Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Time to Write: #1 Making an Outline


When I write I need to know exactly where I am headed and how I am going to get there. I have been researching my mother’s family for years. I know the main characters, the supporting characters, the setting and the timeline very well. However, I need to organize the events in the lives of those intertwining characters in a way that someone who unfamiliar with them can follow along easily.




INDEX CARDS
I began with index cards pinned to my cork board to lay out the main sections of this book. Those break it down to these sections:

Remembrances
Early Pages: Title page, Dedication, Table of Contents, Introduction & My mother’s Ancestor Tree
The Families: The oldest information on the four families, Brady, Coyle, Gartner & Mullane
The Families Come Together: Marriages between the four main families & those descendants
Our Family: Where are the families now?
Later Pages: Special Thanks, Epilogue, Documents, Works Cited & Index

These are pinned to my corkboard and easy to move around which I have done several times until it seemed to flow easily.

OUTLINE
From those basic cards I wrote an outline which will become my Table of Contents. Here is a section of that outline:


Remembrances: 
The Story of the Brady, Coyle, Gardner & Mullane Families

Title page                                                    
Dedication                                                    
TABLE OF CONTENTS                  
INTRODUCTION                          
ANCESTOR TREE OF ALBERTA JOY (GARDNER) BROWN  
THE FAMILIES                   
BRADY                            
                   The Brady Family Tree       
                   The Brady Family Timeline                                       
                    The Thomas & Catherine (Gibney) Brady Family Story   
                   The Children of Thomas Brady      
                             Patrick Brady                   
                                      The Children of Patrick & Ellen (Reilly) Brady     
                             William Brady                            
                                      The Children of William & Bridget (O’Reilly) Brady
                             Owen Brady                     
                                      The Children of Owen & Mary (McGovern) Brady 
                             Margaret Brady Coyle                  
                             Thomas Brady                            
                             John Brady                       
                                      The Children of John & Mary (Mc Cartin) Brady            
                             Ann Brady Kilday               
                                      The Children of James & Ann (Brady) Kilday                
                             Bartholomew Anthony Brady         
                                      The Children of Bartholomew & Mary (Reddan) Brady    
                             Mary Ann Brady                
                             Catherine Brady                
                   The Descendants of Thomas Brady 
COYLE
                   The Coyle Family Tree                 
                   The Cunningham Family Tree                 
                   The Michael & Mary (Cunningham) Coyle Family Story   
The Descendants of Michael Coyle  
GARTNER     
                   The Gartners in Europe: The Markusz & Devorah (Horn) Gartner Family
                             The Markusz Gartner Family Tree
The Markusz Gartner Family Story
                                       From Poland to Hungary
                                       The Golden Age
                                       Wars & Death
                   The Gartners in America: The Leopold & Fannie (Edelstein) Gartner Family
                             The Leopold Gartner Family Tree
                             The Leopold Gartner Family Timeline
                             The Leopold Gartner Family Story
                                      Marriage: Leopold Gartner & Fannie Edelstein
                                      Citizenship
                                      1900 in New York City
                                      World War I
                                      Buffalo, New York
                             The Descendants of Leopold Gartner
                   The Florence (Gartner) Weissberg Family
                             The Weissberg Family Tree
                             The Weissberg Family Story
                                      A Family Visit
                                      World War II
                                      Milton Sydney Weissberg
MULLANE     
                   The Mullane Family Tree
                   The Mullane Family Timeline
                   The & Brigid (English) Mullane Family Story
                             Clonmel, Tipperary, Ireland
                             A Growing Family
                             1900 in Clonmel
                             Family Visit
                             The Death of Daniel Mullane
                             Frances (Mullane) Keeton
                   The Descendants of Daniel Mullane

I have printed out my outline, put it on my clipboard and made notes all over it. I have notes on the fonts I will use for each section, stars to show the pages I want to be sure end up on the right hand side of the book, arrows to show a couple things rearranged, etc. My outline gives me the confidence to know where I am headed.




Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Tranquil Tombstone: Thomas & Catherine Brady



Thomas J. & Catherine F. Brady


Thomas J Brady
13 June 1920 NJ - 18 Jan 1990 PA

Catherine F Mc Namara Brady
1929 - 17 Sept 1989 PA


Immaculate Conception Cemetery

30 North Fullerton Ave., Montclair, New Jersey


Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Time to Write



Recently my genealogy research has been unfocused. I have found census records here and visited cemeteries there. I have switched from one side of the family to another. There have been small discoveries but nothing that inspired fireworks. There have been days when I have put it all aside and spent time at my sewing machine, finishing a pile of neglected projects.



I need to refocus the time I spend with my genealogy. And I know just where I should direct my efforts. All I have to do is sit at my desk at look at my cork board. Right there, on index cards, is the book for my mother’s family, nicely organized.



Years ago I wrote a slim volume called ‘Remembrances: The Story of the Coyle, Mullane, Gardner & Related Families’. At 130 pages it included family trees, photographs, stories and endnotes. I took it to an office store & had copies made that were bound together with a plastic spiral binding. The limited copies went to my brothers and my children. That Christmas there were big smiles and lots of page turning.

When I look at that that little book now I see how far I have come in learning about the family. Since the book was written I traveled to Ireland to research in archives and to walk where my great grandmother walked. Since the book was written I hired a researcher who sent my Jewish roots back two more generations.

In the years since I wrote that original book I have met and become good friends with my Irish second cousins. We have shared stories & photographs & good times.

I now have more data, more stories & more photographs. I also have a grandnephew, a grandniece and a grandson who should each have a copy of the complete story. What am I waiting for?




Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Tranquil Tombstone: Brady, New Jersey



Brady: Thomas Joseph & Catherine



Thomas Joseph Brady 11 Dec 1887 - 8 Jan 1978 NJ
Catherine 1888 - 1973

Immaculate Conception Cemetery

30 North Fullerton Ave., Montclair, New Jersey


Thursday, October 1, 2015

Book Report: The Descendants of Jacob Ott of South Carolina & Louisiana



The Descendants of Jacob Ott of 
South Carolina & Louisiana
By
Ruth Temple Ott Wallis
1967
Privately Printed



A few years ago, before ancestry trees & DNA matches, I connected with a cousin, Mark James, who sent me copies of Ruth’s homemade book about our mutual Ott family.  The amount of data she collected is wonderful, especially considering she had no internet to assist in her search. Her early records include snippets from Bibles, Military records from the National Archives, Births and Marriages also from the National Archives and Military Records from Charleston, SC.

Then she focuses on Jacob Ott III of Louisiana & his children: Joel, Charles, Jessie, Naomi, Sarah, Samuel, Charlotte [my 3 x great grandmother] and Jacob.

I have copies of the early pages of this book & the section on Charlotte Ott. This section is a long outline listing her descendants. I would love to have the rest of the book. Does anyone know where I can find the rest?

Although I think Ruth’s book is remarkable for her time it has no references. A good reminder to me to always cite my sources.