Wisteria

I describe my historical research work as attempts to add knowledge to a foundation on which others may have laid or added to before. Mary Carr Dineen was one such previous foundation-layer or memory-keeper. Born in 1900, she was much loved by her family who mourned her passing in 1983. I never knew her, but became friends with her granddaughter some twenty years after Mary's death after having moved to the area where Mary's ancestors and descendants live. As I noted in my profile, I bloomed where I was planted. Soon after arriving to the area, I joined the local county genealogy society (now defunct) and began editing the society's newsletter. I wrote a story about how I was helping my friend with her family history research in the November 2005 edition of the Cattaraugus Genealogy News. It started with my friend telling me about her grandmother and where the family was buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery of Ellicottville, New York. I went on from there and continued to do...

1869 Beers Map of Great Valley, Cattaraugus County, New York I have written before that " Gaining knowledge about an area and its history is invaluable to being successful in family research ." Indeed, in my presentation on beginning your family history, I tell people that out of the three key elements in family history research (name, date and place),  place  is the most important. I want to begin a new series on the town of Great Valley. Having a reference map is a great place to start. This will help orient people to the area. Although one might feel they know the area pretty well, there is always something new to be learned. The concept of many layers of knowledge about a subject matter is something I liken to the metaphysical concepts in the theory of there being many particles and waves in the universe which change when we focus our intent on one particular aspect. There is almost no way to focus on more than one aspect at any given time but that does not mea...