Update on March

You last heard from me in January when I told you to be watching for Ursula Kraus' blog coming in February....of course, I had forgotten that there was no 30th day in Feb.  So, here I am again, writing for the second time and supposedly updating you on my progress genealogically and otherwise.

Well, I lucked into professional researcher, Witold Wrzosinski, in Poland after seeing his name associated with some cemetery documentation in Warsaw.  He had already photographed my great great grandmothers grave there.  I was simply amazed that it still existed!  I thought all of the graves in Europe were "turned over" and re-used periodically but it seems that this is not true in Poland.  After some facebook messaging on the Polish Genealogy page, he and I came to an agreement and he is doing some research for me on one of my brick walls.....Leo Kerner.  If you have read my 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks blog, you may recognize the name as the husband of my beloved great grandmother, Elsa.
Anyway, it is true that he was from Poland, his parents were Fievel and Doba Koerner and they were tavern keepers in Warsaw.  Now I have dates, and even town directories showing where they lived!
Interestingly enough, to me anyway, is that Fievel and Doba had been neighbors growing up and both of their fathers owned taverns....maybe competing taverns?  Anyway, I think back to the Broadway show "Fiddler on the Roof" and wonder if Fievel and Doba's union wasn't arranged by their parents? Currently, I am eagerly awaiting further research results from Poland.  I hope to add details on Leo to his own very special page in my work on 52 Ancestors.

My work on the Genealogy Do Over is continually bogged down my BSO's (Bright and Shiny Objects).  I have a devil of a time staying focused when I am researching or even organizing and get dragged off in all different directions.  I have post-it notes all over the place.  I did, however, arrange most of everything into stacks of ancestors and put everything applicable to that particular ancestor into its own file.  It has all been scanned and arranged on my computer.  I hope to go forward with the same efforts at organization.  I also designed a template with the documents I would need for every ancestor, places to record if or if I do not have them, where to look, etc.  I am also much better at keeping track of documents or information I have written for, when I wrote, who I wrote or where, and a place to check off when I get a response.  I keep this in a file called "Pending Information" and am using the "Correspondence Log" available free at Family Tree.  I have found it to be very helpful particularly when I have forgotten what I have written for, how much I paid and about when to expect to receive it.

Personally, I have been slowed down by some family emergencies.  I have had a daughter in law in the ICU for  over a week and while having been moved to a regular floor, she is still in the hospital.
My husband and I have been taking turns with her family members in staying with her.  It is a two and a half hour drive for us and we usually stay a few days.  Her genealogy may be in the present but one day soon it will be the past.  She is just as vital a part of our family as my ancestors.
So, without further ado, I will bid you all a good month!  I won't be back until May but you can read more on my blog at Ringsofmyfamilytree.com.