Genealogy Link

here is a new genealogy link that I was just referred to!! Lots of things to check out!

Virtual Reference Library

happy surfing,

Kim

Continuation of Joseph O'Dell

so I found my cousin Lin, and after some time I found my great grandfather!! It turns out that he had been living about 20 miles from his original village of Temple Grafton. He was predeceased by the woman he had gotten pregnant, her name was Doris. They had children, how many I'm still unsure of. Lin and I have found multiple index listings for children for this couple, but they have different surnames then O'Dell. But at times they are referred to as O'Dell???? It was so confusing. Lin sent out letters to various leads we found. One time after sending out a batch of letters to people she received a phone call telling her to leave things the way they are and not to poke into this any further! We still don't understand exactly Joseph's whole family situation with Doris. But we are not leaving things be, we are going to get to the bottom of this whole mess one way or another!!

tomorrow I will tell you about the interesting things we have found along the way!!

I just wanted to say too, that about a week ago I posted some resources that I have and i'm willing to do look ups for!! This posting has now been moved to the 'archive' section of my blog. So please take a look! Perhaps there is something that one of you could use a look up with. If you do want a look up, please use the 'comment' section of the most recent post, this is located at the end of each individual posting, to ask as I don't always go through my archived posts so I may overlook it!! Also, my contest has really gotten off to a good start, I have over 40 people now entered, so get your name in to me as well!!!

take care
Kim

Joseph O'Dell and Kate (Read) O'Dell
Posted by Hello

Cousin Lin on Vacation
Posted by Hello

Finding Cousin Lin

finding my cousin Lin, was the highlight and still is of my quest for Joseph O'Dell!!!...

as I said earlier I had been searching for Joseph for about two months when I happened to come across Lin's name on some site stating that she too was looking for the same O'Dell's from the same area...So, I immediately fired off a letter by snail mail to her. I sat back and prayed that she would respond. Five days later she emailed me, and we became steadfast cousins every since. Her love for genealogy matched mine. I told her about my dilemma regarding Joseph O'Dell and she immediately said that she too would take up the hunt with me, even though he was not a direct ancestor of her's, and she didn't even know that he had existed!

Well we searched and searched and searched. I have never seen so many roadblocks and deadends in my life!!! After the first year of searching I was all but losing hope! But we carried on....and we found his death listed on an index!!!...She emailed the index to me, and I printed it off and was sitting at the kitchen table looking through all of the death dates for Joseph O'Dell's and came upon his. I froze in my seat, I couldn't believe it!! Then the phone started ringing, I picked it up and sure enough it was my cousin Lin, all the way in England doing the happy dance as I was as well!!!

little did we know that day, that finding him wasn't the end of the mystery surrounding the man!!

tomorrow, I'll tell you all about the sordid story! lol

take care
Kim

Joseph O'Dell continued....

sorry to drop all of you like that for the last couple of days. But Xmas preparations got pretty hectic around here. I hope all of you had a great Christmas!!

anyway...onto Joseph O'Dell...

so after hearing about him at the family reunion, something inside of me clicked! I HAD to find this man! I had no idea how or where to start. My Aunt gave me a little tree that someone unknown had done and that is about all I had to start with. So with the family tree that I was given I headed for the computer. After doing a lot of reading about how to start in genealogy I headed for the IGI. With the tree I had and knowing what area I was looking for I did find some names and dates and was able to piece together a bit more of my tree. But I found no traces of Joseph! I searched and searched, I went down to my local LDS center, and got NOTHING! Yes, I was one frustrated woman! I was finding all sorts of ancestors that I had never heard of, but could not find Joseph. About two months after the start of my love for genealogy, I came across a name that was searching for Odell's in the exact area that I was looking!! This is how I met my cousin Linda!!!

the saga continues tomorrow!!!!!!!!!

let me mention though, that my first contest is going real well! I have 41 people entered already!!! So make sure you get your name to me!!!

happy hunting,
Kim

Finding Joseph O'Dell

my love of genealogy began when I first heard the tale of Joseph Odell, my gt grandfather on my father's side. I was at a family reunion about five years ago when I first heard his name. His story begins in England....

