As I spend more time putting context to what I know about my ancestors, I realize that my great grandmother, Anna Jacintha (de Mello) Pacheco, left me many questions in between the documents. I’d love to meet her, ask her a few questions, and have her tell me her story. She had quite a journey. …
AncestryDNA’s Parent Sorting Features
In October, AncestryDNA added a new feature building off its SideView Chart. It can now sort your matches into maternal and paternal sides of your tree. It’s taken me awhile to play with the feature and these are my impressions. First off, this is what SideView looks like. I’m fortunate that my parents had very…
That’s Old News: Portuguese Immigrants Charged A Fee In Hawaii
I thought I had a pretty darn good idea of the process Portuguese immigrants went through during the sugar plantation era. They signed a contact to work on a plantation while still at home. The applied for a passport. They got on the ship and were listed on the ship manifest. They arrived in Honolulu…
Memorial Day Tribute To Uncle Charlie
If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you have probably heard me mention Uncle Charlie, my Dad’s brother who died in World War II. I wrote about the events that lead to his death in The Sinking of the Liscome Bay. Since I wrote that post, some family stories and new records have…
The 1906 Earthquake and Fire: My Great Grandmother’s Story
I’ve been sorting through old letters that my Grandma Shellabarger wrote me. Many are not noteworthy. Hello, how are you? and nothing more. Others contain tidbits of her life. In one particular letter, she shared with me her mother’s recollection of the moment the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck. It was one moment that change…