Who Do You Think You Are?

I have become obsessed with this show. For those that may not know, it is a show on NBC where celebrities research their family history. I was already a family history/genealogy buff before this show was even created, but it has inspired me to learn more and dig deeper into my family roots.

I have done a little research and have found ancestors dating back to about the 1500's on certain lines, however, I have not verified all the info I have found and I am interested to now learn the stories. At first I just wanted to get names, dates, and places of major events in my ancestors lives, but now I want to know more about them. Who were they really? What did they do for a living? What kind of lives did they lead? Why did they move around and come from another country? A lot of these answers I know I will never find, but the journey to find out is fascinating. I only wish I had the time and the resources to really travel to all the places that my ancestors lived to meet with genealogists and historians to really get the full story. In the TV show that is what each celebrity gets to do. It makes the experience that much more rich. For example: Lisa Kudrow traveled to an old town that was basically wiped out during the holocaust and learning some of her ancestors were the victims in that horrible day. Or Rosie O'Donnell going to Ireland to see first hand the type of living conditions her relatives were living in just before they boarded a ship to come to America. I love that all the stories are unique, but all very much the same. Everyone has people in their family that overcame obstacles and were searching to make a better life for themselves and their family. I find it sooo interesting!

Do any of you know a lot about your family history? How far back have you found ancestors? If any of my friends or family are interested in having me help them, I would love to help. I am by no means a seasoned genealogist, and do not know a whole lot, but it is something I find very fun and interesting to do. It does take time and a lot of reading, but I think it is important for everyone to know where they came from. Don't you?

Rostrevor and Kilbroney Parish

I am speaking of the town in Northern Ireland that we actually visited to trace our Irish roots when we were there this summer. Well, it is not my Irish roots, but one track of the Irish roots on Charlie's side of the family. (I tried and tried to find a link of my Irish roots to go visit, but had no luck. I need to dig a little deeper) So in this case, we are looking at the line from Charlie's mom (Sarah/Lauren's grandmother). Her name is Jetta. Now Jetta's grandfather was James Nicholas Hollywood and we was born 1/1/1893 in County Down, Northern Ireland. (Very interesting I find that Jetta is also a January 1st, birthday!) SO this would be Sarah and Lauren's Great Great Grandfather. Jetta actually found prior to our trip information that he was baptized in a church called St. Mary's Star of the Sea in the Kilbroney Parish in Rostrevor. This is all in County Down, Northern Ireland. The records show that his parents were Lawrence Hollywood and Bridget Carroll. So when we went to Rostrevor, we found the church. It was beautiful!

Sarah and her Nana on the steps of the church that her Great Great grandfather was baptized at.

This is what the region around Rostrevor looks like...GORGEOUS.

We even found the old cemetery where his parents are supposedly buried. Although we did not find their grave sites, we found many other grave stones with names belonging to the Hollywood and Carroll families. We wrote the names down and hopefully sometime we will find where those pieces to the puzzle fit. We spoke to a caretaker there and she said it was quite possible that who we were looking for was buried there, but it was a big cemetery and a lot of the older grave stones were very weathered. So even though we didn't find the actual names we were looking for, we did find the area, the church and we all felt a connection to it. I know I did and I am only related by marriage.




To continue the James Hollywood story, we have record that he left Ireland on February 5, 1913 from Queenstown (now Cobh in County Cork, Ireland). He departed on the S.S. Carpathia arriving in Boston on February 16, 1913. You might remember that the S.S. Carpathia was the famous ship that rescued the survivors form the Titanic disaster in 1912. It was eventually sunk by a German torpedo during WWI in 1918. We were very lucky to get to travel to Cobh and visit the dock where all these Irish immigrants departed so long ago. To be standing in a place where you know your ancestors passed through with dreams of a better life in a new country and to think that such great ships as the Titanic were once at port there, was very moving. This was by far one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Gorgeous church in the town of Cobh

This is the interior of the building that once was where the immigrants went to board the ships. It is now the museum and shopping are of the Cobh Heritage Center. Click HERE to learn more about this amazing place

This is a painting rendition of what it might have looked like with the huge ships at port!

The statue of Annie Moore that became the first ever emigrant to be processed at Ellis Island. She left the port at Queenstown (Cobh) in 1892.

I only wish I had proof of my relatives passing through the same way. I know I have Irish in my blood, my mother told me so, but I have yet to confirm it! This red hair came from somewhere!

Daughters of the American Revolution

I am now a member! I am a proud member because it was an organization that my mother was most proud to be a part of. I think if she were here today she would so love to share this with me and would probably make me go to every meeting! My main reason for joining was to honor her. I remember as a child being part of the Children of the American Revolution and we would have fun parties from time to time. My favorite memories, though, are of going to the DAR meetings with my mom every now and then. Because we did not live in San Antonio proper, she couldn't attend every meeting, but she selected to attend those that were held at the San Antonio country club and such. She picked those mainly to expose me to something nice and refined. I think she got something out of the meeting (I certainly didn't), but I know she loved to give me an opportunity to learn about which fork to eat with and how to keep my elbows of the table and how to make small talk, etc.... Even at an early age, I knew it was practice on how to be a lady and have manners. So, anyway, if you were to look up the DAR, I don't think that is one of the goals of the organization, but it was one of my mother's.

Aside from that it was a way for my mother to teach me to be proud of our heritage. To be a member of the DAR you have to show proof that you had relatives that were in the country during the time of the American Revolution. (Note: that may not be the only qualification, but it is one of them.) Thanks to my moms hard genealogy work, we have such a link in our lineage. Because I am her daughter I automatically can become a member and so can my daughters and so on.

It is a very interesting group and maybe one day I will attend a meeting. I am anxious to see if they are how I remember them as a little girl.

(Note: She was also a member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and I am looking into becoming an official member of that too. In my mind, our Texas heritage is way more interesting and the stories are the ones I love the most!)

My Tree and Me

One of the things I love and am currently obsessed with his family history. I have spent the better part of the past few weeks diving in to the sea of information that I have on my ancestors. Thankfully, my mother kept excellent records and my dad's side of the family is all German, so being from Fredericksburg, TX everything is recorded. My husband's side of the family is proving to be a little more difficult to find. Not only because I am not as familiar with his family history, but his ancestors are relatively new to the country. Ex: his grandmother was a war bride and came from France. His great grand-father on his mother's side hails from Dublin, so records are harder to find when they are overseas. On my mother's side of the family we have ancestors that date back in the US before it was a country and in TX before it was a state. I am proud to say that that heritage entitles me (and my daughter's) to be members of the Daughter's of the American Revolution and the Daughter's of the Republic of Texas. I am in the process of becoming a full member at this time.

So anyway...I digress and could talk about this topic and my family history all day long. I have thought about doing a blog series of posts on it, so we will see. So in my quest to finish the puzzle which is the Tatsch/McDonald family tree, I came across the most awesome ways of displaying your tree in your home. I saw it the March issue of Martha Stewart Living and the website is My Tree and Me! Check out some of these options:




There are others but these are my favorite...so just thought I would share! If there is anyone else out there who is into family history like I am, send me a line if you have found any cool websites yourself, or any genealogy search engines that you have found most helpful in your search. And if you think you might be related to me...by all means...contact me!!