Teleidoscope

Mon, May 07, 2007

Family History

Posted at 10:47 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

After using the Social Security Death record links on www.ancestry.com to check the dates of my parents' deaths, I did some rummaging (they have a loss-leader: you get the first three days of playing in their databases free).

I have come to some conclusions:

• The census takers early in the 20th Century were really sloppy about names.
• It's a good thing the women in my family tend to have odd names.
• There are way too many 'Tom Buccino' fairly closely related to us. I think Uncle Tom's father and one of his cousins were also named Tom, and of course, my cousin 'Skip' is actually Tom Junior. There seem to be a lot of other 'Tom Buccino's in the database too.(On the other hand, I think I dimly remember the Elmo who showed up in one of the census records: I think he was one of my Uncle Tom's cousins.
• People named Breault really like to name their daughters 'Blanche'.
• There are a LOT of 'Louis Grasso's in the database: it's a good thing Nonna was Felicina (or Pasqualina), not a Maria
• I obviously did not pay enough attention to grownup gossip when I was young. I remember Great Uncle Roman Breault, who lived with my grandparents for several years before his death in 1963. (He was a mailman, I think.) I was surprised to find he had had a wife, Mae, who did not die until 1990.
• It's embarrassing how few birthdays of my living relatives I know.(The database makes it hard to find information about people who are probably still living, unless they are old enough to be in the 1930 census.)

One thing that came as a pleasant surprise: someone has created a family tree for the Robichauds that is very complete and goes way back. When I put in my grandfather, James Robichaud, and linked him to some historical documents that identified his place and date of birth,(Neguac in New Brunswick) the database almost immediately offered me 5 generations of his ancestors (mostly on his father's side). And I've been able to push back farther by letting the database offer me the family trees of some of his ancestors.

My family tree includes Jean Bastarache, born 1632 in Gascogne,Pyrenees Atlantique,Bayonne,France, died 1700.

Also Jean Blanchard, born 1611 in Martaize,Loudun,Vienne,France and who died in Nova Scotia at the age of 75. He was married to Radegonde Lambert, in Canada, in 1642, and they had 6 children. Five generations back from Jean Blanchard, the tree includes Jehan Poirier (born 1560, Martaize,Loudun,Poitou,France) and Jean Guillaume Blanchard, born in 1540.

I believe that after the 3 free days are up, the tree I've been building will still be visible I just won't be able to add to it without paying. And somone else who goes online and builds a family tree including people in my family tree will be offered sections of the linkages that I have defined (just as I have been offered the Blanchards and Bastaraches).

My family tree is named "Elyse Grasso" in the database and is keyed around my father, mostly because Remo Grasso is a rare enough name to be definitively identifiable. I worked out from him.

I should probably add a note the the record I put in for myself, indicating that the spelling on my birth certificate is Elise.

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