My mom always said that she hated school. She was sent to Catholic School and didn’t care for the strictness of the nuns. Yet, my mom was the first one in her family to graduate and she went on to be a successful secretary, bookkeeper, and office manager. So, she must have have learned something…
52 Ancestors: Pacheco Brothers Pick A Surname Out Of A Hat
Okay, they didn’t really pick their surname out of a hat, but they might as well have. When I began researching the Pacheco family who went from Achada, Nordeste, Sao Miguel Island, Azores to Kilauea, Kauai, Hawaii, I was told that some of them were known by Algrava or Algarva depending on who I talked…
52 Ancestors: A Twisty Route to America
Some immigration paths are linear. Many of my Azoreans relatives left for Hawaii or Massachusetts between 1880 and 1900. Once they migrated, they made their new country their home. End of story. But one of my Azorean relatives took a more indirect route to the United States. And, if the records are to be trusted,…
52 Ancestors: Surviving as a Single Parent
Here’s a document you don’t normally see unless you go through someone’s personal files. Anna E. (Jackson) Shellabarger is my grandmother. This is her performance evaluation when she worked as a Accounts Maintenance Clerk for the US Naval Air Station in Alameda, CA in 1967-68. This job evaluation says a lot about her determination. She…
52 Ancestors: Martin Kelly, Political Influencer
The Martin Kelly saga continues. We’ve gone from simple boardinghouse owner to prosperous land owner. And now, political operative? It appears so. It all started with the mention of a divorce First, I had no idea my Martin Kelly remarried after his first wife died 1872. After learning that he lived in Colma not San…