Not a genealogy post.
For everyone in Hurricane Sandy’s path, please stay safe.
And let’s do what American’s do best, take care of those in need.
Donate to the American Red Cross or the organization of your choice. My guess is that they will need everything they receive and more.
Stay safe. Donate.
I was named for my two grandmothers, Ann Irene Feazell and Jennie Elizabeth Payne. The name Ann seems to have no family connection that I can find, so I’m also curious as to why she was named Ann. I found an app on my iPad that added some possible illumination: Wolfram styles itself as a Genealogy & History Research Assistant.
I choose Names History, and then First Name and enter my first name Anne
And then I “Compute”
My first name was chosen for my paternal grandmother, Ann Irene (no idea why mine is spelled with an ‘e’). She was born in 1917. You’ll notice the name Anne had a surge in popularity at that time. Is that why my great grandparents chose that name that was handed down to me? There is no known person that my grandmother was named for, so this is a likely possibility.
You can also find variations on names, which as we all know is incredibly useful to those of us who are searching for those elusive ancestors.
It doesn’t do all known name variations, but it gives you some good possibilities.
Fun little app. Give it a try. Inspiration comes from all sorts of places.
Haven’t done one of these in awhile, but lots of good blog posts out there. Here are a few you don’t want to miss:
From the Legal Genealogist
From Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog
OK, I don’t know if this is going to break down any of your brick walls, but if you are like me, it was fun to play with.
I started on Public Profiler Worldnames and entered my maiden name Gillespie.
This is the distribution of the name across the world. Well at least in the countries they are tracking. Below the map, I discover there are more Gillespie’s per million in Ireland in any other country.
So I click on Ireland in the map and see that they are concentrated in North Ireland and Scotland. This fits with my belief that they are from the Ulster Scots or Scotch Irish.
Clicking again on the dark blue area, I see:
Now I don’t think this helps me in my genealogy research all that much. This tells me where the names are most likely to come from, not where my ancestors come from. But I love maps. So what the heck — it was fun! 🙂
If you don’t have Professional Genealogy edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills in your library, today is the day to add it. 
The publisher, Genealogical.com is offering at 40%. Even if you don’t plan on being a Professional Genealogist, you will find lots of good information in here. Each chapter is edited by a different person or people and will give you good background on various topics such as writing, editing and education.
You can find the link at: http://www.genealogical.com/products/Professional%20Genealogy/3844.html
You’ll also find a variety of other books on the site. One of my favorites is Genealogy as a Pastime and Profession by Donald Lines Jacobus. It’s not 40% off, but it is a great book. 
It’s an easy and entertaining read. It is a how-to book written long before the internet and like me you may some inspiration in the pages.
Happy Reading!
You get out of the habit, and it’s easy to stay out of the habit of not posting. Let’s see if I can work on better habits. 🙂
I received my DNA results back from Ancestry.com (full disclosure, I am an employee).
I was expecting Scottish and German. Here is what I have:
Every line I’ve been able to track, both paternal and maternal go back to the 1700’s and I’ve yet to find a document that gives me proof of jumping the Atlantic. But given names and other genealogies I’ve seen, I’m pretty sure that there are a ton of Scottish or Ulster Scots in my tree. So that 69% British Isle feels right.
And yes, I’ve got what many have referred to as the “Scandinavian Surprise.” But the Scandinavians many centuries ago spent a good deal of time wandering the British Isles and shall we say, left some of themselves behind.
I have a lot of of what I believe to be German names in my tree. Feazell, Baxter, Snavely (which may be Swiss). I suspect they are the Eastern European. I would have guessed more than 17%, but guessing and being are two different things.
Not a lot of “What the heck?” in there.
I’ve also been able to match through trees of mine and others possible connections to my Mary Gillespie branch. I believe that her father was Willis Gillespie but it is all indirect evidence and sort of weak at that. If that connection is true, then I have Smith’s from Amherst in my line, and I found two trees where that is the only overlap. Now I know that doesn’t prove anything. But it is a clue. And I’ll take a clue I didn’t have any day of the week. It does make me want to hunt harder for that evidence or at least work harder to put it together.
But that is all in the background at the moment. CG work calls.
cluster genealogy 