tree

Lately I've been playing around with researching my genealogy.  It's pretty fascinating.  I've traced my maiden name all the way back to the 12th Century in Scotland when the Colquhoun clan first took over the lands of Luss.  I have the names my mom's great grandparents that came over from Ireland in 1849, but unfortunately,  back in their hometown, they have the same name as...EVERYONE, so I haven't gotten much further than that.

Mark's line is fun to search for as well.  I found the common ancestor he shares with Edward Steichen, famous photographer, for one.  And I found a passenger list of a ship that came through Ellis Island with his grandfather (7 yrs. old) and great-grandparents on it.  They were originally from Lebanon (well, Syria, then), but this ship wasn't coming from there.  It was coming from Brazil.  We think they went to visit family that settled there, and were coming back home to Illinois.

It's super fun, and addictive to find little pieces of history which I just know will eventually lead me to find that Mark and I are somehow related (Oh well, I am from Arkansas...).  Anyway, this latest addiction might explain why in all my free time I've yet to
A - go buy new paintbrushes (not to mention paint)
B - go buy new sketchbooks
C - draw anything
D - charge the battery on my camera so that I can take pictures of all the stuff I haven't created the last few days with something other than my phone

Oh well.  At least I found an ancestor that was married to at least 4 women in his lifetime.  2 of them were sisters.  No, not a polygamist...each of the wives died before he remarried.  So far it doesn't look like any of the womens' deaths were TOO suspicious....