Leaves on the Trudgian Tree

Exploring the lives of one Trudgian family in Galena, Illinois through the eyes of their daughter, Lillian, during the years of 1913 through 1931. Lillian's authentic diary entries explore the family, neighbors, what is happening in Galena, as well as, national events and of course the weather and the crops!

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Location: Portage, Michigan, United States

Since all three volumes of "Lillian's Diaries: Whispers From Galena's Past" have been transcribed and published, I am currenting working on another book about the Trudgian (Tregian/Trugeon) family. This time it will be a novel based on historical events which involve my ancestors in Cornwall in the 1400-1600's. I have just started organizing my research so it will be a year or two before you will see it in the bookstore! I have just finished leading a Genealogy Class for beginners at my church. At the end of the six session class everyone had discovered some new information about their ancestors but there was, of course, many more questions to be answered. So I started the "Whispers From Our Ancestors" blog to provide a space for us to share our genealogical joys and roadblocks. Http://seekingourpast.blogspot.com is open to everyone doing genealogy - beginners to experts and all those inbetween.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Something Extra IV

Challeges #6 & 7 from the 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy Challenge on Facebook went fairly well.  #6 involved going to your public library's website and checking out the online databases available for those having a library card. There was quite alot of Michigan genealogy data and resources (not helpful for this Illinois girl). I was hoping for access to some historical newspaper collections but that did not seem available. Doing this exercise I learned how to navigate through the MEL and WorldCat data bases and today went to the WMU Regional Archive Center and was able to order the French book by Helen Trudgian that I have been looking for. It will be delivered to WMU and it can be copied, so I may soon have some answers about the mysterious Francis Tregian whose is the hurdle to me moving backwards to the next generation in the 15th century! I can't wait!

Challenge # 7 was to play with Google Maps to determine locations of addresses in your family history. My mother and I played for an hour together on the phone while she talked me through where her parents and grandparents lived in the Amberg Wisconsin area. The houses are gone....but with me on Google Maps and her remembering the roads and landmarks we were able to find a satellite view of the properties. We then went on to Middle Inlet Wisconsin to where my Dad and his parents - The Trudgians - lived....we didn't do so well there but did find my Trudgian grandparents home in Waterloo, IA and my Port grandparents in Chicago, IL.

Leaving the U.S. and traveling abroad it was much more successful as I not only found Golden Manor in Cornwall, England but multiple photos of the house,barn, etyc. That I had never seen before, including a watermill dating from King Henry VIII's reign. In Dunbar, Scotland I again was able to zoom into what remains of the Dunbar Castle (this is one of Dennis' surnames) but also found multiple photos. It just seems a whole lot easier to find a whole lot of more information.

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4 Comments:

Anonymous Pat Gilmore said...

Very interesting about Dennis's family name of Dunbar. Were they from Dunbar? My 8th great grandfather, Tristram Dodge Sr., was born in 1607 and raised in the "Tweed River Valley on the Scottish Borders", according to his biography. He was a fisherman who fished off the coast of Newfoundland but his family lived along the Tweed River between Edinburgh and Dunbar. In 1650 he fought on the "losing side" at the Battle of Dunbar, was taken prisoner of war by Oliver Cromwell and his Roundheads and held as a prisoner for about nine months before he and about 150 others were sold into indentured servitude to work in a mill in Massachusetts for a period of seven years. That's how my Dodge side of the family came to America! What's Dennis's family's story?

March 2, 2010 at 2:20 AM  
Anonymous Pat Gilmore said...

OH! And Google Maps is fantastic for family research. I found Lillian's mother's family village (Maßbach, Bavaria) on Google Maps and it was great to see detailed photos of where her, and my, ancestors came from. I wonder which of the farms was old Erhardt Dittmar's?

March 2, 2010 at 2:24 AM  
Blogger Sheryl Trudgian Jones said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

March 2, 2010 at 9:04 AM  
Blogger Sheryl Trudgian Jones said...

Yes, Dennis' Dunbars are from Dunbar....they are traced back to the 1200's but I have only proved his line to 1652 when they came to the Hingham, Mass. having also been Cromwell's enemies. They have a very interesting history in the U.S. with one of them being a Tory during the Revolutionary War and a "super-natural" occurrance during his hanging on Trinity College's campus on the hanging tree. Unfortunately, Dennis' connection comes through his great-grandmother's line Lydia Dunbar....who married a Manley(from the Isle of Mann) in Yorkville, IL and their daughter Elizabeth married Tom Jones from England (Where I am not sure) Lizzie & Tom had 3 sons and a daughter. One son was Joseph Rodger who was Dennis' dad and he married a Jeanette Hanson -purebred Norwegian - and settled in Lisbon, IL.

March 2, 2010 at 9:05 AM  

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