DNA
The site has now been updated with DNA matches from three different people, one representing the McGoldrick/Kennon line, another the Petersen/Brass line and the Anderson/Larkin line. They are represented by a photo of a strand of DNA, shown here top to bottom in order mentioned. Despite hearing scary stories of late about having ones DNA profile "out there" I can only hope my profile isn't used for nefarious purposes and I am happy to say it has provided proof that my 40+ years of research was correct. The only skeleton unearthed was an illegitimate child born to the child of a g.g.g.g. grandparent. In 1811, Jacob Dailey (son of our Peter) sired a child by an Elizabeth Baker. She lived one town away from Jacob and claimed she had married a Jacob Dayley (note change in spelling of last name) and that he had drowned before her child was born. Jacob did marry and have 11 more children with another woman. In addition, it brought me to my most elusive ancester after searching for 39 of those last 40 years! That story is also on the front page of this website, Found-Francis Marion Crawford
FIND A GRAVE
Many of the people listed in this work also have a link to their burial place. That burial place is memorialized on a website called Find A Grave. By clicking on the e-memorial link one is taken to their memorial page at Find A Grave. Very often there is a photo of their headstone and the page may contain links to other family members. Graveyards are great places to get information and generally are quiet, lovely places.
As a contributor I have added more than 19,000 pages and 22,500 photographs.
My grandchildren will attest (and protest) that I can't drive past a cemetery without paying a visit.
THE BEGINNING
How did this whole endeavor get started? It began with a picture hanging on the wall at my grandparents house. I would stare at it and try to figure out who those people were, none of the names was familiar (click to enlarge). In addition, there was a family bible and unlike others with pages regarding births, deaths and marriages neatly filled out this one had news articles pasted directly onto the pages in no particular order. Of particular interest was a news article that said "The death of Frank L. LaRue under such sad a tragic circumstances was a shock such as seldom comes to any coummunity." Well I needed to figure out what those sad and tragic circumstances were! The entire sad tale can be accessed on the front page of this website. As to the folks recorded on the Family Record, I am told that often itinerant peddlers would offer these types of things for sale. My best guess is that this was made in about 1835 as the last two births were added by a different hand as were the two deaths recorded. The record lists the marriage of John W. Dailey and Mary Deviese on October 17, 1815 and then lists their children. Also included are Daniel and Jane Deviese, siblings of Mary. John and Mary are my g.g.g. grandparents on my maternal side. In order to come down to me I assume it was first saved by Nancy Rebecca Dailey, the youngest child of John and Mary. It would then have had to pass to her second child Elmer and then his eldest, my grandmother Mabel. I, as my grandfather was wont to say, "liberated" it from them.
TECHNOLOGY
I began with Family Group Sheet (FGS) blanks supplied by a genealogical company, filling out a page for each family. I subscribed to a magazine The Genealogical Helper that ceased to exist after about 50 years, I assume it became obsolete with the advent of the internet. In addition to content it was mostly filled with ads or inquiries from individuals looking for data on their ancesters. For instance:
My first computer, an Apple IIe purchased at Dayton's, was bought for the sole intent of tracking my genealogy. I created by own FGS blanks using a spreadsheet program and entered all the information one name and date at a time. When the internet came along I recall trying to figure it out, one accessed it via modem, but there were no addresses and no graphics and I gave up. Fast forward about 10 years and the internet was much more robust and one didn't need a modem anymore and my ISP provided space for a website as part of the package. I created my first website which wasn't much more than copies of my ancestral chart created on a spreadsheet program. Forty or so years on I am still using my computer mostly for genealogy and I like to think my web skills are a little more advanced. One needn't advertise for information regarding ancesters but only needs to subscribe to services who's only purpose is to catalog, index and present data.
Dailey, John W.; b. 1787, Washington Co., PA; m. Mary Deviese, 1815, Washington Co., OH.
This was followed by the submitters name and address. I submitted dozens of names twice and received hundreds of replies. It is customary when sending an inquiry to someone that one include a SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope) for the reply. I purchase two boxes of 500 pre-stamped envelopes, one size 10 for the outside and size 9 for the SASE. They were all used.