Off to a good start

After burrowing into my research to begin to nail down some of my evidence, I began trying to write what I had just reviewed and wound up with 569 semi-coherent words. Or rather 569 words, grouped into semi-coherent paragraphs. It's difficult to lay out the evidence clearly without getting list in a maze of explanations as to why I think I have found the right person who was Minnie's brother John and how to track people from house to house via directories and censuses when the street names have changed. But this feels like a good start, and I feel more confident about my conclusions as I write.

Day One

It's Day One of the challenge. I'm committing to writing at least half an hour a day. This morning I plan to print out my Ancestry data on Minnie and her siblings. I know I will need to nail down exactly why I think I have identified the right John McElroy as her brother. I'll need to lay out the year by year details of siblings' passenger arrival records, city directories, census records, consistent occupation, and that interesting birth record.

Our heroine

My featured research subject is Minnie Selina McElroy. As a 20th century immigrant she intrigued me because the American arrival of all of my own ancestors and most of my husband's was back in the early 19th century and beyond, typically 100 or more years earlier.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Working on an outline

My goal for this challenge is to write a memoir of my research on one person, showing what I've learned over time and how I've had to challenge my assumptions.
Proposed outline:
1. Introduction to the person
2. Where I started: first assumptions.
3. First evidence : the Census
4. Ellis Island
5. Her husband
6. Assumptions at that point
7. Her daughter's account
8. The trip back to Northern Ireland
9. The American brother
10. Further evidence : Census of Ireland. Ulster covenant. Later naturalization. The brothers.
11. Mysteries remain.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Challenge

I'm planning to use the 2013 Family History Writing Challenge as a stimulus to organizing my research and writing it up for others in the family.