Sunday, March 8, 2020

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Do You Have a Mary Smith?

When I read this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver, I was positive I wasn't going to have anyone who fit the bill.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music here) is:

(1) How many persons named Mary Smith do you have in your genealogy management program or online family tree?  How many persons named Mary Smith are ancestors?

(2) Pick out one of those persons named Mary Smith and do some online research for her in Ancestry, FamilySearch, or another set of record collections.  Your goal is to add something to your database.

(3) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a post on Facebook.

1.  Well, I was totally wrong.  I actually do have a Mary Smith in my family tree.  One.  Just one.  She is not an ancestor; I have no known ancestors named Smith.  This Mary Smith is the wife of my second cousin once removed.

2.  I actually did find a record for my Mary Smith!  On FamilySearch, in an aggregated database, I found a record indicating Mary and her husband were living in Falls Church, Virginia sometime between 1996 and 2007.  I'm sure it's the correct person because the birthdate is exactly as I have it in my database.

4 comments:

  1. I am amazed that you have no Smiths in your tree, but for one single Mary Smith and that she is a living person!

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    1. I was kind of surprised also, but it helps that half of my ancestry is Jewish, where Smith is not exactly a common name. On the other hand, my Mary Smith did marry into the Jewish side of my family!

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  2. I was equally surprised by how few SMITHS I had in my tree--actually quite glad none are direct ancestors.

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    Replies
    1. Ah, yes, the joys of researching Smiths, right (and Jones, Johnson, etc.)?

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