Saturday Update – February 25, 2012

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending John Schmal’s Researching Your Mexican Roots: Following the Paper Trail at the West Los Angeles Family History Library.  In this class, I learned the highest priority items needed to start a search in Mexico.  It was a real eye opener.  I also learned a few facts about the Mexican state of Zacatecas (where my grandparents were from) and it helped in breaking down my brickwall on my grandmother. I was so very happy to have been searching some of the records on the Family Search website and found my grandparents marriage license!

This marriage license was a treasure trove of information, some that I had and it was verified and some that was new to me.  It verified that my great-grandfather, Salome Luna, had passed, but I didn’t know that he had passed before my grandparents were married.  It also verified that my grandmother’s father was Esteban Robles, but I found out that my great-grandmother, previously only known as Pabla, was actually Paula Esparza.  So I have found my maternal great-grandmother!

This information has led me to search for any event for Esteban Robles and Paula Esparza.  I found two more children that were born to an Esteban Robles and Paula Esparza.  There is a possibility that these two boys are my grandmother’s brothers.  The only way to find out is to order the film and look at their baptism certificate and see where they were born.  If it turns out to be her brothers, it will also tell me who my great-great-grandparents are as they are usually listed as well.  I will be ordering those films soon!

This is the same family that I am working on for my entry into the NGS Family History Writing contest.  Although I was able to break through my brick wall, I wasn’t able to interview as much of the 3rd generation that I had planned.  I will have to add that to next month to make up for it.  All in all, it was a spectacular weekend with a great brickwall buster to boot!!!

Saturday Updates – 14 Jan 2012

The updates are as follows:

Contest –  I looked at my family group sheets and the pedigree chart for this research line and realized that I have some on most everyone except for my grandmother, Vicenta Luna (Robles) who is the brick wall in this family line.  I don’t know who her parents are or if she had any siblings.  So this week I focused on her.  I created a timeline for her and after analyzing the timeline, I realized that all I have is her birth, marriage and death date but no original documentation to back it up.  Her birth date came from the California Death Index which may not be correct.  Her marriage date came from my Grandfather’s (her husband’s) Immigration Record.  It was filed two years after her death.  Her death info also came from the California Death Index as well.  I also noted that there is a different spelling of her name on the Death Index as opposed to the spelling on my Grandfather’s Immigration documents.  So, when I search for any documents for her, I couldn’t find a thing.  I believe that when you have a brick wall, it means that some piece of information that you have is wrong.  It could be the dates or places of birth or death.  So I decided to get a copy of my grandmother’s death certificate.  I figured that working backwards, the death certificate would be a good place to start.

Well that is all that I was able to focus on this week.  I am hoping that the death certificate will bear some fruit that will be useful in my research.

Have a great weekend y’all!!!

Saturday Updates – 07 Jan 2012

Good Morning y’all!  Its my day off and its a wonderful, beautiful day here in Southern California.  Here is my list of updates for this past week.

Volunteering – I have signed up and committed to index 100 pages by May.  Well, on Monday, my day off, I completed 21 index pages and I am off to a wonderful start.  I may even surpass my original 100 page goal!  Woo Hoo!

Contest – I determined which generations of my Luna line that I want to use for my entry into the NGS Family History Contest.  This is a big step in getting this submission and the subsequent research going. I’m feeling very positive about this entry.  The story from this line has grabbed my soul and I feel that it is a story that needs to be told.  I hope I do it justice.

Editorial Calendar –  It is one of my resolution to keep up with the posting that I have made a commitment to for this blog.  One step in that direction is to update my editorial calendar and genealogy calendar with all of the blog posts, genealogy classes, webinars, and events that will take up my time.  This allows me to plan my time and when to write the posts that are needed for this blog.

During all of these things that I have done, I also have a life as well.  Although I moved on the 1st of December, I still have boxes to be emptied and items to be organized and put away.  Well this is what made me so tired and why this post is late.  This reason may cause me to be late again, but as more and more boxes are emptied, and items are organized and put away, it will happen less and less.

Have a great Monday and a wonderful week!

Tricia