Ancestry

It was the show "Who Do You Think You Are?" that first made me sign up for Ancestry.com.  Since then, I have typed in all of the information I have collected from my Mom, Dad and grandparents and started building my tree.  On my mother's side, my grandparents are still alive and provide a great deal of knowledge but we only go back 2 generations in the US and then the rest of the family tree is in Italy and it's difficult to get records online.  Ancestry.com does not have much either from Italy.

My father's side is very big and has been in this country for centuries and I have found a ton of information on Ancestry.com and online.  Growing up we lived about 1000 miles from my Dad's family and since he is the youngest of 4 kids I didn't start with a lot of data but have found some interesting stories and distant relatives.

The most interesting story comes from the research about my Dad's family.  Someone had written down what was known of both my Dad's parents and the only information known about my grandfather's mother (Della Mae Blake) was that she was an orphan.  I became intrigued with finding anything I could about her and her parents (they would be my great-great-grandparents) and I had already found 14 out of 16 of my great-great-grandparents.  I began with some simple internet searches of her name and possible orphanages based on where and when she lived and I found some old message board posts of someone looking for Della and her sister Cora.  Also, listed on findagrave.com was Della's grave information and someone was maintaining a memorial.  I contacted this person and it turns out she is my 3rd cousin - my great-grandfather's sister's great-granddaughter.  We have talked through facebook and IM and she had introduced me to another family member who was the person on the message board looking for Della and Cora.  The only information she had found was about Della and Cora being at the Odd Fellows Orphanage in Lincoln, Illinois.  I sent an email to the Grand Lodge of Illinois for the Independent Order of the Odd Fellows and was shocked to get an email back with a scanned copy of the record when Della and Cora entered the orphanage on January 22, 1895.  Della was 11 and Cora was 9 and then listed was the names of my great-great-grandparents Elisha and Margaret.  It was sad to read that the girls mother, Margaret, had died in 1891 of consumption and Elisha had also died of consumption in 1894.  Elisha also must have remarried after losing Margaret because the form states the girls were given up by a step-mother, Mary Elizabeth.  How sad to lose both parents and be given away by a step-mother, I know I don't know the circumstances of why she didn't keep the girls and I am sure it must have been heartbreaking for all involved.  Knowing what happened in Della's life I was curious about her sister Cora.  In a document from the Odd Fellows found in a google search I learned Cora never left the orphanage as she died in 1903 of Tuberculosis.  The documents had said she was sick for a couple years and reads like she was loved and well cared for while there.  

It was great sharing this information with my Dad and the relatives I know had been searching for it for years.  One of the cousins I have found during all of this has gone back farther finding information about Elisha and Margaret's parents.  I am also extremely grateful to the woman at the Odd Fellows in Chicago that received my email and went out of her way to help me find some long lost relatives.

Maybe one day I will make it to Italy and learn about my Mom's heritage.