Genealogy Long Distance

Wherever you are in the world, you can continue to do genealogy research as long as you have access to the internet. If you have a valid library card, and can access your public library over the internet, you can find the databases you are used to using there. I frequently use Heritage Quest through my local library for census informa-tion. Of course there are hundreds of other sites available on the internet.

During the month of July while I was in Greece I did some research, sent out some inquiries and responded to emails from people who had discovered my website and wanted to make contact. In August the family where I was staying in Athens lost their internet service which forced me to go to the internet cafe to answer email and do my blog. The blog took time to update and since I was paying for time, I did little research in August. There were, nevertheless, a few interesting contacts over the summer.

I have been trying to expand my contacts with descendants of Betsy Douglass Flewelling’s branch of the family. I have sent several emails to Idaho but have not received a response as yet regarding Elizabeth Blackman. My inquiry regarding one of her brother’s, William E. Blackman’s, wives brought a much more timely response.

The volunteer in Ravalli county, Montana, reported there was no obituary as I had requested, only a death notice. She forwarded the short notice which read: Ruby Jo Blackman, 94, of Corvallis, died Wednesday, July 2, 1997, at the North Valley Health Care Center in Stephensville. Arrangements are under the direction of the Daly-Leach Chapel in Hamilton.

That was all. Not a lot to go on, but I now had the name of the funeral home and could try calling there to see if I could get some information from them, specifically, names and locations of any descendants and where Ruby is buried. Since Ruby died at age 94, was living in a nursing home, and there was no obituary, it could mean there are no family survivors.

William E. Blackman allegedly had three wives. I do not know where Ruby came in the sequence but I suspect that she was his last. In the 1930 census he was married to Lillian, and one of the databases on Rootsweb has him married to Laura in 1939, but I have no documentation to verify this marriage. However, when I tried to trace Ruby back to her childhood, I learned enough about her to suspect that she had married at least once before she married Blackman. Now I just need to find documentation to justify my suspicion.

Related to other contacts over the summer, I am grateful to those who sign my Guest Book, even when they do not leave a message, because it indicates that having my website on the internet provides a service. Every so often someone signs who I have had no contact with previously. That tells me that internet search engines are finding names of interest to them and bringing them to my website. We may or may not correspond; the information I have gathered is nevertheless shared and that is the primary purpose that I collect it. That and the FUN I have looking for the information.

Now that I am home and back into my normal routine, you can look forward to more discoveries in future Digests. If you did not access my blog to read about my activities in Greece, or if you missed some entries, you can find that blog in its entirety at www.ingallsingreece.blogspot.com. When the website opens, you will see a box to the right, listing my blog entries by month. Click on the month you want to read. The entries appear in reverse order on the page, so if you want to read them in sequence, start at the bottom of the page first. My last entry was September 24th. I have decided not to continue the blog, as the primary purpose was to keep you abreast of my activities while I was in Greece for the summer. Hope you enjoyed reading about my adventures. ###

A couple items of interest:

1) Ellen Hackett in an August 15, 2006 posting on Rootsweb, responding to interest in DNA testing, pointed out that if one is testing only for Pictish DNA to prove real Scottish identity, one will be missing the majority of real Scots. First of all, Scotland was named after the Irish tribe the Scotii who traversed the Irish sea in coracles and settled on the West coast lowlands so were really Irish. Secondly, Scotland, (originally Caledonia) was populated by four separate and distinct tribes who were kept separate by the geographics of the country. The Picts were only a lowland tribe whose existence was recorded by the Romans who frequently had dealings with them on the Scottish borders, hence the existence of Hadrians wall. (These are her remarks; I have little knowledge of early Scottish derivation but I found what she had to say very interesting – ELI)

2) From the April 20, 2005 issue of Rootsweb Review: “Shirttail Cousin” is an ambiguous term. It can refer to distant blood relatives, but more commonly it means family members who have no blood relationship but are connected somehow through marriage.