I have completed the writing of the Brennan Family History Book. The Book has 12 chapters and 4 appendices. It will be close to 200 pages long. About 160 pages are text, while another 40 are pictures. Six of the chapters are the genealogies of the descendants of Ned and Mary Brennan, my great great grandparents who emigrated from Ireland in 1860. There is also a chapter on the history of Ireland and another on the history of Ohio, where Ned and Mary settled, raised their family, and died.
This is the third family history book I have written. The first two were for my husband's family - his father's Croatian side, and his mother's Swiss-English side. Both were great fun to write, but not as involved as this recent book. The reason this one is more involved is because it contains the names of more people and because I have been in contact with so many of them to gather information and photographs. With my husband's Croatian family, I was mainly working with the descendants of his great grandparents rather than his great great grandparents, which means there were fewer people to contact. Also, most of them lived in California. With my husband's mother's family, there simply were fewer living relatives to contact.
In this book, I have made efforts to connect with branches of the family that either did not know about each other, or have been out of touch with each other for decades. My goal was to learn the names of every descendant, both living and deceased, of Ned and Mary Brennan. This involved making phone calls, writing letters, and sending emails, often to people I had never met, and sometimes to people whom I wasn't even sure were part of the family. I had to wait until I received a reply to find out if I had reached the right person. I was always a little bit afraid that when I sent a letter or made a call to someone I had never met, telling them I was writing a family history book, that they might not believe me or think I was trying to steal their identities or sell them something. But for the most part, they were quite welcoming and enthusiastic. And while I may have not been able to find a handful of descendants, I ultimately learned the names, relevant dates and occupations of over 500 people, over 350 of them living today. And a good number of those people sent me photographs.
The next step is to design the book. Designing is different than writing. Designing a book has to do with all the technical details of how a book will look once it is printed: size of margins, page numbers, placement of photographs, decorative details, etc. This is a time consuming process and one I am not equipped to do. In the past, I worked with a professional designer, but that proved quite expensive. This time, my daughter in law, who owns the appropriate computer program to do this, has offered to help. I'm hoping it won't be too much work for her.
After the design is complete, the book will go to the printers. There, it will be transformed into a beautiful hard back book with high quality paper and excellent reproductions of photographs.
So we still have a way to go before we see the finished product. These things always take longer than we expect them to. But the goal is now in sight, and I am looking forward to finally being able to share all of my research, writing and efforts with the rest of the Brennan family.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Vacation of a Lifetime!
In 6 weeks, my husband and I will be visiting France, Germany and Belgium for 3 weeks.
Most of the trip will be in France. A week in Paris, a week on a Viking River Cruise in the south of France, and then a few days driving up to the Alsace Lorraine area. There we will meet with a man who is in charge of the World War II museum in Nancy. This is the town close to the location where a cousin of mine died during World War II. His name was Ralph Brennan and he and his fellow soldiers were attempting to take a bridge back from the German army. In what can best be described as an ambush, most of the American men were killed. The fighting was fierce, though, and that fighting distracted the German army, allowing the Allies to retake the town of Nancy. Ralph died at the Bridge at Flavigny, and there is a plaque on the bridge with his name on it. So we will see the bridge, visit the site where he died, and see the World War II museum, which they will hold open for us even though they normally close it for the season in September. In this 70th anniversary of D-Day, it will be quite an honor to be so up close and personal to a World War II battle, and to visit the place where a relative of mine died in that war. This trip will give me some final pictures and information to include in the Family history book I am writing.
Even as I'm working on my Brennan Family History book, though, I'm continuing to pursue leads in my other families, and so after a few days in Alsace Lorraine (including one day on the Route Des Vins) we will hop over the border into Germany to visit the town of Losheim, the town where my Schulien great great grandparents were born. We had hoped to meet a 6th cousin, but our vacations days overlapped with his vacation days when he will be out of the country, so he has arranged for us to meet with an in-law of the family. We will see a house once built by the Schulien men before they came to America, and will hopefully learn as much as we can about this family. We only have one day there, but it is a small town, and hopefully will be very interesting.
Then it's off to Belgium. We will pass through a small town where my Mueller relatives are from, and then up to Bruges for two days. Then we'll drive back to Paris for one day and fly home.
I can't say what thrills me more - being in Paris, taking a river cruise, or learning more about my ancestors. I guess it's the combination that is so thrilling to me.
Two years ago, we went to Ireland to meet some relatives from my Brennan side - my dad's side. Now we're learning what we can about my mom's side. It's one thing to learn the names of ancestors on paper. It's another to see the places they once lived, and to speak to relatives or people who know something about their lives. I am so thankful that I will have this opportunity, and I will report back afterwards. In the meantime, I continue work on the book and will report on that soon.
Most of the trip will be in France. A week in Paris, a week on a Viking River Cruise in the south of France, and then a few days driving up to the Alsace Lorraine area. There we will meet with a man who is in charge of the World War II museum in Nancy. This is the town close to the location where a cousin of mine died during World War II. His name was Ralph Brennan and he and his fellow soldiers were attempting to take a bridge back from the German army. In what can best be described as an ambush, most of the American men were killed. The fighting was fierce, though, and that fighting distracted the German army, allowing the Allies to retake the town of Nancy. Ralph died at the Bridge at Flavigny, and there is a plaque on the bridge with his name on it. So we will see the bridge, visit the site where he died, and see the World War II museum, which they will hold open for us even though they normally close it for the season in September. In this 70th anniversary of D-Day, it will be quite an honor to be so up close and personal to a World War II battle, and to visit the place where a relative of mine died in that war. This trip will give me some final pictures and information to include in the Family history book I am writing.
Even as I'm working on my Brennan Family History book, though, I'm continuing to pursue leads in my other families, and so after a few days in Alsace Lorraine (including one day on the Route Des Vins) we will hop over the border into Germany to visit the town of Losheim, the town where my Schulien great great grandparents were born. We had hoped to meet a 6th cousin, but our vacations days overlapped with his vacation days when he will be out of the country, so he has arranged for us to meet with an in-law of the family. We will see a house once built by the Schulien men before they came to America, and will hopefully learn as much as we can about this family. We only have one day there, but it is a small town, and hopefully will be very interesting.
Then it's off to Belgium. We will pass through a small town where my Mueller relatives are from, and then up to Bruges for two days. Then we'll drive back to Paris for one day and fly home.
I can't say what thrills me more - being in Paris, taking a river cruise, or learning more about my ancestors. I guess it's the combination that is so thrilling to me.
Two years ago, we went to Ireland to meet some relatives from my Brennan side - my dad's side. Now we're learning what we can about my mom's side. It's one thing to learn the names of ancestors on paper. It's another to see the places they once lived, and to speak to relatives or people who know something about their lives. I am so thankful that I will have this opportunity, and I will report back afterwards. In the meantime, I continue work on the book and will report on that soon.
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