• ManyRoads,  Site,  Tips & Opinions

    Ancestor Approved Award

    Sassy Jane Genealogy: was nice enough a few months ago to give ManyRoads the Ancestor Approved Award. Sassy, I apologize for my delay in responding to the honor you offered ManyRoads. The honor is truly much appreciated and by now hopefully even a bit more deserved. The
 Ancestor Approved Award, for those who may not be aware, was created in March 2010 by Leslie Ann Ballou of “Ancestors Live Here” to appreciate and enjoy geneablogs that are “full of tips and tricks as well as funny and heartwarming stories….” Recipients provide a list ten things which surprised, humbled, or enlightened them about their ancestors and ten blogs to pass the…

  • Search Tricks & Tips

    Google Search “Tricks & Tips”

    Internet searching can be a wonderful adjunct to your genealogy efforts. Unfortunately most folks seem not to understand how to use search engines to their best advantage. Consequently they struggle and are often frustrated by their lack of accomplishments/ results. If you have not tried using some of the fancy features available in all search engines, I recommend that you consider doing so… In that spirit, I offer this posting. I can assure you that this brief article will not do much more than whet your appetite; but you might just come away with a few tips and an interest in seeing what else can be accomplished with just a…

  • Search Tricks & Tips

    Searching for Texts (online)

    Finding obscure, out of print texts covering low interest topics is an essential part of conducting genealogy research. Many of the texts you may want or need are not necessarily easily obtained from major book sources, like Amazon.com, ebay or your neighborhood bookstore. Rather than allowing difficulty associated in finding these difficult texts form a permanent road block, I thought I’d share a bit of an example search. I’ll point out in advance that our sample search will not be wholly successful; most are not. However, hopefully you’ll find the example informative. As our example, we’ll use is a nearly out of copyright WW2-era text entitled: Lend-lease : weapon for…

  • Deyo

    Another Deyo adventure!

    I guess I could have entitled this posting, out with the old, in with the new.  But as with most genealogy not very much of this information is actually new; including the fact that I had yet another problem in my Deyo lineage. Here’s the long and short of what has happened.  Barb (one of my  Deyo ‘cousins’) reviewed my latest Deyo line and noticed that my information and hers were not in synch. She is the proud owner of many things Deyo including photos, death certificates, folklore and the like. And as luck would have it, Barb’s copy of Mary (Bonah) Deyo’s death certificate indicated that Mary’s parents had…

  • Site

    100,000 Visitor

    Today (a snowy Colorado day in May) ManyRoads was visited by our 100,000 visitor. What can we say except, thank you! We know that by big site standards this is not a high traffic rate, but for us 100,000+ unique visitors is both amazing and wonderful. If you find our little site of benefit, please consider joining as a member.  If you are looking for something you think we might help you find, please ask. For those of you who might be interested, the following is a list of the 20 countries from which we have had our top 20 number of visitors. United States- 19,709 Germany- 17,944 Canada- 5,616…

  • Expulsion - Vertriebenen

    Worse than War

    In keeping with our emphasis on die Vertreibung and Ethnic Cleansing, we recommend you either view Daniel Jonah Goldhagen’s documentary “Worse Than War” or read his book of the same title. To quote Dr. Goldhagen: (source website- disappeared) I hope that you choose to have a look at it. Whether or not you end up agreeing with every conclusion and proposal in Worse Than War, the [documentary] offers a plethora of new information and perspectives not just on genocide or eliminationism but on critical aspects of humanity and modernity, society and politics. I hope to rouse your intellect and conscience, even if I at the same time challenge your views…

  • Tips & Opinions

    A new ethnic group? Prussian-Quebecois.

    Everyone claims an ethnicity. Me, too. So far as I  know, my sister and I form a rather distinct, maybe even a unique, ethnic group.  Yep, we are Prussian-Quebecois. We like to think of ourselves a being fairly unique and special.  After all our parents said we were special, and they wouldn’t lie. Would they? The really sad thing is it looks like our ethnic group is about to die out.  Today, we are both approaching 60 and in our youth we demonstrated immensely poor ethnic planning skills when it came to choosing our spouses.  Neither of us remained within our ethnic group! My sister chose an Irish-German guy; and…

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  • Quebec Genealogy Pointers,  Quebec History

    “Dit” Names

    The use of Dit names in French Canada (Bas Canada) is both very common and confusing.  Currently, I am working with another Deyo cousin to attempt to unravel yet another Deyo mystery. This part of my family line is now being reworked for the fourth time!  I think I might be getting good at it.  Briefly here’s the mystery… It appears, now, that I might be descended from a woman we believe was named Honoree Beaulac. Her family name (surname) has the following common dit names (there may be others as well): Desmarais Lake Lefebvre Marest Beaulaque Hertel (a nice German sounding name, eh?) By the way you will also…

  • Quebec Genealogy Pointers,  Quebec History,  Tools

    Rituel du Diocèse de Quebec

    If you are performing research in Quebec, the Rituel du Diocèse de Quebec may prove useful in providing clues regarding the name or names of your ancestors. To quote the PRDH: Among Catholics, choice of first name wasn’t left to chance or parents’ imagination. On the contrary, the church liked to control the attribution of first names to ensure that on the day they were baptised, children received the name of a saint who would guide them throughout their life. In the Rituel du Diocèse de Quebec, which laid out the rules to follow for writing baptismal, marriage, and burial certificates in Quebec, Monsignor de Saint-Vallier stipulated, “The Church forbids…