Roundtrip - Norway to Italy

I have been working really hard at filling out my Norwegian Grandmother's tree. I can go back 12 generations from me, and I still have more generations to add. I am also being very careful about adding sources on my tree. When I first started genealogy research, I would just take a picture of the document, but now I know I should put the source down first and then add the picture. I need to go back to my grandfather's side to do this.

There are a few genealogy walls I have run into lately, but those are what make the hunt fun. I expect to find my answers sometime; I just hope it doesn't take too long! Today I learned something new that might help from a blog I follow, Slekt og Slikt. The site of the article is http://lailanc.blogspot.com/2009/10/karens-family-in-norway-tips-and-tricks.html. It mentions a site for members of the Genealogy Society of Norway (please read the comment posted by the author regarding membership), to upload a GEDCOM file of your tree. It merges into the database, and the member will get information in return, such as a list of members working with the same people/farms/areas. I definitely hope to take advantage of this once I have my tree the way I want it, or closer to it anyway, and if I can become a member! Ancestry will do a similar thing by finding you other similar trees on their databases, but sometimes I find they are not stringent enough. I do get tired of all the leaves with possible hints and matches that end up being quite far-fetched. But I do love my Ancestry site, so I can't complain too much!

On to Italy now! I have translated my grandfather's letter from his father, sent to him in 1914. I plan on posting it, and the translation, this week. So look out for it. I also received pictures of each page in my grandfather's diary, written in 1915. More on that to come as well. It is rather exciting to have the information, for my grandfather's diary is about 100 pages long. My mother owns it along with some other things I can't wait to get my hands on soon. As I have mentioned before, it is so hard to get information in Italy. I have to depend on relatives, and at some point a visit in person to find records and tombs (if they still exist).

One exciting find today is that my half-cousin is on Facebook. My grandfather was widowed before he married my grandmother. He had a son with his first wife who is quite a bit older than my mother. They did not have much contact while my mother was growing up. However, occasionally there were visits. Her half-brother also lived in the area of Rome, which was some distance away. Luckily, I had the pleasure of meeting my uncle and one of his sons in 1982 (picture on the left shows my half-uncle and his wife, third and fourth person from the right. Their son is toward the left, to the right my other cousin in the red shirt. I am in the middle in the striped shirt, and everyone else are aunts, uncles, and cousins, as well as my grandmother on the left in the black dress). His son was really nice and fun, I remember. Anyway, I lost contact after that summer. But now that I have had questions about my grandfather's life before my grandmother, it's important that I talk to my cousin. Who knows what they know. They may have some pictures, too. I also want to know something about my grandfather's first wife. At any rate, I had finished writing my cousin a letter when I thought to check Facebook. And there he was! He had just joined, it seems, in the last few days. Coiincidence? Fate? Who knows. But I can't wait for him to answer my email so I can share what I know, and our grandfather's diary, and anything else worth sharing... and see what he has to share.

More to follow soon!