Saturday Challenge: Playing 20 Questions

Gotta love the Catamount!

From Randy Seaver's GeneaMusings: Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1)  Ellen Thompson-Jennings wrote 20 More Questions About Your Ancestors and Maybe A Few About You this week and Linda Stufflebean thought it would be a great SNGF challenge.  I agree!

2)  Copy the questions from Ellen's post or from my post below, and insert your own replies.  Be sure to comment on Ellen's blog so she knows you wrote about it.

3)  Tell us in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or on Facebook or Google+.  Please leave a comment on this post with a link to your post.

Thank you to Ellen for her post and to to Linda Sufflebean for suggesting this topic.  If you have an idea for an SNGF topic, please let me know.  

Q1:   Why do you love doing genealogy/family history?
A1:  It is like a giant jigsaw puzzle with interesting people as the pieces.

Q2:  How far have you traveled to research an ancestor?

A2:  Salt Lake City and Fort Wayne for libraries. The northeastern corner of Indiana for on-site research.

Q3:  What do you think your favorite ancestor would think of our lives today?

A3:  I don’t have a particular favorite. I think any of our ancestors would be amazed at the technology of today and think that our lifestyle is too fast-paced.

Q4:  What do you think that your ancestor would like/dislike?

A4:  They would like the easier life brought on by health care, heated/air conditioned homes, easier transportation etc. However, they would dislike all the craziness of the world today.

Q5:  What was the most unusual cause of death that you’ve found?

A5:  Of my direct line, a 3-great-grandfather, Daniel Titus was killed by crossing the tracks too close to the train and being hit. More distantly, a 9-great uncle, Joshua Tefft, was executed for treason during King Philip’s War. But perhaps the weirdest was a 6-cousin, 4 times-removed, Mary (Arnold) Brown. Although I believe she actually died of tuberculosis, the rumor of the time was that a vampire, her daughter, Mercy Brown killed her!

Q6:  Which ancestor had the most unusual occupation?

A6:  I can’t think of any that had that unusual of an occupation. Most men were farmers or did jobs related such as blacksmithing, millwork etc. There were some store keepers and at least one tailor. A great-aunt was a milliner.

Q7:  Have you ever gone to where your ancestor lived and it felt like home even if you’ve never been there before?

A7:  Of course. The house I grew up in had been my father’s home as a child as well. Once while traveling in Dutchess County, I visited a Quaker Meeting House where there was nobody around, but I felt a welcoming presence there. Later I found out that some of my Titus ancestors were instrumental in building this church.

Q8:  Do you have a distant ancestor  (several generations back) that looks like someone in the family?

A8:  I don’t have many pictures of distant ancestors, but there are definite family resemblances amongst closer relatives.

Q9:  What is the oldest ancestral photo that you have?

A9:  I have a few pictures of my g-grandfather’s sisters when they were teenagers/young adults. They were born in the 1860s. I have a couple that are siblings of their parents apparently, but we haven’t quite identified yet.

Q10:  Did you have an ancestor that had an arranged marriage?

A10:  None that I know of.

Q11:  If you could live in the time period of one of your ancestors what year would it be? Where would it be?

A11:  I don’t think I could handle going back in time. I need my modern conveniences and health care!

Q12:  Which ancestor was married the most times?

A12:   ?? I have multiple people married twice, but can’t think of a direct ancestor that was married more than that. Great-Aunt Adelle was married three times.

Q13:  If you’ve tested your DNA what was the biggest ethnicity surprise?

A13:  My results were about what I expected. Perhaps a little higher percentage of Dutch and not as much French or German as I might have expected as I have not so distant ancestors from those areas.

Q14:  Did you have a female ancestor that was different or unusual from other females from that time period?

A14:  Would being granted a divorce—in 1643 count? If anybody has read the book Rebel Puritan by Jo Ann Butler, you’ve met one of my 10-great-grandmothers, Herodias Long.

Q15:  Did your ancestor go through a hardship that you don’t know how they managed?

A15:  All the time. Primitive conditions of the frontier, the early immigrants that crossed the ocean… how did any of them survive? We’ve all heard the tale of John Howland falling overboard mid-Atlantic during a storm on the Mayflower. He survived that or many of us wouldn’t be here!

Q16:  How often do you research? Are you a genealogy addict?

A16: As often as I can. It might be a record or two from the internet, some data entry to my genealogy program from papers I’ve accumulated or such, but I usually do something every day. Yes, I’d say I’m addicted.

Q17:  Do you have someone in your family that will take over the family history?

A17:  ?? Any volunteers? I’m hoping some of my younger nieces or nephews become interested enough to want to take over.

Q18:  Have you had a genealogy surprise? What was it?

A18:  Many. Most recently I found out about the inn that my Revolutionary War ancestor owned and that the house on the property is probably the original building!

Q19:  Are you a storyteller? What’s your favorite family story?

A19:  Many people would say too much. I love to ramble on and on about family stories and have to make myself stop when I realize that people’s eyes are glazing over. Of course, that could be hours after they actually have! My favorite story is the one I’m telling at the moment.

Q20:  What was your greatest genealogy discovery?

A20:  Any discovery that gains the interest of the people around me, especially my family.