Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Who Are Your Spouse/SO's Grandparents and Great-grandparents?

It's time for everyone's favorite weekend genealogical activity, Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with Randy Seaver!

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.

1.  Have you researched the ancestors of your spouse (or significant other)?  Please list the names and vital records data for your spouse/SO's grandparents and great-grandparents as in an Ahnentafel report.

2.  Have you written a genealogical sketch and/or biography for each of them?

3.  Share your list of your spouse/SO's ancestors in your own blog post or in a Facebook, SubStack, BlueSky, or other social media post.  Leave a link to your post on this blog post to help us find your post.

Of course I've researched my ex's ancestors!  What kind of genealogist do you think I am? <grin>

Now, do I have the information handy?  No, because I upgraded my computer a few months ago, and I still haven't been able to hook everything up again and make all my files accessible, including my Family Tree Maker program.

But let's see what I can do from memory . . . .

Hugh's Ancestors

Generation 3 (grandparents)

4.  Kartar Singh Sandhu, born date unknown, probably in Punjab, British India (probably in Khatkar Kalan); married date unknown, probably in Punjab, British India (probably in Khatkar Kalan); died date unknown (probably before August 16, 1947, i.e., before Partition), probably in Punjab, British India.

5.  Raj Kaur, born date unknown, probably in Punjab, British India; died possibly between 1970 and 1971, possibly in Punjab, India.

6.  Hugh Vincent McKenney, born about May 11, 1886, possibly in Belfast, County Down, Ireland; married about 1913, probably in Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts; died January 24, 1961, Quincy, Norfolk County, Massachusetts.

7.  Honora McSweeney, born about September 3, 1879, Ballyvourney, County Cork, Ireland; died February 18, 1958, Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, California.

Generation 4 (great-grandparents)

8.  <unknown given name> Singh Sandhu, probably in Punjab, British India (probably in Khatkar Kalan); married date unknown, probably in Punjab, British India; died date unknown, probably in Punjab, British India.

9.  <unknown given name> Kaur, probably in Punjab, British India (probably in Khatkar Kalan); died date unknown, probably in Punjab, British India.

12.  Patrick McKenney (unconfirmed).

13.  Mary McElaney (unconfirmed).

14.  John McSweeney, born about October 1826 in Ballyvourney, County Cork, Ireland; married about 1859 in Ireland, probably in County Cork; died 1910–1914, probably in Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.

15.  Catherine O'Leary, born about December 1834, probably in Ballyvourney, County Cork, Ireland; died December 14, 1921 in Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.

Well, that's what I am able to reconstruct at this time.  I'm pretty sure it's most of the information I have in FTM.  I might have nailed down some specific dates that I don't have here.

I haven't written a genealogical sketch or biography (particularly not with AI) for any of them.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Is Your Significant Other's Matrilineal Line?

Well, this is an interesting challenge today from Randy Seaver for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.

1.  Have you worked on the matrilineal line of your significant other?  Who are the mothers of the mothers of your significant other?

2.  Tell us about that matrilineal line in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook Status post.  Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post.

I haven't researched the family history of my ex for some time now, but I did get a few generations back.

My ex is Hugh Kartar Singh (1951– ), born in Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, California, son of Karm Singh (about 1906–1984) and Mary Margaret McKenney (1914–1993).  His matrilineal line, as far as I have researched it, is:

• Mary Margaret McKenney (1914–1993), born in Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, daughter of Hugh Vincent McKenney (about 1886–1961) and Honora McSweeney (about 1879–1958).

• Honora McSweeney (about 1879–1958), born in Ireland (probably in Ballyvourney, County Cork), daughter of John McSweeney (about 1826–1911) and Catherine O'Leary (about 1834–1921).

• Catherine O'Leary (about 1834–1921), born in Ireland (possibly in Ballyvourney, County Cork), daughter of Arthur O'Leary (?–?) and Nora (Honora?) Twomey (?–?).

And that's all I have.  No research into Irish records as of yet and no DNA info.  My older stepson was interested in his family history for a while, but that petered out and so far has not yet reignited.  My younger stepson has not shown any interest to date.  And so far none of the grandchildren has expressed an interest.

Loving Day

On one hand there was an Irish Catholic girl from Brockton, Massachusetts, near Boston.  She became a nun in a nursing order.  She served at a hospital in Kentucky, then left the order and worked as a nurse in Baton Rouge and San Antonio, finally going to Santa Monica, California, where two of her aunts lived.

