Treasure Maps Feed
That's the rule. You can choose any one of your ancestors, and you only get to ask them one question…
Who would your ancestor be? What is the one question you would ask?
The ancestor I would pick is my great-grandmother. Here is some brief information on her:
Her name was Agnes Augusta Wainwright. She was born in Folkston, GA and married J. D. Moore. They moved to Jacksonville, FL because he was an important figure in railroad construction. His company prospered and they became well off. Then the great depression came and took a toll on them; they lost everything. After the depression, he was building up his business again and passed away, She remained poor (in monetary things only) the rest of her life.
She went through all of this with grace and dignity. She was an exceptionally well-loved matriarch in our family. She developed arthritis in her later years but still did all the chores, cooked, cleaned and cared for her children, grandchildren and others -all from a wheelchair. She had small burns down her arms and on her hands from cooking for the family from the wheelchair, and used a cane to make the beds every day.
She never complained about her constant pain. She had great strength and faith and made a lasting difference in our family’s lives.
The question I would ask her is: "How did you find the strength to go on after you went through so much loss, pain, and heartache?"
Grandma Moore passed away, an open Bible she was reading on her chest. So I have an idea where a lot of her strength came from - but I would still love to talk to her.
Her daughter, Louise, was my grandmother. Our "Nana."
When Nana was in the hospital, never to return home (although no one in our family had any idea that this was to happen), I did ask her a question when she seemed to give up her fight.
While trying to encourage her to hang in and get better, I said: "Nana, you've got to try to get better here. Don't give up. What would you tell your mother?"
Nana answered: "I would tell her I did the best that I could."
Her answer still haunts me to this day, and the older I get, the better I understand her words.
What about you? Leave a comment about the ancestor and the question you would ask them…
My G’ma Jones, Eva Hyde Jones from Monroe County Iowa. I would ask her to tell me about her family the Hydes and the Millers and My G’pa Jones’, William Andrew Jones, parents and what she did when he was off galavanting all over the country when she was home with 3 or 4 little ones.
My g’ma Jones had a great inner strength that came from her faith, you can see it in her face in the pictures of her.
If I had another question, I would ask her if great g’ma Jones actually was related to Jessie James and hid him the way the family story always said.
My paternal great-grandfather was probably from Italy and married a woman from Bohemia. Some of their children were born in Prussia and they were living in Belgium before coming to the US.
After only 18 years in the US, he died of Coal Miners Asthma (Black Lung) at the age of fifty.
I would choose him and I would ask him to tell me about his life.
I choose my great-grandfather and would ask him the question that my father always wished he had asked - ‘when you came from County Down via Australia to the United States, why did you choose the city of Chicago in which to settle? There were no relatives here….. ‘
I would pick my grandfather, Charles Nicholas Kelly. I would ask him who is parents were.
My grandfather was not the most truthful man. He lied to my grandmother regarding his age. He told her he was 19 years younger than he really was. I fear she must have very naive to have believed this. She found out the truth (after they were married) from some of his cousins at a family picnic.
Regarding his parents, he told my father and my aunt two completely different stories.
The father’s name is the same in both cases, Henry McKithen or McGithen (we guess on the spelling) and that he was born in Leavenworth, KS. He told my father that the mother’s name was Mary Moore and that Henry was killed by a team of run-away horses. His mother remarried a man named George Kelly. Mr. Kelly had two daughters, but by the time of the story, they were dead. He told my Aunt that his mother’s name was Sarah Perkins and that his parents divorced with he was very young. She then married a man named George Keller. In both cases my grandfather left home at an early age using the name Charles Kelly.
I’ve read the 1870 Leavenworth, KS census twice and cannot find him. I have their marriage record, his death certificate, and my father’s birth certificate and have located the family on the 1920 and 1930 census records. I can only prove that he existed after 08 Aug 1912, the day he married my grandmother.
If anyone has any suggestions I would sure appreciate it.
My Colonial grandfather, William Sloo, was found in old NYC. He was found to help the Americans with blacksmithing during Revolutionary times. At one time he was Keeper of the Bridewell in New York. There is a question in my mind after many years of reasearch if there was only one marriage or two. The first documented and certain information was his marriage to Charity Benson in 1755.
My question would be, where and when did you or your ancestors come from. I have too many I speculations from research and not enough specific facts to really know.
This is a tough one but I think I would want to talk to my 3x’s Great Grandmother, Winifred (Unknown) Masters. I know she was born in England but no idea where in England. I would ask her to tell me about her life before she married William Masters in England. It amazes me the courage it must have taked to move across the ocean to a new country.
The question that is nagging me ….
I have found my gggg-grandfather, Jonathan Burris (b 1768 d 1863) first in Cumberland, MD and then Bourbon Co, KY and then on to Brown Co, OH–all beautiful, fertile farmlands. Jonathan does appear to be a farmer for most of his life.
