All in a day of Genealogy: discovering new family, friends and helping others!
The world of genealogy is always offering new roads to travel, new cousins to talk to and new friends to help! Today has been an eventful day in my world!
1) A few days ago I told one of my "cousin/genealogy BFFs" (her term) that I needed an expert for our Mooney family line! Our ancestor is Alabama Mooney Craig, daughter of Andrew J. Mooney Sr., and Nancy Pierce, son of John Mooney and Mary Hubbard and then, not one, but 3 Hans Jacob Mooneys...when I look at the tree and I'm looking at hints for those 3 men, my head wants to explode. I'm second guessing each item...not sure if it's listed with the correct Hans Jacob, or even if I have the correct wife with each of them.
So, this morning I log unto Ancestry.com to find that I have a message from a lady that I don't know. She messaged me to tell me about a Facebook page titled Booker and Southern Kin...it seems that there are some distant Mooney cousins on this page from Monroe County, Alabama which is where or near where my great grandmother Alabama Mooney was born. So just maybe, we can all put our heads together and figure out the timeline for these 3 Hans Jacob Mooneys!
2) I received a call from a 72 year old gentleman last night looking for information on the Rivers family from Sabine Parish, Louisiana. I called him back during my lunch break to let him know that I received his message and I would call him back after work. We talked briefly and confirmed that his grandfather and my great grandfather were brothers. This afternoon when I got home I called Mr. Harvey back.
We talked for almost an hour and a half about the Rivers family. How we were related and we exchanged a few stories about our ancestor Joseph Hosea Rivers and various other family members. Mr. Harvey lives in south Louisiana and I am in north Louisiana, as we talked about our family...I discovered that his daughter is a OB/GYN doctor here in Shreveport, LA and his son-in-law is actually my dentist! How small is this world of ours???
3) Months ago I had DNA tested a friend of mine who I thought was my uncle's daughter...Unfortunately, the test came back that we weren't first cousins!. Maybe someday I can help her find answers...but in the meantime, her DNA is on my tree which is private.
At one point, I was contacted by a lady who was searching for her husbands birth parents and he was a match to my friend. She asked to view the tree and after much consideration and looking over their shared matches I agreed. I explained to her that from her husbands shared matches to my friend, that he most likely was related to her on her maternal grandfathers side. I explained how mirror trees work and she copied my friends tree and attached her husbands DNA to it.
The purpose of a mirror tree is that by attaching your dna to your match, any matches that you share will help you narrow down which family line you come from (providing they have their DNA is attached to a tree),
I received a message on facebook tonight. They finally received a close match on the DNA mirror tree. They were able to contact the new match and with their help they believe they have found the father (now deceased)...but there is a sister...now they are waiting to test her and may know in the near future if they have found one-half of the answers they are looking for!
It is always exciting when there is something new to add to my tree or I've been able to help someone make new discoveries in theirs. I'm totally addicted to this hobby of mine!
Please feel free to comment or ask questions!
Happy hunting,
Ruth
1) A few days ago I told one of my "cousin/genealogy BFFs" (her term) that I needed an expert for our Mooney family line! Our ancestor is Alabama Mooney Craig, daughter of Andrew J. Mooney Sr., and Nancy Pierce, son of John Mooney and Mary Hubbard and then, not one, but 3 Hans Jacob Mooneys...when I look at the tree and I'm looking at hints for those 3 men, my head wants to explode. I'm second guessing each item...not sure if it's listed with the correct Hans Jacob, or even if I have the correct wife with each of them.
So, this morning I log unto Ancestry.com to find that I have a message from a lady that I don't know. She messaged me to tell me about a Facebook page titled Booker and Southern Kin...it seems that there are some distant Mooney cousins on this page from Monroe County, Alabama which is where or near where my great grandmother Alabama Mooney was born. So just maybe, we can all put our heads together and figure out the timeline for these 3 Hans Jacob Mooneys!
2) I received a call from a 72 year old gentleman last night looking for information on the Rivers family from Sabine Parish, Louisiana. I called him back during my lunch break to let him know that I received his message and I would call him back after work. We talked briefly and confirmed that his grandfather and my great grandfather were brothers. This afternoon when I got home I called Mr. Harvey back.
We talked for almost an hour and a half about the Rivers family. How we were related and we exchanged a few stories about our ancestor Joseph Hosea Rivers and various other family members. Mr. Harvey lives in south Louisiana and I am in north Louisiana, as we talked about our family...I discovered that his daughter is a OB/GYN doctor here in Shreveport, LA and his son-in-law is actually my dentist! How small is this world of ours???
3) Months ago I had DNA tested a friend of mine who I thought was my uncle's daughter...Unfortunately, the test came back that we weren't first cousins!. Maybe someday I can help her find answers...but in the meantime, her DNA is on my tree which is private.
At one point, I was contacted by a lady who was searching for her husbands birth parents and he was a match to my friend. She asked to view the tree and after much consideration and looking over their shared matches I agreed. I explained to her that from her husbands shared matches to my friend, that he most likely was related to her on her maternal grandfathers side. I explained how mirror trees work and she copied my friends tree and attached her husbands DNA to it.
The purpose of a mirror tree is that by attaching your dna to your match, any matches that you share will help you narrow down which family line you come from (providing they have their DNA is attached to a tree),
I received a message on facebook tonight. They finally received a close match on the DNA mirror tree. They were able to contact the new match and with their help they believe they have found the father (now deceased)...but there is a sister...now they are waiting to test her and may know in the near future if they have found one-half of the answers they are looking for!
It is always exciting when there is something new to add to my tree or I've been able to help someone make new discoveries in theirs. I'm totally addicted to this hobby of mine!
Please feel free to comment or ask questions!
Happy hunting,
Ruth
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