Check and...Check Again!

Today I want to talk about fixing our genealogy mistakes. We all have them and some are hiding better than others. It is so easy to find a record and grab a piece of information from it and start moving forward. I get excited! I have to remind myself to reign in the excitement and have patience. I came accross this blog post yesterday by Michael J. Leclerc. It is called Pedigree Analysis: Do You Have The Correct Answers?. He makes a lot of very good points. So yesterday I opened up my tree on ancestry and began at my fathers father. I kept a notebook next to me to record any new hints I might find. You could do this on paper or even on OneNote. Whatever works for you. First I checked the dates and made sure everything made sense. Then I re-viewed each census record I had attached for new clues. Recording what you don't know or didn't happen is just as important as recording what you do know. This is time consuming but once you begin it will amaze you how much you have missed. I find when you are reviewing the census records, it makes more sense to write down (or type) the notes about the whole family at the same time so you are not having to re-do what you have already done. I found mistakes in my tree right off the bat. Even better- I found new clues almost instantly. After reviewing a census for my 2nd Great Grandmother I caught that she had birthed 7 children and 7 were still alive. I knew that column was there but I must of skimmed over it or forgot to pay attention to it somewhere along the line. This led me to not only discover two new brothers that he had but also to trace them to Texas and back to Tennessee and fill in a huge gap I had in my tree. Don't forget to take every detail from each census or document. Things like street address, house number, post office, neighbors names, if they had a farm..those are all things to put in your notes. Then there are the more obvious things- Spelling of name, relationship, age, sex, marriage info, school info, were they a veteran?, occupation, trade and whatever else you find. I am still messing around with a few different ideas for creating a table/timeline for census clues. There are a few out there but they just don't seem to be very efficient. When you are recording census notes, many generations tend to overlap and you need something that can account for that. Also all the different questions they asked. It's something I am going to work on and see if I can come up with something that works. My vision is an easy table and or timeline that lets you plug in census clues by individual person as well as their family. This way you can fill in the gaps and it's easier to notice any discrepencies. I will let you guys know!! If you have any ideas, please share!

Remembering Beez Nonnie

     It is important to take the time and remember what your ancestors have taught you. I am lucky to have known this woman. Mary Helen Darin - or Beez Nonnie - is my Great Grandmother on my Mother's Mother's side. Not many people have 19 years with their Great Grandparent and my only regret is that I didn't ask more questions.
     Beez Nonnie? Pronounced (beez-nawnie), the name is a tradition in my Italian family. 'Bisnonna' is Great Grandmother in Italian. 'Bis' - the suffix meaning Great and 'Nonna' meaning Mother. Somewhere along the line 'Bis' becaume 'Beez' and 'Nonna' became 'Nonnie'. If I remember the story correctly, it started when one of my ancestors couldn't pronounce Nonna when he was little and it turned into Nonnie. So a Grandmother is Nonnie and her mother is Beez Nonnie. We call her husband, Albino, Nonno. Pronounced (nawn-oh). Nonno wasn't alive to have great-grandchildren so we never had to differentiate between two Nonno's. If I would have ever met him I'm not sure what I would of called him. Beez Nonno? Probably.
     Life Mary Helen Da Rin Perette was born in 1914 in Joliet, Illinois. Her mother and father were both immagrants from Belluno, Vigo Cadore, Italy. She quit school after 8th grade. When she was a bit older she found work in Michigan cleaning a womans house. She worked and stayed with the woman. She then met Albino Da Rin Conte who was born in New York and had moved to Detroit to work. His parents were also immagrants from Belluno, Vigo Cadore, Italy. I never asked her if the families knew eachother in their homeland.  The name Da Rin was taken by all those who lived in Belluno. When Marry and Albino's parents came over, they removed the Perette and Conte and shortened Da Rin to darin. Mary's father also americanized his name from Giovanni to John.
     Lessons Learned "Don't poke your sister's bruises - it will give her cancer!" "You can't drink Coca-Cola while you are pregnant because it will eat your baby." "I did it 7 times." (Yes, she was referring to concieving her 7 children).  While a few of the things she told me were nonsense- and I just laughed and agreed...there is still things to learn. Don't poke your sister - it's not nice! Take care of your body because a baby is precious. Okay the last one we see quite diferently on - but I can take the message she was trying to convey, even if I don't agree. Sex is for marriage and if you are going to do it- cenception is possible. Old time beliefs from a devout Catholic woman are a little out dated, but I don't think they should be forgotten. Everything she said she believed and everything she said she did. That is where the real lesson comes in.
     A Good Woman She was good. So good. Everything she did was an act of kindness and she was always looking out for the well being of her family. "I drank some wine one time" she had told me, "I remember laughing and then I started crying because who was going to take care of my babies if I never stopped feeling like this?" She was always cared more about being the best mother, wife, and person she could be. In a day of wide-spread self indulgance, I think it is a trait to remember.
     'Til Her Last Day Beez Nonnie lived to be 97 years old. And she was sharp as a tack. It upset me towards the end of her life, to see her wanting to keep house and do the things she used to that her body would no longer allow. But when she finally went - peaceful in her sleep - she left a legacy in my heart that I don't even think she realized. I strive to be as good hearted and as beautiful inside as she was.
What lessons have you learned from your elders? Have any inspired you in this way?