Sept 2008.

Wow!

Has it really been that long?

A lot has happened, since then, leading to my stopping my research, and visits to this site, among others.

I made a couple of discoveries, but they have sat unexplored in my Ancestry.com since the fall.

In May I revived myself to begin the process of organizing my files in preperation for a return to the fray.

GeneaBlogging on my Musings Blog has become more frequent.

I have joined some Genealogy Societies.

I have begun engaging fellow Genealogists on Facebook, and Twitter.

I have been invited to join a Dougherty Genealogy Community on MyFamily.com.

I will be attending my 1st Genealogy Convention, in Burbank at the end of this month.

Iwill be returning, slowly, to this wonderful site, and Community, a place that I am so glad is still here a year after its birth!

Well, my Uncle and Cousins got the info I sent.

The Uncle was thrilled to get the pictures, documents, the DNA Info, and the Genealogy Report, and told me some of the cousins came by to look at the Photos, and DNA Report, asking him to make copies of  many of the photos.

So far none of the cousins have contacted ME, to ask questions, or follow-up on my request for more info on their families, or the invite to do research on Ancestry for them.

Last month I got my Uncle's DNA Results back, and decided I wanted to do more than just send THAT to him. ;-D

In the last 2 months, as a member of the pay side at Ancestry, I took advantage of this access to make several startling discoveries regarding not just the Wells/Hesson side of my lineage, but the Daugherty/Fraze/Tanner side.

This mainly involved marriages, and deaths.

Anyway I spent the money to make copies of documents, and over 50 photos (Covering 1915 to 2003), most of which my Uncle had never seen.

I made Genealogical Care Packages for him, and his 7 children, my cousins, many of whom I had not seen in over 30 years before a visit to Va. in March.

My Uncle got his DNA Report, the Pictures, and copies of documents.

He also got a 36 page Descendant Report. ;-D

With the confirmation of the DNA Report I was finally able to lay claim to  names, and dates sent me by another researcher 7 years ago, which traced our Wells Line back to PA. in the early 18th century.

I spent the last 2 weeks adding names and dates to my Genealogy program, and made a report.

The Cousins got copies of documents.

I wrote a letter, explaining  what I'd been up to, Genealogically, since my last report to them 6 years ago, and let them know that if they wanted copies of the DNA Report, photos, and Descendant Report, they'd have to take it up with their Dad. ;-D

I also encourged them to share the names of their wives, and husbands, and kids, for a future edition of the Report, and offered to use my access to Ancestry to look up stuff on the ancestors of their spouses.

With over 90 Family Groups, and about 300 names, even with the notes from that old Wells Researcher, I've got my work cut out for me. ;-D

My Uncle will be going thru his records, and photos, looking for anything that might be of interest to me, and sending me copies, in the hopes that I can use the stuff to help  illuminate that confusing, mostly unknown, 50 year period from 1890 to 1940 in the lives of our Ancestors.

My Father, Gorge Kundurdziev, was born in Gevgelija, Macedonia, in 1923, went to "Bulgarian" Schools, and served in the Bulgarian Military in WW2.

He was in the Macedonian Underground against Tito, and was forced to flee in 1946, never to return, or see his parents, and sisters in the flesh again.

He immigrated to the US in 1951 married my Mom in 1957, built a life, and raised a family, keeping a sporadic correspondence up with his parents, and sisters thru the mail even as he became mentally ill in 1969, and spent the last 18 years of his life in mental hospitals, dying in 1988.

For a brief time, in the 80's, I corresponded with a cousin by mail, and she helped me get some birth and death records out of the country before Yugoslavia broke up, and all correspondence ended in 1990.

I profoundly regret never talking extensively to Dad about his past, and only have memories of the stories mom told of what little he told her.

Getting those documents in the late 80's led me to become the Family Genealogist and, until now, that effort was by neccessity, and circumstance, focused on my American Roots.

I have 3 photos of my Father in his Uniform from the war, the 1st photos, as far as I know, ever taken of him in the United States, his Immigration File, over 80 photos sent by his relatives to him over 35 years, 6 letters in Macedonian (Bulgarian?), from 1982, from my Aunts, and Cousins, and letters in limited English from a cousin, and Aunt, in 1989.

Almost all of the photos have short notes on the back, but they are in Macedonian or Bulgarian, and the 6 letters from 1982, are also in one of those languages.

I need help translating all that, and with understanding how to research in Yugoslavia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and The Ottoman Empire, and am taking steps in this regard

Why my Mom kept ONLY those letters I have no clue, but the ones in English, in 1989, were in response to the death of my Father in Dec. 1988.

It has suddenly become very important for me for one simple reason:

The Aunts and Cousins, after surviving years of Yugoslav turmoil, discovered the Internet about 4 years ago, and apparently discovering my 1st blog, where I wrote about my Father, tried to communicate with me.

It was confusing, on all sides, because of their limited English, constantly changing e-mail addresses, unfamiliar names (and unfamiliar cousins, too!), limited responses to my efforts to confirm who they were, and my suspicion based on stories I've read about Europeans who take advantage of Americans researching their roots.

1 person, though, managed to convince me because she had info, and mailing addresses I could believe, and match to what I knew.

I wrote her, and my Aunts.

She responded, they did not.

I responded again, and never heard from anyone that I could believe, again.

