two humans, three dogs & a cat

We are planning a visit to the Philadelphia area for this fall. It will be my first time in the area which is extrodinary considering that I have been married to a Philly native for 26 years! Because his parents had retired and moved to Florida by the time we were married, there's never been any trips "back home" for us.

We are going to attend a wedding in New Jersey and I want to visit New Castle Delaware and Philadelphia. I have ancestral connections, on my dad's side, to New Castle (in the 1600's) and I want to see the liberty bell and independence hall. Jerry wants to do some visiting in Pennsylvania so not sure if we will have time for Atlantic city or Valley Forge (or Gettysburg).

I'm excited because this will all be new for me. Anyone else have suggestions on must see places in the area? I ordered visitor's guide but they are both kinda shopping oriented.

103 Genealogy Things

1. Belong to a genealogical society – yes, 3

2. Joined a group on Genealogy Wise – never heard of it

3. Transcribed records - yes

4. Uploaded headstone pictures to Find-A-Grave or a similar site – many, I’m kind of a grave geek

5. Documented ancestors for four generations (self, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents) – more than 4

6. Joined Facebook – yup

7. Cleaned up a run-down cemetery – couple times

8. Joined the Genea-Bloggers Group – ???

9. Attended a genealogy conference – conference, no but did take a college class

10. Lectured at a genealogy conference – gave a genealogy speech in college and helped others as a volunteer at the FHC

11. Spoke on a genealogy topic at a local genealogy society/local library’s family history group – no me, no speeches except in college speech class

12. Joined the National Genealogical Society – meant to do that

13. Contributed to a genealogy society publication – couple times

14. Served on the board or as an officer of a genealogy society - yes

15. Got lost on the way to a cemetery – not since GPS

16. Talked to dead ancestors – talk to them often, especially the brick walls

17. Researched outside the state in which I live - yes

18. Knocked on the door of an ancestral home and visited with the current occupants - no

19. Cold called a distant relative – yes

20. Posted messages on a surname message board – not in a while but used to do it often

21. Uploaded a gedcom file to the internet – same answer as above

22. Googled my name (and those of ancestors) – like everyday

23. Performed a random act of genealogical kindness – have helped others

24. Researched a non-related family, just for the fun of it – I’ll research anybody who shows up on my radar but only for a couple hours since I have my own work to do!

25. Have been paid to do genealogical research - no

26. Earn a living (majority of income) from genealogical research – I wish

27. Wrote a letter (or email) to a previously unknown relative - yes

28. Contributed to one of the genealogy carnivals – a what?

29. Responded to messages on a message board – yup, sometimes years after the original post

30. Was injured while on a genealogy excursion – bug bites count?

31. Participated in a genealogy meme – just this one so far

32. Created family history gift items – yes but should do more

33. Performed a record lookup – hundreds, maybe a thousand

34. Took a genealogy seminar cruise – where do I sign up for that?!?!?!?

35. Am convinced that a relative must have arrived here from outer space – or worse, had two wives each in a different county of same state. Can’t think of any other answer for a particular dilemma.

36. Found a disturbing family secret – I am not easily disturbed. Found that others change “facts” so as not to reveal a disturbing family secret.

37. Combined genealogy with crafts (family picture quilt, scrapbooking) – a little.

38. Think genealogy is a passion and/or obsession not a hobby – it’s not a hobby, it’s a pilgrimage

39. Assisted finding next of kin for a deceased person – for work, not for genealogy.

40. Taught someone else how to find their roots - yes

41. Lost valuable genealogy data due to a computer crash or hard drive failure - yup

42. Been overwhelmed by available genealogy technology - yes

43. Know a cousin of the 4th degree or higher – my favorite is removed

44. Disproved a family myth through research = oh yeah

45. Got a family member to let you copy photos - yes

46. Used a digital camera to “copy” photos or records – yes when desperate

47. Translated a record from a foreign language – nope, my relatives are dumped at the water, so to speak.

48. Found an immigrant ancestor’s passenger arrival record – they pop up on ancestry but I haven’t used them much…I only research the US

49. Looked at census records on microfilm, not on the computer – in the olden days but those microfiche machine make me seasick

50. Used microfiche – I still own some ;)

51. Visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake City – yes and it was so overwhelming I didn’t find as much as you would think.

52. Used Google+ for genealogy – don’t know what that is but I do Google ancestor names

53. Visited a church or place of worship of one of your ancestors - no

54. Taught a class in genealogy – not a class

55. Traced ancestors back to the 18th Century – easy enough

56. Traced ancestors back to the 17th Century - harder

57. Traced ancestors back to the 16th Century – hooked into others research because I don’t research outside the US

58. Can name all of your great-great-grandparents – and where they were born and died and of what

59. Know how to determine a soundex code without the help of a computer – nah, I need the computer for that

60. Have found many relevant and unexpected articles on internet to “put flesh on the bones” – I’m a bones girls, prefer dates and facts over stories

61. Own a copy of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills – no, hummmm

62. Helped someone find an ancestor using records you had never used for your own research - yes

63. Visited the main National Archives building in Washington, DC – no way, I understand that neighborhood is dangerous. Or is that the Washington archives?

64. Have an ancestor who came to America as an indentured servant – believe so but cannot prove it

65. Have an ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 or Civil War – yes to all, many in each

66. Taken a photograph of an ancestor’s tombstone – who hasn’t?

67. Can “read” a church record in Latin – no but I’ve learned early American writing (like F for double s’s)

68. Have an ancestor who changed his/her name, just enough to be confusing – every other generation on one line

69. Joined a Rootsweb mailing list - several

70. Created a family website – yes

71. Have a genealogy blog – a brick wall blog

72. Was overwhelmed by the amount of family information received from someone – only for about 2 second then dove right in

73. Have broken through at least one brick wall – several, one somewhat recently

74. Done genealogy research at a court house – via phone/mail to the court house

75. Borrowed microfilm from the Family History Library - tons

76. Found an ancestor in an online newspaper archive – don’t think so

77. Have visited a NARA branch - ?

78. Have an ancestor who served in WWI or WWII - yes

79. Use maps in my genealogy research – can’t stand using them

80. Have a blacksheep ancestor – think so

81. Found a bigamist amongst my ancestors – no proof yet

82. Attended a genealogical institute – I wish

83. Taken online genealogy (and local history) courses – not online, at a college

84. Consistently (document) and cite my sources – for my work but I do save others that I have not personally documented

85. Visited a foreign country (i.e. one I don’t live in) in search of ancestors – nope, I quit when I find a ship

86. Can locate any document in my research files within a few minutes - yes

87. Have an ancestor who was married four times – don’t recall

88. Made a rubbing of an ancestor’s gravestone – just photos

89. Followed genealogists on Twitter – not fond of Twitter

90. Published a family history book- I never feel “done enough” for that

91. Offended a family member with my research. – yes, I am quite insensitive about that

92. Reunited someone with precious family photos or artifacts – via internet to distant relative

93. Have a paid subscription to a genealogy database - several

94. Submitted articles for FamilySearch Wiki – no, never “done enough”

95. Organized a family reunion – gosh no

96. Converted someone new to the love of all things genealogy – I’ve tried

97. Have done the genealogy happy dance – yes and the song and the scream

98. Visited the DAR Library in Washington D.C. – love it

99. Have done indexing for Family Search Indexing or another genealogy project – I did something once a long time ago, may have been that

100. Visited the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana – I wish, I have been looking for a family in 1870 Indiana census for abt 20 years

101. Had an amazing serendipitous find of the "Psychic Roots" variety – what?

102. Visited the Library of Congress - no

103. Belong to a lineage society – didn’t we start with that?