Thank you, Hil! I'm trying to get by on my own, but I'll let you know if I need further assistance.

Shana tova!

I have fallen down the rabbit hole of ancestry.com. Just the free version but the library has access to the documents but you can't make family trees.

My aunt in Florida has done a lot of this so we spent some time talking about it. The big thing is one branch of the family ends rather oddly. We have traced one person but his father is listed with the same name as the first and last name. Also under his mother her children list his name born in 1780 and then another child listed with the same (unusual) name born 1805 and then 3 boys all born different years with the same first name (I'm thinking maybe they aren't the same family). It doesnt' seem a case of where they died and subsequent children were named for them.

I was trying to looking at records but there isn't much and some people in the library using the computers were having a rather loud, heated "discussion" so I left. I'll go back one day after work and relax by looking up records.

We have traced one person but his father is listed with the same name as the first and last name. Also under his mother her children list his name born in 1780 and then another child listed with the same (unusual) name born 1805 and then 3 boys all born different years with the same first name (I'm thinking maybe they aren't the same family). It doesnt' seem a case of where they died and subsequent children were named for them.

Stuff like this from that time period is often an issue where things got copied wrong. Like, maybe this started out as a list of baptisms that the local minister kept, and then he hand-wrote a copy and submitted it to the county, where someone else hand-wrote a copy into the county book. Then sometime later that book was crumbling, so someone rewrote it. Then maybe the old records all got copied again into state records. And so on. By the time you see it, it could be the tenth copy, with a bunch of errors introduced along the way. Best thing to try to do is trace that process backwards -- see if you can figure out where the information that you're looking at came from, and then where that information came from, and so on. You'll often be able to untangle things that way.

Hil, I think on his marriage certificate it's listed as the same name first and last and then on some kind of military record for the War of 1812 but I'll have to wait until I can get to the library and look at those.

I studied with someone yesterday. Turns out that for the last two months I understood one sentence in an instruction wrong because I took it literally. For two months. And not one person - not the teacher, nor the other people I studied with caught it. And that, mostly, caused me to fail.

I'm glad I found out that I'm really not that out of touch with math before my last chance to prove myself, but: two months? With all that stress? Over one poor phrasing? Sheesh.

(Didn't mean to kill thread).

On my way to re-take that final, and I think I have a good chance to pass it this time. Wish me luck!

Exam-ma, Shir

Exam~ma! Let us know how you do with the new understanding.

Thank you! I dread to be hopeful at this point, but... maybe it went well enough? We'll see.

You guys, I am so sad. My mom's side of the family is relatively small -- she only has 2 sisters. Her oldest sister (who is, I think, 76 or maybe 77) (which no longer sounds "old" to me) has been in poor health for a long time. At least 10 years, probably 15. She has chronic pain that has kept her from being very mobile, and lack of mobility causes its own problems.

She's had diverticulosis for a long, long time (30 years, maybe), which is not a horrible condition unless/until there's inflammation and trapped stuff in the GI tract (the inflammation turns diverticulosis into diverticulitis). About 2 weeks ago, she had emergency GI surgery because the diverticulosis had turned into diverticulitis, which in turn created an abscess.

Surgery went okay, but she needed to go to a rehab facility before she can go home, partly to address her chronic pain and low level of mobility. But last night she was rushed to the ER because she has multiple clots in her lungs, which is always a risk after surgery (and is the reason patients are strongly urged to get out of bed and walk a little after surgery, and then keep walking). She's receiving blood thinners for the clots, but my mom was visiting today and the doctor talked to the family and said that her prognosis is not good, that her heart is not doing well in the attempt to break up the clots.

This is the aunt who loves Murderbiscuit so much that she texts me to ask for pictures if I haven't sent one in a while. Her birthday was Saturday, and I texted her a picture of him, which she appreciated.

So I'm just really really sad. Human frailty is stupid.