Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms! I was thinking about my family tree and the moms that fill it’s leaves and support it’s branches. There are women of such strength and character. Women who lost children, lost husbands, lost homes…they survived what life threw at them…most of them worked to help put food on…
Category: About My Ancestors
Was Chachy a common nickname in the 1940s and 1950s?
I’m sure anyone my age remembers the show Happy Days. Remember how Ritchie Cunningham’s sister, Joanie, fell in love with the Fonz’s cousin, Chachi? I thought Chachi was something they made up for the show. So, color me surprised a few years back when I found several photos of my Dad signed “Chachy”. The first…
Mary Collis, Take Three
There are times when I am more efficient than I thought I was. I was beating myself up for misplacing Patrick Dolan’s probate file when it hit me. I took copious notes from the massive file! I pulled down the Kelly/Dolan binder, flipped to Patrick Dolan’s section, and began reading. After going through the notes,…
One more question about Mary Collis
After I wrote my blog post last night about Mary Collis, daughter of Bridget Dolan, something occurred to me. How do I know that Mary Collis ever came to America? Every thing I know about Mary Collis came from the refiled probate records for her Uncle, Patrick Dolan. I have part of that file in…
How can I solve the mystery of Mary Collis?
Last week, I finished off my Individual Summary project with Mary Collis. Looking over the little information that I had for her made me want to find out more. This story starts with Patrick Dolan, my 3rd great uncle. He died in 1905, but his probate records were lost in the 1906 earthquake. His niece,…