FamilyTies

  I can’t tell you how much I love, how beautiful of an escape it is for me, to walk the trails my ancestors have left for me. To research them is to research myself and truly learn more about who I am. Their stories have informed my own and I love to see these connections. I wish I had more to write about in this interim, but I’m excited to slowly explore people and subject. I know the first few weeks I dropped a lot of info, but I’d collected that information years ago. Now I’m collecting new information and forming new ideas, so it’s going to take a little longer. I hope you’ll forgive the long pauses between posts, but I promise to try to make it worth the wait. I have someone new to introduce to you today. I hadn’t known he’d existed till a few years ago, and I decided to delve into who he was and his story. Aaron Bradshaw Goodwill is my 3x great grandfather and he’d enlisted in the Civil War and died while in service. I hadn’t thought to look into his regiment or his activiti...

  My brother is probably one of my best friends. He understands me in a way that few people do, can irritate me quicker than anyone but also is a comfort in his way. We always know how to make each other laugh and have more inside jokes than we know what to do with. We have some fantastic examples in our lives of siblings who are always there for each other in my parents’ siblings. I think it’s probably a rare thing to grow up close to all your aunts and uncles and cousins the way we got to. My dad has one sister and we were always up at her house spending time with her and my cousin. My mom has 4 sisters and a brother and they’re ALWAYS talking to each other - it’s a wild group chat.  There's a long history in our family of close siblings, on both sides of the family. Even if they lived far apart, there are stories of support and generosity between them. Our grandfather had a ton of siblings, our grandmothers each had one brother, and our other grandfather has one sister. All...

  Divorce isn’t an easy thing to face in the best of times, no matter the circumstances.  While I’m doing research on my family I have found many couples that have split, and none of them were easy or painless. One such split was a mystery to me, as it was always spoken of in hushed tones and laced with generations of bitterness. Of course I wasn’t present for the marriage and its subsequent dissolution, but I’d like to give a little detail and insight to one such moment in the family. James and Alice Montgomery were my 2x great grandparents. I had never really known much about either person until I’d begun digging a little. All I’d heard was that James had abandoned his family after his son had died, leaving Alice alone, in and out of institutions for years. Which painted a picture of a villain and the wilting helpless victim. I definitely had Alice’s number wrong. And I think humanizing James would help the family heal, so let’s dive in a bit. James, or JB as he was known la...

  It’s a rare thing that I’ll do a spotlight on an ancestor that I’ve actually met. Today is one of those days. I was 10 years old when my great grandfather passed and I remember meeting him several times. It was always a treat when he and my great grandmother would come to Tennessee to visit. We all enjoyed them so much. I remember them both being so good at telling stories - and I know grandpa in particular was known for spinning his yarns and was intelligent and well-spoken.  Larimore Karns Montgomery, or Grandpa Montgomery, as we called him, was born in 1903 to JB and Alice Montgomery, who had just married the previous year. As a young child he suffered many illnesses which stunted his growth and deeply impacted his home life. His baby brother died when Larry was 14, and his parents divorced soon after. His mother spiraled into depression and they were soon living with his grandparents on their farm close by. At 26, in 1930, he was living on his own working as an insurance...

  I have 2 crafty grandmothers. My Gramma Jean, who passed in 2001 could sew, knit, crochet and could probably embroider. I would watch my Nana crochet and knit with the skill and speed of a professional fiber artist. When I was very small, they each took me under their wing and taught me what they knew about what I was interested in learning. They had learned from their own mothers and they joyfully taught me skills I still use to this day. And let me say, these two weren’t in competition with each other, nothing was bitter. It’s always been loving and supportive on both sides. They knew and respected each other, and they each knew/know how special they are to my brother and I. I don’t think that’s something a lot of people can say. And I’m full of gratitude for both of them. Not only did they each teach me - but I have something from each of them. I can’t recall whether it was a birthday or Christmas, but when I was six I finally got the afghan my Nana had been working on for mon...

  Dear Gramma, On my birthday this year I’ll be 37. That’s the same age Mom was when we lost you. It’s been a whole 21 years since I last saw you. A fact that feels simultaneously so very correct and wrong. Wasn’t it just last week that I visited, relaxed on your porch, drank coffee with you, and told you about the last book I read? Or was that in my dreams? How is your presence so near and far, so familiar and alien, your input long-gone and still currently offered steadily, quietly and lovingly? I’m a Mom now, too. Your great grandkids are amazing people to observe. They’re creative, lively and funny. I think of you often when I play Raffi for them, bake muffins with them, and tell people the funny things they say. Oh, how you’d love them and revel in their bright energy!  To my everlasting shame, the only plant I’ve managed to not kill is a very hardy little rosemary. I’m beginning to realize that even under your careful instruction, I’m not sure I would have learne...

I have 2 parents.  I know. Weird, right? They each come from people. And those people made people. And so on. And I love them all, and their stories. Hence the creation of this whole entire blog ordeal. Mom & Dad ca 1988 I’m doing separate research on both sides of the family. So I’ve decided to organize the info on both of these sides into two labels, or tags. For my Dad’s side of the family, I’m using the tag “Family Ties” and for my Mom’s I’m using “The Grapevine” .  To be completely honest, Family Ties is the name of the blog and the family tree project because it was the first thing I came up with. I think I’m pretty well stuck with it now. The Grapevine is the name of my mom’s side’s genealogical blogs because of her home town, North East, PA being home to Welch’s vineyards. It was even the name of North East High School’s yearbook (on whose committee my Gramma served as a contributor).  So there we have it. To keep up with the large-scale family tree organiza...

  I feel like most people who read these days have some understanding of the massive impact that the Outlander series has had on the literary scene. I loved the first book, then found the subsequent books too sloggy and slow-paced. However, I am MADLY in love with Jamie Fraser, the king of men (and the *completely fictional* main character in the Outlander series). Before I even set eyes on those books I’d fallen MADLY in love with the idea of Scotland. I’m not sure if it's due to the idyllic setting it offers to the medieval smut that I adore or if it’s genuinely the magic in the landscape. The beauty of that country convinced Queen Victoria to love it and buy Balmoral for herself and her family, calling it "the proudest, finest country in the world". I just have this feeling that if I ever get to visit Scotland I will not want to leave. There's this show that comes on UK television called Escape to the Country, where families who live in UK cities want to buy homes ...

  My mom’s family, very nearly every single one of them on both her mother’s and father’s side live in Pennsylvania. She was born in a tiny, idyllic town northeast of Erie called…well…North East. North East is home to many many vineyards, small farms, a quaint township, and some of my family’s favorite people on the planet, among them are Dave and Marge Montgomery. Uncle Dave is my deceased Gramma’s brother and knew her better than just about anyone, which makes him a precious commodity indeed. His life stories are coveted remembrances among those of us who knew her. Uncle Dave lives on the family homestead, and has for many many years. That home belonged to his grandfather and holds enough precious memories to fill all of Lake Erie. Once I had dug into my family tree I realized that I had huge chunks of missing information about people that I was curious about. I used every tactic in my niecely trick bag to bribe my great-uncle into divulging details about the family I had questio...