QUEBEC-L Archives
Archiver > QUEBEC > 1999-12 > 0945247918
From: <>
Subject: Re: [QUEBEC] re newbie suggestions response
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 03:51:58 EST
Hi Martha,
The only two left are my father and my uncle,75 and 83 ys old.My grand-father
died
when my father was 5 so he knows nothing.My uncle,all he remembers is his
father
was born in Quebec.OK,I sent for the death cert.That was even less help.That
just stated Canada as birth place.It did give the year as 1882.The family
left for
NY in 1884.Now,my grand-father Charles MOODY died in 1930 at age 47,so
he never got a S.S card.Thats out.When his wife died in 1960,their oldest
child,
my aunt Margaret,took everything there was to have.When she died at age 72
I think in 1980 or so,her youngest daughter threw everything that looked like
paper out.Sold the household items and that was that.My father has not one
picture of his family.(he was the baby of 9 siblings).There is not one scrap
of evidence to be found.
I happened by chance or sheer luck,to find my grand-fathers parents listed on
the
tombstone.That was a lucky break that just fell in my lap.Now,being the wise
and
seasoned genealogist that I am,figured if grand-pa was born in Quebec,surely
his parents were there too.The reason I'm trying to focus around the year 1882
is because I KNOW they were there then.I don't know how far back they arrived.
They could have come as children and met and married in Canada,or they could
have gotten off the ship and had him the next day.So,in my mind,I'm thinking
if I find that darn census,I might be able to find what year they arrived and
what
time frame I'm actually working with here.Right now,I'm waiting for death
cert.
for my g.grands.John and Margaret and another child that they had in Quebec,
and died at age 7 in NY.I was trying all kinds of sites to see maybe I can
locate
a marriage cert.No luck.And him born in England,her born in Ireland,and both
being in Canada.Well,that leaves me three possible places this could have
occured.
>From the tombstone,I can estimate their ages and birth years,but so what?I'm
very advanced when gathering useless info.As soon as I can fit some of my
meager info into something I can work with,I may be able to move on.I really
can't
complain because at least now I have some more names and dates to work with.
The process is slow but I'm afraid if I go to fast I may overlook something.I
don't drive,so its hard to visit the FHC as often as I'd like.Sometimes I can
get
there for the 3 precious hrs their open on a Sat.if my husband drives me and
my 24yr.old will watch my 4 yr.old.Then,I'm out the door.When I get there
though,
my mind goes blank.I panic because I only have 3 hours and waste them trying
to find everything in one shot.My new plan for the new year is leave my
filing cabinet home(I take ALL my papers with me)and just bring notes on one
particular person for that visit.That way I can focus better.I'm not even
going to worry who John and
Margarets parents were until I find out more about John and Margaret
themselves.
A few people on different lists tell me to keep going back,get all the names
you can.
What good are all the names if I know nothing about them?I don't want a
collection
of empty names.I want to know and have information on each person.I may get
more names from the death cert.I'm waiting for,but those are going to be
filed away
until I finish with the people I'm working on now.I went through 16-17 rolls
of census film before I found them in NY,I'll just have to do the same here I
guess.
Eventually I will find them,but reality has set in.It's not as easy as it
seems.
Wish I was one who had family history back to the 1600's fall in my lap like
some
do,but eh,I like the challange of doing it myself.
I printed out all the suggestions offered,right after the holidays I'm going
to reorganize my notes and seperate family members so I can work on them
individually instead
of in a group.I think I have one more question.Every one talks of finding
naturalization
papers from ancestors from Germany,Italy,Ireland etc,when they came to the
USA.Would my g.grand-parents need to be naturalized if they crossed between
Canada to NY?I never thought of that because I always forget Canada is a
seperate country from here.I have to remember its not like going to Vermont.
Maybe the closeness and friendships of the people make me feel as though it's
one.
But ,in this rare instant that I'm remembering,would naturalization be needed
here?
I really don't think that Canada was concidered foreign,but thought I'd ask.
So.What this email boils down to is this family has no paper trails of any
kind
no documents,certificates or even photos.it's quite sad that people don't
think
before they discard things.And I was to young to know to ask for them.Now,
I save every clipping,cert.and document I get in protective sleeves with the
info.of who and what it is.Maybe save a future generation some aggravation.
Thank-you again for your help with my trek into the unknown.
Maybe one day I can help someone with a NY problem.
~*~ Maureen ~*~
"I hope that my achievements in life shall be these -- that I will have
fought for what was right and fair, that I will have risked for that which
mattered, and that I will have given help to those who were in need that I
will have left the earth a better place for what I've done and who I've
been." - C. Hoppe
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