Genea Musing's Randy Seaver issues the weekly blogging prompt courtesy of Lynn Palermo of The Armchair Genealogist titled: Monday Madness - The Craziest Thing You've Done in the Name of Genealogy?
What is the most wild, crazy, off-the-wall, or really stupid thing you have done in pursuit of your ancestral families and their family history? Tell us about it in your own blog post, a comment to this post, or a comment or status on Facebook.
Twenty plus years of family history research has given me more than a few moments of crazy and off-the-wall stunts - such as a visit to my great uncle's grave in Michigan's Upper Peninsula which turned into a "I Love Lucy" adventure, as Mom and I took turns 'digging' a hole with a ballpoint pen in order to place artificial flowers on uncle Ralph's grave. I've also, on occasion, used a pen while copying records in a court house and been known to laugh out loud while reading obituaries at the library.
The craziest thing I've ever done in the name of family history was in pursuit of my Stone family history.
Isaac Stone arrived in northern Wisconsin during the early 1840s, according to his daughter Nancy, from the state of Maine. One of the first white settlers to begin logging in this region of the state, Isaac married a woman from the Lac du Flambeau band of the Ojibwe. Nancy was my maternal great-grandmother and the youngest of their three children; Nancy's mother, "Elizabeth", died shortly after Nancy's birth. The lack of records during this period of time in Wisconsin's history made documenting this family legend difficult.
When the Lac du Flambeau reservation was formed, records were created when members of the Ojibwe filed for land within the reservation. After years of having my request to view the records being denied I decided to try a new approach ... rather than someone pursuing their family history, I called and said I was writing the history of early settlers in the Price, Lincoln and Langlade county area and wondered if I could view information on Isaac Stone. Imagine my surprise when I was asked when I wanted to look at the records. While I was not allowed to make photocopies of the affidavits documenting the wife of Isaac Stone as a member of the LdF band, I was able to view the documents and make notes ... all the while the theme of "Mission Impossible" playing in my head.
Oh wait ... I think that might have been the theme from the Pink Panther.
Does your dog bite????
1 comment:
Hi, I'm wondering what, if any, information you found on Isaac or his wife. Isaac Stone was my 3rd great grandfather and I'm consistently stymied in my research on him. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Luke N.
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