Joseph was married to Kate Read, they lived in Temple Grafton, Warwickshire England. They had three children - Ethel, George (my grandfather) and Arthur. The First World War began and Joseph set off to battle. He never came home...NO, he didn't die in war. While stationed in England he had met a woman, named Doris, and began an affair with her. One night Doris' father showed up on Kate's doorstep telling her that Joseph had gotten his daughter pregnant and that Joseph was going to have to support the child. Ethel recalled listening to her mother cry well into the night. Kate had family in Canada and decided to move with her children there in order to escape this scandal. Kate and her children sailed for Canada and they never heard from Joseph again...

tomorrow I will tell you all about my hunt Joseph O'Dell!

take care
Kim

Drum Roll Please................

Here it is! The first but not last contest here at Digging Up Your Roots!!!....and this contest is an easy one!!!...
I decided to make the prize for this contest to be Ontario, Canada related!

send an email to beaukim@msn.com (in the body of the email plz put in where you're from ex. Tilbury, Ontario, Warwickshire,England, Texas,U.S.A - this way I will have some idea as where I should base prizes on for future contests) I will reply to each email so you know for certain that you are entered.

I will draw one name from all who entered. Winner will be announced on Jan. 20 2005! I will email the winner to get shipping address.

Now here is the prize!!!
Roman Catholic Marriage Registers in Ontario 1828 - 1870 - Compiled by Renie A. Rumple
AND
10 Map Set - Ontario Counties in 1852 by Thomas Maclear

a quick preview as to what is coming up tomorrow! I will posting my search for ODELL's in Warwickshire. What a hunt that has been!!

take care
Kim

CONTEST Time!

i've decided to hold a little prize giveaway! I've been getting quite a few visitors lately and it's my way to say 'thank you' for checking out my blog! Also, a great way to 'kick off' the beginning of my blog!

so check back here in the next few hours and I'll have the details AND what the prize will be posted!

happy hunting
Kim

Links, Links and MORE Links

here are some of the links I mentioned in an earlier post, hopefully they will be able to help one of you out. They are various in nature!

Ontario GenWeb - Covering all counties in Ontario, there is alot of useful info!
National Archives of Canada - index to the 1871 census can be found here, military papers from the First World War, immigration database, 1901 Census etc
Rootsweb - huge assortment of databases, as well as message boards for all over the world and surname message boards
Free BMD - birth, marriage and death registrations for England and Wales. They need VOLUNTEERS!!
Genuki - covers all counties of England including Wales. Well worth checking out

well there are a few of my personal favourite links!! More to come!

have searched some more for William and i'm narrowing down my choices. Will get in touch with my great uncle and will be taking a trip to my local LDS center in January. Will go into more detail about LDS centers in my next post!!

take care,
Kim

FITZSIMMONS Brick Wall

nothing worse then when you are facing a brick wall in your tree. Still trying to get a hold of my great uncle to see if he has anything that might help in finding out where William came from. Going to hit the IGI again and the 1881 Census for Canada...he has to be on the 1881 Census! One of the problems is FITZSIMMONS is a very common name in a certain area of Ontario and there is TONS and TONS of William's!! oh well will get him eventually.

one link I want to send for those researching in Ontario is the Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid
Another one of those great volunteer projects!

ok, am off to search for William AGAIN!

happy hunting!
Kim

Books I Have

here are some books I have. As I said last night, these books are about villages in England. They are very interesting as they give you a 'feel' of the village and they discuss different families in the areas.

Times Past Part 1 and 2 - These books cover Temple Grafton, Warwickshire, and the various villages around, such as Bidford on Avon, Ardens Grafton etc

Weston Matters - This book covers Weston-on-the-Green, Oxfordshire

there you have it.....

if anyone wants any look ups please let me know...

I'll be back later and I'll give a list of some links to genealogy sites that I have found really helpful!

Kim

by the way....

I also have a couple 'historian' books from England. They chronicle certain villages. In them they talk about certain families and recollections of times past. I will list them tomorrow!!!

Kim

About Me and What I Have

well here I am to post the surnames I'm interested in, as promised...

O'DELL/odell/odill- Warwickshire, England, in particularly, Temple Grafton, Warwickshire
CADY - Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada

I'm also researching ALLEN and FITZSIMMONS, but haven't narrowed down a tight enough area yet, so will post those areas as I know more about them...

also, here are some of my resources that I will do look ups for...

