Family Story Matters

NaNoWriMo celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. For those who may question this robotic-sounding name, let me explain. The acronym stands for NA tional - NO vel - WR iting - MO nth. The idea is to encourage and challenge those who say they want to write a book "someday" to sit down and write. NaNoWriMo is the brainchild of Christ Baty. After doing some informal research (skimming classics such as The Great Gatsby, Fahrenheit 451 , and Brave New World ), Baty calculated 50,000 words as the minimum length for a novel.  But Baty also knew a goal without a deadline is ineffective. So he challenged himself (and other participants) to write those 50,000 words over the course of 30 days.  November is the official novel writing month. I have participated in NaNoWriMo three times over the past ten years. For some reason, I do well with this kind of online challenge. I am more accountable to my goals, even though there is no penalty for failure nor medal for success. If I know oth...

  At the RootsTech Conference in February, I purchased two DNA kits at a special exhibitor's price. Once we returned home, however, COVID took over and the unopened boxes remained on the bookshelf. Last month I decided to take the test. The package indicated a 6-8 week turn around. I was hoping to hear before Thanksgiving. Instead, they completed my analysis in under three weeks! (We are still waiting on my husband's sample). Initial observation: my ancestors were not adventurous explorers. Before coming to America, they congregated in Northwestern Europe ... the United Kingdom, to be exact. The DNA results revealed the following: 42% Scottish 39% English 13% Welsh 4% Swedish 2% Norwegian In other words, I am British. Once they arrived in America, my ancestors gravitated toward Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas -- where they lived for generations. In other words, I am Southern. As I've shared on this blog before , I've always wanted a rich ethnic heritage lik...

  My father was known as the man with two last names: Gleason Walter Coleman . I knew his middle name was in honor of his father, Walter Albert  Coleman . But I wondered why his parents decided on such an unusual given name. Unfortunately, I never thought to ask Dad when he was alive. I simply assumed they named him Gleason because they liked the name. After all, that is the criteria I used to name my children. After a few months of online research, I stumbled upon my father's birth certificate.   And much like last week's discussion of death certificates , I discovered these documents provide a wealth of useful information. For example: Birthdate and time (20 FEB 1928 at 8:23 pm) His first home residence (1226 Drexel Avenue San Antonio, TX) His father's full name and birthplace (Walter Albert Coleman - Oklahoma City, OK) His father's occupation (Ass. Cowles Auto Livery Service) His mother's maiden name and birthplace (Vernon Bryan - Ripley, MS) His mother's occ...

  As I indicated last week , when I first began this genealogy adventure, my sole purpose was to discover my country of origin. I cared nothing about extended family or historical timelines. I simply wanted to follow parental lineage.  I started with little information. I knew the names of my parents, grandparents, and maternal great-parents. However, I knew even less about my dad's side of the family. In fact, I never met either one of his parents. Dad's mother died when he was just thirteen years old, and I never met his father. Dad had no respect for the man. Occasionally I tried to talk about my grandfather, but Dad would either evade the question or indicate he was a no-good drunk. I distinctly remember Dad telling me the man died of cirrhosis of the liver.  Despite their contentious relationship, I wanted to learn more about this side of the family. However, this proved more difficult than I anticipated. Coleman is a fairly common surname. And even though the 1910 c...