ProGen of New England's Favorite Finds

  52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 5-Oops This week’s theme is oops. This theme gave me pause. I wasn’t sure where in my family history research I had a clear oops case that was worth mentioning. Then I thought of my 3x’s maternal Great Grandfather Amon Army. When trying to research the immigrant ancestor on my Army line, I was having a very difficult time. My grandfather and his brother were the first genealogists in the family. They would go to local libraries and town halls and collect birth, marriage and death records. When I became interested in our family history, my Aunt Mary Jane gave me a copy of my grandfather’s research notes and cumulated records. Among the notes, he had listed his great grandfather as Amos or Elmer Army. Since I kept hitting brick walls every time I tried to research this family, I decided to call my Great Aunt Mary to ask her if she knew anything about the research of her husband and my grandfather for the Army family. I told her that I could not find any r...

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 4-Education My family is full of hard working, highly educated people. We are primary and secondary school teachers, nurses, software developers, business intelligence managers, chemical engineers, electronic engineers, physician assistants, doctors, speech therapists, technology specialists, genealogists, lawyers, judges, fire fighters, police officers, office managers, financial analysts, psychologists, public accountants, tax specialists, HR executives and professors. I would be remiss if I did not mention those that went through specialized training outside of colleges: our Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen and Airwomen, our hair stylists, electricians, plumbers, landscapers, contractors, preachers, cobblers, coopers and farmers.   For those that persevered before us through formal education or through technical training, we salute you!   What schools did you ancestors go to? #52Ancestors #FamilyHistory #Genealogy #Ancestors #Ancestry #progenofn...

  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (Week 3) Out of Place This week's theme is out of place. The first thing I thought of was how my Great-Great Grandparents, Oscar E. Bigelow (English) and Mary Power (Irish), are not buried together. It seems Mary was Catholic and was buried in St. John's cemetery in Worcester, MA. When her husband Oscar died, the family was not allowed to bury him with his wife as he was not Catholic. Instead, Oscar is buried in the neighboring Hope Cemetery. What cracks me up is that these 2 properties abut each other. In one section, the 2 cemeteries are literally separated by a cyclone fence. It's the same soil, same grass...that fence must be pretty mighty. What seems out of place in your family tree? #52Ancestors #Genealogy #progenofne #Ancestors #FamilyHistory #WorcesterMA #CemeteryRules

  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (Week 2) Favorite Photo There are so many favorite photos that I could choose as my favorite photo for this week's genealogy writing prompt. I chose this photo because it truly is a favorite photo of mine. I was lucky enough to have one living grandfather at my wedding and this photo just shows the joy we had being together. Francis E. McKeon was born and raised in Worcester MA the grandson of both Irish and English immigrants. Francis went to Boys Trade school and he later became a Master Electrician. He worked many jobs throughout Worcester including wiring the Polar Bear enclosure at the Worcester Ecotarium and wiring the Hanover Insurance building. He became a Marine and went through boot camp but was discharged due to a hearing loss. Francis would later lose three brothers who gave the ultimate sacrifice fighting for the freedom of others in WWII and Korea. He was the only surviving son to carry on the McKeon name from our branch of the McKeon famil...

 52 Ancestors 52 Weeks (Week 1) I’d Like to Meet… This is a tricky prompt! There are so many people that make up my family tree that I would love to meet. I have so many questions! The list is so long! How many of us would love to know why any of our ancestors left their home country to start life anew in a foreign land; most likely without many (or any?) people that they knew. Should I choose a famous cousin? Clara Barton? Juliette Gordon Low? Abraham Lincoln? Lucille Ball? I guess there is no doubt that meeting a famous cousin would be fun, however, I think I would choose a direct ancestor instead. If restricted to one ancestor, I would like to meet my 3x’s Great Grandmother Theotiste DuPlessis dit Laferte. Theotiste was baptized at St-Michel-d'Yamaska, Yamaska, Quebec on 01 Nov 1810. She married Hermes Emond on 25 Oct 1831 when she was 20 years old. Theotiste and Hermes went on to have 11 known children. Four known children were born in Yamaska, Quebec, and the last known 7 chil...

  52 Ancestors 52 Weeks This year I will be participating in the 52 Ancestors 52 Weeks challenge where I will answer a writing prompt about someone who is part of my family history. Keep an eye out each week for a new post where I will share a little something about someone from my family tree! #52ancestors   #familyhistory   #progenofne   #genealogy   #worcesterma