I have gotten away from blogging the last few months. My mother died, my
grandson was in a horrific motorcycle accident and to be honest I was just not
fit company. But now I seem to be coming out of my adjustment period and feel I
will have a do over.
My mother lived to be 94 and up to within the last few days of her life she
lived alone and was able to take care of all her own needs. My brother, did all
her errands and did such a good job of taking her to her doctor appointments
etc.
For years my mom talked about the “Murphy Book” I paid little to no
attention to any of it. I knew it was a family tree and was for her mother’s
side of the family. I had kids to raise, a life to live, and a business to
run. And I took no notice or never even looked at this book.
After her death my brother came over and brought me a hideous Lobster dish
that mom prized, some old oil lamps, a photo album and “The Murphy Book’.
I sort of tossed it aside and went on about life. Then one day I picked it
up and started looking thru it. OMG I was hooked. A lady had taken many many
hours of her life and compiled a most interesting book of the life of our
family. It goes back to the mid 1700’s and was published in 1990. Ancestors
along with tiny bits of their life gleaned from census records, newspaper
clippings etc.
The book itself is about 4 inches thick it is full of copies of marriage
licenses, death certificates, military records, and so much more. How I wish I
had paid more attention to it while mom was still around she could probably add
some good stories.
My family was a group of immigrants from Germany, Ireland and Gr Britain.
All dirt poor and all hard workers.
Most had many many children most of whom died in infancy.
Since it ended when it was published in 1990 I decided to bring it up to
date. Starting with my family, I had marriages to add, and Children who were
born and a few deaths.
I mentioned this to my family and 2 of my grandkids were very interested in
it.
My grandson Aaron, who looked thru it for the longest time and wants to help
chart the new information. And Katie my oldest granddaughter.. who has been
here twice and helped me dig thru all the info both in my head and on the
internet that we have managed to come up with.
I also have contacted members of my first ex husbands family for information
on my boys family tree. My ex mother in law was a wonderful woman from a
wonderful family and I have kept in touch with 2 of her sisters thru the years.
They are all sending me what information they have about their families.
Then I called my ex husband and the call went well. first we had spoken in
probably 20 years. That call went extremely well and it makes me so happy to
know we can have a conversation again. He sent me information of my youngest
sons brothers and sisters and their children. Along with phone numbers for his
brothers. I have talked with both of them and have included them in his tree.
So as you can see this has almost grown out of control 2 divorces mean 2
separate yet connected families. I am so excited to do this and to have this
information for my children, grandchildren and future great grand children.
From time to time I will be boring you with stories of my family. Like the
one about my great, great, great, great great grandfather Dempsey joined the
army to fight for the Union in the Civil War. We even found where he was when
he was discharged and why he was discharged, his pension, and when he died his
wife's pension.
