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…
Tag: San Francisco
52 Ancestors: Martin Kelly’s Will
From day one, I was told that my ancestor, Martin Kelly, owned a boardinghouse, maybe two. Family lore was that he and his wife made a living renting rooms to people coming up to the city of San Francisco. They owned a “mile” house which marked how many miles the traveler had to go to…
52 Ancestors: One Husband Two Names
It’s funny how things happen in genealogy. Recently I sat in on the webinar “Proving Identity: Not Matching Names” at Legacy Family Tree Webinars, and then, found myself researching a similar situation. This research involved my great aunt, Margaret (Jackson) Fafri, and her bag full of husbands. Four husbands in 20 years–or so I thought. …
How Close Is Ernest Jobson’s Story to Harry Jackson’s?
Now that I know who my great grandfather really is, I’m curious how much the story he invented compares to his real life story. You may know that after 30 years of research I learned that my great grandfather was living in the United States under an alias. Harry Kenneth Jackson was a made up…
How I Knocked Down My Longest Standing Genealogy Brick Wall: DNA, Collaboration, Documents, And Luck
You may have seen me refer to what a pain in the butt my great grandfather, Harry Kenneth Jackson, has been to research in my article “Harry Jackson, I Need To Talk To You“. I’ve been trying to figure out who his parents were and where he was from for decades without any luck. Spots…