I want to know what “drove” him west?
My great-great grandfather came to the US from Prussia in the 1860’s, having lived at one point in the Alsace region, according to family legend. He brought his wife and two children with him (though he was not on the same ship with them), fathering eight more before divorce. He later settled in Elmira, NY, remarried and raised another family. (I am a descendent of one of the Prussian-born boys.) My question to him would be, what was going on in his life, his country, his world - that prompted his move from his homeland and family, and how did he accomplish that move?
Like Eileen, if I could ask a second question, I’d want to hear all about his life and family, both in Europe and the USA.
I would choose to ask a question of my gg grandmother Jane Gallacher who was born in Ireland in 1828 and then moved to Glasgow, Scotland when she was a young girl. Her parents were James Gallacher and Mary Lees. I would like to know why they moved from Ireland and where exactly in Ireland did they live. I hope to visit Ireland someday and would love to see where she was born.
My husband’s great, great grandfather was John Mathis. I would ask him WHO were your parents?? There were a lot of Mathis families living in Stewart Co., TN between 1850-1880 and beyond. Surely some of them must have been related. Everyone researching these Mathis families is stuck at 1850 so we cannot find the connection.
I am writing a love story about my great grandmother. I would love to know why after traveling from Alabama to Georgia to New Jersey and then to California to join her father in the Gold Rush days, why did the family start over in Shreveport, LA. And when did she met her first husband? And did my great grandfather’s first wife, tell her to “Take care of Mr. Bell” as someone told me when I was a child?
I would ask my GGrandfather Thomas Jefferson Baker of Surry Co., NC, why he and his older sister Elizabeth lived with the Pilson family when they were young. His mother was still living when he married my GGrandmother, so why did they not stay with her? I cannot find any record of his dad’s death so I have no idea what happened to him. Nor can I find anything beyond his dad David Baker. No one in our family has any idea. It is my Great Mystery!
I would ask my gg grandmother Elizabeth Miller Weaver if Miller is her maiden name or if she was previously married and if so what her maiden name is. I can find nothing other than the fact that she was born in Franklin, VA. If Miller is her maiden name did her parents move to Ohio when she was growing up or did she move there later on her own. I can’t find her parents or anything else about her. I have hit a deadend on her and would really like to find something out about her.
My great great grandmother Queen Vitoria Martin married John Walker Wilson about 1889 in TN or GA and for some reason they separated and she married Presiden Walraven but later had to remarry him because of bigmay charges. In 1910 I find her back in TN living with John Walker Wilson and they have another child together. They move to Idaho and marry in 1928 where they live the remainder of their lives. I would love to ask my grandmother why she left John in the first place and why she returned. Must be a great love story in there somewhere!
My Grandmother, Lola Emma Goldkuhl would be the one I would ask about her version of her life in 1906. I never met my Grandmother, she died at the age of 37. My own Mother died at the age of 49, before I got interested in genealogy. Almost everything I have learned about my Grandmother, I got from records. In 1906 and in San Francisco, CA, the records showed that her step-son died of tuberculosis (as a result of contacting it in the Philippines during the Spanish American War) on 3 Mar 1906. My Grandmother was his caretaker. She had two children of her own by then and she also tended to my widowed grandfather’s other four children. Grandma Lola was pregnant at the time with my Aunt Myrtle who decided to be born on March 27 and then died on the 16th of April. Little Myrtle was buried on the 17th of April and on the 18th of April, San Francisco’s big earthquake happened and the family lost their home and lived in a tent for months before they relocated. When you figure it out, all this happened in the matter of about six weeks. Grandma died in 1912, six years later of tuberculosis, possibly picking up the contagious disease from her step-son.
Grandma is kind of the point where all my ancestor families come together. She came from blood that connects Mayflower Pilgrims, Connecticut original inhabitants, California explorers known as Soldado de Cuera (Leather Coated Soldier) and Los Angeles, CA beginnings as well as several original CA Mission beginnings. So you see, there would be other questions, but I won’t ask them here.
My ggggrandfather was born in France about 1790. I can find no further information about him. He came to US in Va. and married a lady there(no name). He joined the army in 1814 in Va. My question would be to tell me about his life,family and etc in France.
I would ask my GGrand father, David Monroe Bibb, where he was born, in 1827.
I have proved it was in the State of Virginia
but unable to pinpoint the county. He joined
the Civil War in KY in 1861, resident of Crittenden Co., was in Army only months when
he got pneumonia, was sent to Nashville to
recuperate, but not recovering well was sent
home to his wife and six small children,
the youngest 6 mos., where he contacted measles
and died, June 21, 1862. His widow, Lucinda Grubbs Bibb drew pension until her death in 1903.