1848 - 1858 - Middlesex County Marriages and Baptisms
1869 - 1872 - Middlesex County Marriages and Baptisms
Longswoods Cemetery Transcription - Middlesex County
1891 England Census for Warwickshire
1851 England Census for Warwickshire
1871 Return Owners of Land for Warwickshire
and I have two CD Directories for Warickshire, they are at my sister's right now, so not sure of the dates, but they are place in 1800's I think!

I also will go to cemeteries here in my area (Windsor, Ontario) and take pictures of your ancestors graves.

have yet to find out more about William Fitzsimmons, hopefully will be able to crack that nut tomorrow!

have a good night

Kim

Reaching Out To Those That Are Still Living

very important thing to do. Get a journal together and start talking to everyone and anyone in your family about FAMILY! Don't put it off! Write down everything people say about your ancestors, you never know when one of those minor recollections turn into the sledge hammer that brings down that proverbial brick wall. So go out and interview everyone in the family!

Will be doing exactly that myself! Have put off doing the FITZSIMMON part of my family for awhile now, but that is now my focus. There is only my great Uncle Len left who might have some info on William Fitzsimmons. So tomorrow night i'm going to get a pad of paper, a pen and call him up and see what I can't get out of him.

off to a family get together. Tomorrow I will post the other names I'm searching, and resources that I have that could perhaps help someone out there!

Kim

my great grandfather's grave
Posted by Hello

Searching For William Fitzsimmons

spent the better part of the night tracing William my gt grandfather. There is nothing better than when you get a new lead on an ancestor! Spent most of the night on the IGI, but unfortunately not much there.

For those of you who are beginner's the IGI is one of your first stops! IGI stands for International Genealogical Index. The Church of the Latter Day Saints is who takes credit for that. On their site there is other searchable databases- the ancestral file, the pedigree file, the 1881 Census for England, and the 1881 Census for Canada etc. So it is definitely worth checking out, as there is a good chance one of your ancestors will be on it!...Click here to get to the IGI

going to go now. I found my gt grandfather in a different part entirely of Ontario, Canada then where I'm from, so going to do some researching about his area to see exactly where it is and what resources are out there for the area!

happy hunting
Kim

Times Like These Is When You Really Love Genealogy!

well, while I was at the cemetery, I took a photo of my great grandfather FITZSIMMONS grave, as I had only wrote down the info off his grave. I had previously done some searching for his family, but never had any luck. He was very elusive. So, I came home and realized that the Canadian census has been pretty much indexed so perhaps I now could locate him...and sure enough I DID! He's living at home with his parents and seven siblings! It's times like this you gotta love...So I'm off to look into some more info on him!

here is the link to the indexed 1901 census (and YES they need volunteers!) 1901 Canadian Census

Kim

Back From the Cemetery

back from the cemetary with the photos for Karen, the woman who emailed me needing them.

There are so many great genealogical projects out there waiting for volunteers. If everyone did a small part imagine all the resources that we could have available to us.

I was telling you about the website that I volunteer for, where I go and take photos of different graves for people. Here is the link to that site Cemetery Photos

well off to cook supper. Later on I will regal you with the surnames I am researching. Bet you all can hardly wait for that!! lol..

take care
Kim

Off To The Cemetery

Hi,

Well I'm off to the cemetery! For those of us doing our family trees, wandering around cemeteries become second nature. Actually this trip is for someone else. There is so many genealogical sources out there, which a good portion are from people who donated their own time to do, or there is many people out there willing to do look ups for you. So, I believe that you should be willing to help out as well. I have my name down on a website for people who are willing to go and take pictures of gravestones for people out of town. I will be sending the link to the site for everyone.

Well I'm off..................will be back later

Getting Started

Hi All,

Well today is my very first post! I thought long and hard about what topic I wanted to 'blog' about and decided that I may as well go with my favourite one!! FAMILY TREES! There is nothing more interesting or more fun than hunting down long lost family....

I started in this about 4 years ago, and what an adventure it's been!!....

Will go more into my adventures later, but first I want to talk a bit about what I want this blog to be...

I hope to chronicle my latest findings etc as I trace different branches of my family!! Give advice to the newbies, hopefully get advice from those of you who are alot more experienced then me!! Maybe have a couple of contests, where the prizes are all genealogy related!!!!

Tomorrow, I will post a bit about my family etc...and we'll get started....!!!

bye
Kim