Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Maternal Grandfather's Paternal Line

Find a living male person in your database from your maternal grandfather's patrilineal line who could take a Y-DNA test. Answer these questions:

1) What was your mother's father's name?

My mother's father is Michael Bocamazo (born 1930 in NY).


2) What is your mother's father's patrilineal line? That is, his father's father's father's ... back to the most distant male ancestor in that line?

• Michael's father was Joseph Bocamazo (1897 in Italy).
• Joseph's father was Michele Boccamazzo (1867 in Italy).
• Michele's father was Domenico Boccamazzo (1845 in Italy).
• Domenico's father was Michele Boccamazzo (1816 in Italy).
• Michele's father was Francesco Boccamazzo (born in Italy).

3) Can you identify male sibling(s) of your mother's father, and any living male descendants from those male sibling(s)? If so, you have a candidate to do a Y-DNA test on that patrilineal line. If not, you may have to find male siblings, and their descendants, of the next generation back, or even further.

• My grandfather, Michael, had one sibling/brother named Natale; he's still alive today. He had 4 kids, all boys. Natale or his sons, would be my best option. My grandfather, had my uncle, so he would be another option. 
• Joseph had 5 brothers, only 4 lived to adulthood. John (1903 in Italy), Andrew (1907 in NY), Dominic (1910 in NY), Nicholas (1912 - 1915 in NY), and Nicholas J. (1915 in NY). John, Andrew, Dominic, and Nicholas had no children. 
• Michele had one sibling/brother, Angelo (1872 in Italy). Angelo had 6 sons. 
• Domenico had 3 brothers. Francesco (1839 in Italy), Giovanni (1848 in Italy), and Giuseppe (1851 in Italy). Francesco, Giovanni, and Giuseppe had no children. 
• Michele had 3 brothers. Angelo (1810 in Italy), Pietro (1820 in Italy), and Giovanni (1825 in Italy). Angelo had one son, Pietro had no sons, and Giovanni had no children. 

SNGF - Do Some Random Research

1. Go to The Random Name Generator and click the red “Generate Name” button at the top of the screen (more than once if you want).  Pick one of the names you see.


2. Go to Ancestry.com and enter your generated name in the search box on the main search page. [Randy's add: If you don't have Ancestry.com, go to https://www.familysearch.org/ and do it there - it's free.]


3. From the results, your research target will be the first census result for your generated name.


4. Using whatever online resources are at your disposal, see what else you can discover about your random person and write about it. It can be a formal report complete with footnotes, or just a “research story” about what you tried, problems you overcame, or success you had. Maybe you want to create a research plan for practice. 

1. From the generator, I got Kristina Parks, but that didn't turn up any results. So I tried again and I got Melva Tucker.

2&3. According to the 1930 US Census, Melva Tucker was black, born about 1910 living in Congaree, Lexington, South Carolina. She was 20 years old, living with just her mother, Mainda Tucker, who was 59 at the time.

4. After searching Ancestry and Family Search, I couldn't find any other information on her. All I found was the 1930 census.

Tombstone Tuesday

Brig. Gen. William. C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown, NJ

John J Rutledge 

PVT US Army

Jan. 4, 1923  - Aug. 5, 1990

Purple Heart

His Wife Gertrude 

July 4, 1925 - May 1, 1998

John Rutledge and Gertrude (Lesser) Rutledge are my great uncle and aunt, Gertrude being my grandmother's sister. Also buried here is their daughter Kathleen (1953 - 1996). 

Tombstone Tuesday

Peakes Cemetery in Ohio: 

Aaron Van Benschoten 

NY

Rev. War

Died: 1/18/1836

Aaron is my first cousin 8x's removed on my paternal grandmother's side. 

Here's his biography:

Born in Dutchess County, New York, he served the first year of the Revolutionary War under Captain Van Benschoten, his counsin; later under the command of General George Washing. Because of his passionate liking for horses, he was detailed to care for Washington's saddle horses. For awhile he was in the Honor Corps and served as George Washington's body guard. He never received any compensation for any of his services in the was. He was, however, a land owner. Aaron, with his wife, daughter and two of his sons moved to Huron County, Ohio, in 1816. He was pensioned at the age of 86 and died at the age of 90, on 18 January 1836. The name Van Bunschoten was changed to Van Benschoten in this generation.

Tombstone Tuesday

Palm

Betty (1861-1935)

John (1857-1937)

Ella Stenberg

Died Oct. 15, 1908

Cemetery: Evergreens in Brooklyn, NY

Buried here is my gg grandfather, John Palm and his second wife Betty. Also buried here is John's first wife and my gg grandmother Emma (1863-1898). She's not listed here for some odd reason but I know she's buried here. Also buried here is Ella Stenberg. I don't know who she is but it could be John and Emma's daughter or a friend. I need to ask my aunt about her. 

There's just a slight problem though. John is listed as being born in 1857. That's completely wrong. He was born in 1859 because according to his death record he was 78 in 1937. 

Henry O'brien

This the baptismal record for my ggg grandfather Henry O'brien who was born in 1827 in Canada to Patrick O'brien and Bridget Dillon (he's on the right page, third one listed). There's only one problem, it's in French and I can't read a single word.


So if you happen to know French or know someone who does, please let me know. I would love to know what this says, it may give me a clue or two where he was exactly born or something.

The Ancestors Geneameme

This game is taken from Geniaus.

The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
You are encouraged to add extra comments in brackets after each item

Which of these apply to you?

Can name my 16 great-great-grandparents (Yep, all 16)
Can name over 50 direct ancestors (Most likely)
Have photographs or portraits of my 8 great-grandparents 
Have an ancestor who was married more than three times
Have an ancestor who was a bigamist (Yes I do! So excited when I found him).
Met all four of my grandparents
Met one or more of my great-grandparents (Only 1)
Named a child after an ancestor
Bear an ancestor's given name/s (My great grandmother's name, Theresa, is my confirmation name)
Have an ancestor from Great Britain or Ireland
Have an ancestor from Asia
Have an ancestor from Continental Europe
Have an ancestor from Africa
Have an ancestor who was an agricultural labourer
Have an ancestor who had large land holdings
Have an ancestor who was a holy man - minister, priest, rabbi
Have an ancestor who was a midwife
Have an ancestor who was an author
Have an ancestor with the surname Smith, Murphy or Jones
Have an ancestor with the surname Wong, Kim, Suzuki or Ng
Have an ancestor with a surname beginning with X
Have an ancestor with a forename beginnining with Z
Have an ancestor born on 25th December (Most likely)
Have an ancestor born on New Year's Day
Have blue blood in your family lines
Have a parent who was born in a country different from my country of birth
Have a grandparent who was born in a country different from my country of birth
Can trace a direct family line back to the eighteenth century 
Can trace a direct family line back to the seventeenth century or earlier
Have seen copies of the signatures of some of my great-grandparents
Have ancestors who signed their marriage certificate with an X
Have a grandparent or earlier ancestor who went to university
Have an ancestor who was convicted of a criminal offence 
Have an ancestor who was a victim of crime
Have shared an ancestor's story online or in a magazine (Tell us where)
Have published a family history online or in print (Details please)
Have visited an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries
Still have an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries in the family
Have a family bible from the 19th Century
Have a pre-19th century family bible