A Walk Down Memory Lane

Well Glenn Beck asked us to go to Ancestry.com and trace our roots. I got the free trial and did just that. I have found some really interesting things. First of all, if you listen to my mother-in-law, my mom is just an in-bred redneck from Arkansas. Now I can prove her wrong. My mom's dad has a direct line to the daughter of Samuel Adams' daughter, Rebbecca. The ancestor's name was John Waldo. And apparently, his brother Daniel married Rebbecca's sister. And his other brother, Cornelius, was in George Washington's regiment.

I was so buried in research that I decided I couldn't do it all in two weeks. I bought a one month subscription. My housework, blog, and children were beginning to suffer, not necessarily in that order. My husband was beginning to feel neglected, too. Glenn, the left is right, you are capable of creating monsters! This genealogy is addicting! But the monsters you create don't destroy America, like the left wing nuts do.

So, I'm related to Samuel Adams. I realized just how easy it is to get off on a wrong branch. At first, I thought I could trace the Robinson side all the way back to the Norse vikings, but then I realized that a branch married brothers, or something to that effect, and it's like Glenn said: read the original document. There was a census where Martin J. Robinson moved his mother in with him (Martha) who was 79 years old. They had scratched out her age so it was a bit hard to read. The person who transcribed it, had her name Marta, and her age as 7. So they had her as being his mother, his sister and his daughter. ALWAYS go to the original document.

This is killing my mother-in-law, who always thought my mother was an inbred redneck from Arkansas. Now, she has roots back to Samuel Adams and the founding our our country. And my mother-in-law? She can only trace back to her grandmother because she was adopted. I imagine that makes her feel inadequate. Not the being adopted part. But it does explain a lot about how she treated her two adopted daughters, as somehow substandard. Not saying *I* feel that way....she does. I've tried to search my Father-in-law's side and I came across stories from the civil war that are really interesting and a family portrait that looks exactly like him. I find that fascinating, too. It IS my children's family history.

You see, that's the difference between my MIL and me. I would be thrilled if she could trace her family tree to the founding fathers or even royalty. I would probably tease her if it was royalty, but I would be proud for her. I would bow to her, in jest, "Shall I get your coffee, m'lady?" But that's just me. I can't believe someone would hold a grudge because someone else can trace their roots to the founding fathers and you can't. How petty.

Any way, I'm having fun doing the research, and my family can't wait until I'm done. Especially my mother.