On the other hand there was a young Sikh man from Khatkar Kalan, in Punjab, India.  He came to the United States to go to college.  Whether or not he did so remains unverified, but he stayed in the Southern California area, where his uncle lived, also ending up in Santa Monica.

The young Sikh fell in love with the beautiful redhead he passed almost daily on his way to work.  At some point he stopped and talked with her.  Things went on from there as these things do, and the young man converted to Catholicism to marry his love in 1948.

Though I'm sure there were many in Santa Monica who commented on the marriage, this couple was lucky to live in California, where they were allowed to marry.  If they had been living in the South, the young man's dark skin would probably have prevented their marriage.  Almost twenty years after they married, the Supreme Court struck down laws preventing interracial marriage in the case of Loving v. Virginia (1967).  And now every year on June 12, we celebrate Loving Day and the right of a man and woman to marry whom they choose.  And soon, perhaps, we will celebrate another victory for more loving couples.

IAJGS Conference Wrap-up, and Visiting Family and the Cemetery

Friday, the final day of the conference, was not just throw-away sessions.  The ones I attended were interesting, even if I didn't agree with everything.

The early morning one (that I had to be at on time, because I was assisting the speaker) was given by Sandra Crystall, whose day job is using geographic information systems (GIS) in wetlands assessment for the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.  She is also an enthusiastic genealogist.  She has taken population data collected by Dr. Laurence Leitenberg and is creating maps that show the changes in population over time for about 800 towns.  Crystall is using data for the years 1750, 1800, 1850, 1900, and 1930.  The research and project were supported by the International Institute for Jewish Genealogy and Paul Jacobi Center.  The maps show increases and decreases and indicate shifts in population from small towns to larger cities.  When the maps are completed they will be posted for online viewing.  Several people in the audience suggested that interactive maps that showed the continuum of changes would be better than the static maps that are being created, but those would take significantly more time and programming.

Certified Genealogist Rhoda Miller gave a presentation on evidence analysis.  This was essentially a talk about the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS); she discussed all the points of the GPS in relation to several examples.  Few people in the audience were professional researchers, and almost no one had heard of the GPS before.  In one example, I disagreed with her classification of a piece of evidence as being a primary source.  She had created a table showing the pieces of evidence she had found for the birth year of her grandfather.  For all but one, there was no way to determine who had given the information for his birth year (e.g., ship manifest, census return), and she listed them as secondary sources.  But for one record, an application for a grave purchase, her grandfather had given the birth year.  She classified this as primary, saying that he would know when he was born.  I asked why that was not a secondary source, as he was not cognizant at the time and could not attest to it from his own knowledge or memory.  She explained that his parents would have told him.  I did not press the point, but in my mind, that's the very definition of second-hand information:  when someone else tells you.  But I'm not a CG, so I may be missing something.

The final session was definitely one that I'll be able to use.  Vivian Kahn and Rony Golan taught a quick-and-dirty Hebrew class for genealogists.  The handout was a list of genealogical terms in English and Hebrew, complete with pronunciations, and lists of male and female names in English and Hebrew.  We got an overview of the alphabet in both block printing and cursive (which was great, because cursive is so much harder) and even some comparisons to Yiddish.  For example, I now know that cursive Yiddish uses vowels, but Hebrew doesn't.  Printed Hebrew often doesn't use vowels either, particularly on tombstones.  Those missing vowels can make translation difficult.  I'm starting slowly -- I can recognize three letters so far! -- but it's a start.  Learning Hebrew and Yiddish has long been on my to-do list, and at least this class was a first step.

There was no wrap-up or good-bye ceremony for the conference; it was just suddenly over.  I left the hotel and went straight to meet up with my cousin so we could drive to Connecticut for a visit with her mother.  It was a lovely visit, and she answered all sorts of questions about the family.  Luckily, her memory is still very good.  She also has a beautiful photograph of my great-grandmother and three of her siblings, along with all of their spouses.  She let me take a photo of the photo (even if I got it a little fuzzy) and identified everyone for me!  But she doesn't know why a cousin is in the photo and the fifth sibling isn't.

On Saturday, before I returned my rental car and boarded my flight back to California, I made one more genealogy visit, but this time the conversations were one-sided.  I drove to Brockton, not too far from my cousins' house in Sharon, and found Calvary Cemetery, where the great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents, and several cousins of my stepsons are buried.  I paid my respects at both of the family plots and stayed around to talk to them for a while (just like Kelly Clarkson did on Who Do You Think You Are?).  It's a well maintained cemetery, and the gravestones are in good condition, which was nice to see.  I'm glad I was able to go.

Wordless Wednesday