My interest in genealogy began in the 1970’s when I read a BOMC selection, Finding your Roots, by Jeane Eddy Westin. I got intrigued and started writing out what little I knew of my ancestors. But it was not until after a family trip to Ireland in 1996, that I started to do research. I then started attending lectures, going to conferences and research sites, and investing in the required computer programs. The internet increased the availability of data and contacts with family members and researchers.
This work was not done alone; it started with my brother Bob’s faxed notes on the O’Malley’s of Ireland, and my cousin and UNH classmate, Donald LaBranche’s work our French-Canadian DuBois/Binette ancestors. Since then I have had many other helpers. AND I STILL NEED HELP.
The principal helper on O’Malley’s in Ireland was Una O’Malley my second cousin –one time removed, who lived on the land that Michael O’Malley left for America during the potato famine. Una was a shepherd and well known local history scholar/storyteller and writer in her area of South Western Mayo. For over 40 years. she contributed articles on life in Western Ireland to the local Louisburgh parish publication An Choinneal.
My work on the Dubois ancestors has been primarily done by others. Donald LaBranche's work from the ACGS library in Manchester, NH has been augmented by contributions from Prof. Eric DuBois of Canada, another electrical engineer; Jeanne Owens-Burnell, a former Basking Ridge neighbor and French cousin; "Libby" Quanstrom of Georgia, a NJ native and fellow Binette/DuBois ancestor, and Michael LeBarge, cousin from NH. While each has shown different data, they seldom have conflicted on the facts. My cousin, Aline Dubois Perry went with me to Quebec and served as my helper and interpreter. Finally. I have recently received a lot of information from my Binette cousins and Quebec genealogissts Clermont Demers and Jeanne Binette.
Others have made important contributions in understanding the Sheedy and Page families of Pittsburgh. Mary Sheedy Jackson and her brother Scott did a lot of work on the Sheedy’s. Mary took a year to write the Sheedy Family History in 1999. This work also included many pictures, maps, homesites, etc. Scott solved the mystery of which townland and parish in Clare, John Sheedy immigrated from. Sis Page supplied some great pictures of past Page and Hogan people, the late Aunt Mart Wilson helped me get straight on the many Wilson children and grandchildren, and Aunt Margaret Coffey Page helped me with the Massachusetts Page and Coffey families. As we got into in-laws, I got a lot of help from Ann Waterman Sheedy on Connecticut Yankees, Dr. Kurt Neumann on the Cushman family, etc. From this data, I even learned that two sisters-in-law had a common colonial ancestor.
And as my children married, I did research on their new family backgrounds. Again I had a lot of help from Larry Yarter and the book "the Kemp’s of New England", Dr. Robert Macfie Smith and his wife Callie, and members of the Lavin/Daly families in Ireland. Later I got a great collection of O'Malley family pictures from Candy O'Malley.
In addition to family members, I had great help from numerous librarians. And many others have put up with my pestering and added to and corrected my data. I WELCOME YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS.
We are now growing more diverse …. Although early families were thought to be pure Irish Catholic or French Canadian, that was not always the case. In the Dubois family, there was a Huron Indian wife, Mrs. Martin Provost, (Marie Manetoubewich), in 1641, and the Yarter’s had a Mohawk wife, Mrs. Lawrence, in the early 1800s. Now we have people from 44 states and several non-European countries in our database and THE FAMILY STORY CONTINUES TO GROW AND TO STAY VERY INTERESTING.