Maybe the letters got lost in transit, I do not know.

My Mother always said that things happen for a reason....

In late 2007 I closed that old blog, and started a new one, re-posting my old stories about my Father, but not using his name, or mine.

As the months went by I noticed Macedonian readers in traffic stats, and one of my Sisters was contacted by someone claiming to be a cousin of the same name, the same person I used to correspond with, and who I trusted a few years back.

This past week my sister finally convinced to me to trust again, and I got an e-mail from this "Cousin" asking for a picture, and for contact.

I sent a picture, and links to pictures on my blog, of my Father, and asking for something similar in return.

The recipient of my e-mail spent 5 minutes exploring my blog links, and then yesterday sent letter, and e-mail to my sister, with info I believe, and a very old photo, probably from the late 1960's.

I NOW BELIEVE. ;-D

There is apparently a 70+ year old sister of my Dad, in tears at this apparent breakthrough in communication, and I can understand why.

The picture includes my Grandfather, and Grandmother, and there is a match with photos that I own. ;-D

From my Blog:

A 4 part tribute to my Father

St. Andrew's Russian Orthodox Church, My Father, and Me -- Reconnecting with the man in a photograph, and memories of my childhood

Top results for Google Search: What is a GEDCOM?

GEDCOM (an acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunication), is the standard for exchanging data from one genealogy program to another.

See:

ROOTSWEB

ANCESTRY

CYNDI'S LIST

EASTMAN'S

GENEALOGY.COM

GENEALOGY.ABOUT.COM

TURNING A GEDCOM INTO A WEBPAGE

If you don't know about Cyndi's List, or Eastman's, then you are in for a treat.

I can't stress enough that you should Bookmark BOTH forthwith. ;-D

***UPDATE - 8/18/08***

This GEDCOM Stuff inspired me to create a song, hee, hee! ;-D

***END UPDATE***

After a week of adding more info into my program, making live people info private, and planning for the big event, I have some fine tuning to make, then will make my 1st Gedcom, this evening.

Making a Descendant Report led to my finding some things that need to be corrected so that will take some time this afternoon. ;-D

The last week I've been adding info to my Genealogy program, and doing research on Ancestry.

Most of the info entered was from an old Genealogy report sent me by another Wells Researcher, in 2001.

Until my Uncles DNA Test Results came in, last month, I was not able to claim this info, so let it sit unread.

Over the last few days, other searches, on Ancestry, led me to question certain assumptions about 1 woman, and led to me to discover 2 other women I'd long been searching for, leading to new revelations about them in the process.

Now I have to figure out how to make a GedCom (My program is a recently bought Legacy 7), to submit to the Wells Project.

I'm tired.

In 2002 a researcher into the Wells Family, sent me a Genealogy Report listing names, and notes for what she said was my line, from the late 1700's to the mid- 1880's.

I set it aside for years since I didn't have proof of my connection to it.

With the DNA results for my Uncle the tie is now there, though who the MOTHER of his Father is is still up in the air.

So I've been adding just the names and dates to my records so I can have a basic GEDCOM to contribute to my listing at the Wells DNA Project.

With that researchers list I find myself with a huge cast of characters, including one case of cousins marrying, and an unknown number of unknown cousins potentially all across America, even some Smiths & Jones, hee, hee. ;-D

In order to begin to make headway on a Brick Wall related to the parentage of the Father of my Mother, I paid for her brother to participate in the Wells DNA Project.

I just got the results back, and they are intriquing.

I'll have more to report on this as I study the results, but it's pretty clear he's a Wells. ;-D  

The interesting thing is that, of the 250 test takers that Ancestry says his DNA has similarities to...

the most recent time period for a common ancestor goes back 125 years,

for 2 test takers not  named Wells (1 in England, and 1 in Oregon),

then 150 yrs. for 7 people named Wells.  

There are even 2 people living in Germany, neither named Wells, 1 with a common ancestor around 450 years ago, and another 825 years ago.

And people think Genealogy is Boring???? ;-D

It saddens me to see beautiful, fascinating, and even historic, photos in Antique Stores, and Thrift Shops.

The same goes for Family Bibles, and related items with family info in them.

As I get back into my genealogy, and see all the wonderful photos that people are sharing here ( I will finally be getting to adding some more of my own!) I wonder what would cause a person to abandon such family treasures?

Yesterday I visited an Antique Store, in Huntington Beach, CA., and was looking at some cheaply priced, very old postcard size photos, some taken by old photo studios who have their names, and address on the front or back of the picture.

None of the pics I saw had personal info about the person in the photo, but the clerk told me something that gives me hope, and validated a notion I was entertaining.

A Lady frequently comes in and buy cards with the goal of uniting them with some Genealogy Researcher looking for the people photographed.

In the case of those images with company/photographer names only she is often able to track down info about the image, and who was photographed!

In one corner of this same store, hidden behind some other large, framed, photos, was a large, wonderful, framed photo, of a  Hannibal MO., high shool sports team from the first half of the 20th century.

The photo named the school, and every player on the team that appears in the photo!

The item sells for $42.

Why wasn't it donated to the High School?

Why has no-one tried to find descendants of the people in the image, who might love to have the thing,  or copies of it, and would cherish the image as the lovely family heirloom it deserves to be?