My great great grandfather, Theodore Washington MOORE was born in 1821 in Muskingum County, Ohio - at least as far as I can find out. I would ask him about his parents, since I can’t find out who they were. Census entries that show TW say his parents were born in Ohio, but since Ohio wasn’t a state until 1803, they would have been pretty young when he was born. My dad always said MOORE was spelled MOHR until WWI and that we were of German descent. However, as far back as the 1850 census, my MOORE was spelled the same way as today. So if Grandpa TW could tell me about his parents, I could clear up a few mysteries.
My grandparents abandoned my mother and her sister when they were small children; my mother was never able to find out why and/or what happened to them,she was haunted throughout her short life (she died at 49 after a lifetime of pain and suffering).
I would ask my granndmother; what happened ; Why Grandmother? Where did you go?
My Gr Gr Grandfather, Samuel Morrison, his wife and 6 weeks old son left Newtownstuart, Tyrone, Ireland in 1832 to immigrate to Philadelphia to join his brother. The family story tells of his ship ending up in Nova Scotia and the family walking to Philadelphia.
Though curious about what ship, where the really landed, if his father came with him or at another time, the question I would ask for the details of their journey. To me the imagined ordeal seems mind boggling.
you see it be my grandmother.mrs olealer Felder Johnson.all i no is that she was born in tx on sep23 1911 and i love her so much she pass dec 11 1994.what i have on her is that.her family go from the town goodwill.and her dad name was Jim or will Felder.my grandie was a Indian.and some of her Family was from Gabriel S Felder.but i need to find a son name.Adlai the son of Rufus H Felder.NEED YOUR HELP THANK YOU ALL.
Hi Robert, since I do not have a computer I can’t order stuff from you as such…I can however learn from your great you tube things and it does serve me well.You have a wonderful disposition about life…! I’ll share the same heaven you are headed for.I am lousy at typing (Never Figured it out)But i can spell…some…some…there.Laughing is permitted…well I am researching Cherokee lineage…as I am trying to get the cards.Thank you for your super help…!!Sparky
I would like to share the short story about my father when he was 9. Somehow my Grandma dumped all 8 children Somewhere in Calif. to fend for themselves,,,it is a black spot in everyones lives..as no one is alive to talk about it…whew it is a real booger. There is something about a murder between Arkansas and CA.? All this was between 1924 & 1933.I would love to ask her(Mollie)what happened…I was born in ‘48 and didn’t know my Dad until I was 19. He served in the Army & the Air Force.I am proud of my DAD,He was a Master Sergant.David..
It would be my great grandmother Bessie. I would want her to tell me about her parents. I don’t know much about them and wish I asked before she passed.
i would ask my grandma costa why she left my grandpa bowen and why did she marry seraphino costa? was she ever legally divorced from my grandpa and why all the secrecy in the family?.
I would choose my GGGrandfather, John Wesley Billings from TN, and would ask him why he was so secretive about his ancestry and past and please, please tell only me. ;^)
Only one? With all my dead ends and questions, I couldn’t possibly make a choice! But I know the one question I would ask them all: Who are your parents?
I would love to speak to my American Revolutionary War Ancestor. What changes he had to have seen. Did he like the King of England? What brought you to a new land? Who were your parents, and your wife’s last name???
I believe I could learn so much about strength,bravery,and humility.
Once I make it to Heaven, I hope to get my chance to ask all my ancestors lot’s of questions. I also have a few for God!
I would ask my grandfather why he took half his kids and dumped them in California with his sister, never to be heard from again. They moved and were never found. I’m sure there’s family out there, I hope they had a better life the constant moving my dad and his brother had to live with.
Because she seems to me to have been a curious combination of pious (lifelong Southern Baptist), earthy (could curse to make grown men cower), tough (began married life in an Oklahoma half-dugout; most farm women of her time HAD to be tough), tender (made hot compresses to ease my mother’s “growing pains”) , judgemental (of her sons-in-law) and accepting (young children’s impishnesss made her laugh), I would ask my Grannie Bashie Gaddis Downs (a) is that your real given name or is it a short-form/nickname; and (b) how did you find the strength to keep on during and after your marriage to “Daddy Daddy” J. Downs? Was it just a matter of “do what you have to”…or was there some fundamental guiding principal or motivation for you?
I think what would interest me the most is if i went back to the farthest ancestor i had i would ask them what they would want for there future grandchildren and great grandchildren and so on as times was so hard for them back then it would just be an insight into how they thought the future should be to how it really is now.
I’d probably ask my grandmother on my father’s side, how she raised her 12 children. What are her struggles and her achievements. Also, I would like to ask her, what were her secrets on how she maintained being so regal and cool despite the number of children she had. And I would be thrilled to know her love story with my grandfather, since he was her one and only boyfriend when they got married, and vice versa.
I chose her mainly because I was not that close to her, unlike my grandmother on my mother’s side.