And the Award goes to.....

Yesterday I posted about the Ancestor Approved Award. Today I present to you my top ten surprising or humbling facts about my ancestors and also my ten blog choices to receive the award.

Ten things about my ancestors that has humbled or surprised me.
1. one of my great grandfathers may have been crossing an international border without documentation.
There is no record of him entering the US EVER and he seems to have been going back and forth for work purposes.

2. family lore has it that a great grandmother was from County Cork Ireland, but her death certificate states Bristol England as her birth place.

3. a great grandmother with 8 children was caring for both her husband and her mother who were dying of cancer. They died about a year apart. What must she have gone through?

4. a great grandfather was building a homestead about 10 miles from the nearest town. He had to go into town for additional work. He'd walk to town to save livery fees, work all week and then walk home on the weekend carrying all the food and supplies for the family on his back. They had 14 children to provide for.

5. a great grandmother, who's life before coming to the US is a complete mystery, may have been living right next door to a brother and his family. They lived near each other in both WY and MT.

6. a grandfather may have been in some branch of the military, if only for a short time. An undated photo shows him in military garb standing in front of a military issue tent.

7. a grandfather's sister may have been divorced. A census record lists the sister and a small child with a different last name, living with the family and her relationship to head of household is "daughter". But he was probably her grandfather.

8. a great grandfather and great grandmother may have actually been cousins. Records show many marriages between these two families in the small village they lived in for centuries.

9. in searching a grandfather, I kept finding another individual with the exact same name and very close birth date living in MN. The grandfather only ever lived in MT.  I later found out that the MN man was grandpa's first cousin, born in the same town, with the same name and a very close birth date. Had me confused for a minute.

10. a great grandfather who reportedly homesteaded in WY during the WY land rush, may not have actually proved up his claim. No land patent has been found. The search continues.

My top ten bloggers to receive the Ancestor Approved Award are

1. Deb Ruth Adventures in Genealogy
2. Sue Family History Fun
3. Jennifer Climbing My Family Tree
4. Jo Images Past
5. Alasdair Your Scottish Ancestry
6. WWII London Blitz Diary
7. Wading in the Gene Pool
8. Paula It Just Never Came Up
9. Grandma Austin's Diaries
10. Pamela Clarence's Letters Home

Ancestor Approved

Today I received the Ancestor Approved Award from Nancy at My Ancestors and Me. I am both humbled and shocked. I started this blog project as a way to keep myself on track and record my genealogical findings. I thought it would be an easy way to share my progress with my family. What has happened has been beyond anything I could have expected. It's helped long lost relatives find me and its helped me to learn and grow in my research skills in ways I hadn't even thought about. 

The Ancestor Approved Award was created by Leslie Ann Ballou. You can read Leslie's blog at Ancestors Live Here. Leslie Ann asks award recipients to "list ten things you have learned about any of your ancestors that has surprised, humbled, or enlightened you and pass it along to ten other bloggers who you feel are doing their ancestors proud."  I'm going to take a day or two to make my list of ten things and to find ten bloggers to bestow this award on. 

I want to thank Nancy for this award. I suddenly feel sadly underdressed in my bathrobe and slippers. If I had realized the the morning would be so eventful, I'd have at least run a comb through my hair first.