same direction across Wheeler Park. I am not sure my orientation is completely correct and I suspect that the original picture was taken further back than I was from a point that is now built up.

Wheeler Park, Fall, 2013

Veterans Day

A veteran, whether active duty, retired or National Guard or Reserve, is someone who at one point in their life wrote a check payable to The United States of America for an amount of "up to and including their life." 
~ Author Unknown ~

There have been many military veterans in my family tree. Today I honor my father who served in the US Navy for 20 years.

My Dad, Ron Hall

Ronald William Hall was born to William Jonathan (Bill) Hall and Frances Minnie Fuhrman in Southwestern Iowa He was a ‘lifer’ in the Navy and he was my Dad. When I lost Dad I never knew I could feel such emptiness. Even though we didn’t get along very well most of time, I knew he loved me and I knew that if I ever needed him to be there for me he would be there. Perhaps it was because he was my first parent to die or perhaps it was because I had just begun to get to know him without Mom or perhaps it was a combination of both.

 Dad was born in Turin, Onawa County, Iowa and grew up on a farm outside of Castana, Onawa County, Iowa. I don’t know very much about Dad’s years growing up, he never talked much about that time in his life and I guess I never asked. Just about all I know is that he graduated from Castana High School and met Mom while he was doing road construction in Minnesota. They were married May 19, 1956 in San Diego, California.

By the time I was born, Dad was cruising around the Orient aboard the USS Hornet. There were several more cruises, all so Dad could be stationed at Los Alamitos NAS and we could live in California except for a few stints in Minnesota, Illinois and Tennessee. (That is a long story about military bureaucracy and red tape.)

Dad retired from the Navy in 1975 and moved to Minnesota. Eventually he divorced Mom and moved from Minnesota to Iowa where he remarried for a short time before he died in 1985.