Thanks to Jasia at Creative Genes for hosting the 121st COG. Her challenge:
The topic for the next edition of the COG will be: Great Discoveries. ...It's time to once again share your latest discoveries, the ones that put a smile on your face, brought a tear to your eye, or for whatever reason made you say, "wow"!
Possibly the greatest discovery I made in my 20 some years of research was when I ordered a microtext copy of a surname book, "Lashbrooke, Lashbrooks, and Lashbrook (of the United States)", (Utica, Kentucky: McDowell Publications, 1986), complied by Mary K. Gritt Lashbrook.
This was very early on in my research, maybe the first year, surely in the first two. I had ordered a few other surname books and they had all been gold mines. When I ordered the Lashbrook work, however, I was fishing, pure and simple.
The catalog description at FamilySearch.org says: "Ten generations of Lashbrook families, most of whom are descended from William Lashbrooke, who was living in Prince William County, Virginia at the time of his death in 1760."
Heavens, at this point I had NO idea who I was chasing, so, I took a chance that someone I could connect to would show up in Mary's work. And, boy did it ever!
I have mentioned this a few times before, Mary did an outstanding job of the one name study of Lashbrook in the USA. She ended up with a few lone wolf lines. Instead of ditching the research she tucked the rough outlines in at the end of her work. And, there it was that I found Archie, in all his glory, with his siblings and parents, and extended ancestry. Mary had filled 12 pages with what she had collected. 12 wonderful pages.
(Below, the first of the 12 pages of Richard and Ann's descendants.)
I currently have 239 people in my data base with the surname Lashbrook. There are 6 brides married to Lashbrook dudes for whom I have been unable to determine maiden names. There is also one lone Lashbrooke (sad story that, filled with abandonment and resentments, and yes, it surrounds Archie, dear ole Archie, the starting point of most of the next 20 years of research).
I ran a descendancy chart with just names, including spouses, it is 75 pages long and includes approximately 2,250 names. I have been reluctant to find out how many pages it would take to print this compiled data for some time, last time I tried, it was well over 850 pages. But, I held my breath and tried again the other day, and it was around 1040 pages, including the index and one photo per person (where I have some graphic of some kind). Sans graphics the report and index are about 940 pages. That is pretty interesting to me, 100 pages of graphics and not everyone has a graphic attached to them.
Mary's work has been the foundation for all the research I have done since then, well over 20 years of research.
Several years after the searching began I was gifted with a copy of May's book, that alone is a story I should probably share sometime.
(Below, my gifted copy of the Lashbrook book, a treasured and valued possession.)
My greatest discovery, no doubt about it, was Mary's book on microtext and the 12 pages she tucked in at the end, for a family she could not even link to. I cannot thank her enough times.
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7 comments:
I can see why it's your treasured book. Very wise of Mary to put her unknown Lashbrooks at the end, and you found them. I bet more than anything, you wish you could thank her. On another note, are you going to print out the huge report? I've often thought of doing that, but the cost of ink and paper holds me back. Still, it would be nice having a hard copy.
This is exactly what I was looking for when I first started out in my genealogy research... A surname book that held all the answers, lol! Lucky you, someone wrote it for you! I was not so lucky. Congrats on your wonderful discovery and thanks for sharing it in the COG!
Carol, a couple of things--
I have always loved stories about your Lashbrook line --- I think it is the name -- brings all sorts of fanciful images to my mind.
second, I am always impressed with your serious dedication to genealogy, all said with a rather off hand, "ain;t this fun" attitude.
third, I have to laugh, cuz when I started I dinna even know there were surname books. LOL
Carol, how exciting! Lucky you to find the book you needed. And, it's really neat that you now have it in your collection. I hope someday to find something like this on my Kelly/Dolan line (hint to the universe!)
We are also researching the Lashbrook family - our ancestors came to Canada from Devon in the mid 1800s. Could you please provide me with the information on how to get a copy of this book.
This summer our family took at an "Ancestral Odyssey' tour to the UK. We traced many of the branches on our family tree before we left and found fascinating historical landmarks in Scotland, Ireland and England (it was a really remarkable trip). While researching the Lashbrook line we discovered an 'ancient hamlet' called Lashbrook, which we enthusiastically visited. It is very near Ashwater, which is where my great grandfather William Lashbrook was born in 1815. I'm wondering if you or any of your followers know anything about the village or the connection to the family.
Warm Regards
Laurie Lashbrook
Laurie, please contact me via the email addy in the right hand column of the blog.
hello We are cousins!!
I just now figured out how to use this. Super happy and excited to find some family. I am excited to see this.. How did you ever find it?? I have been looking for a copy for years. But even better I found you. I see you have so much fun searching the family. I have been really getting into the family tree. I had to do the name connections. It is hard not to peek and see more about each person I come across. I love the history of our family and all of its members. I am dedicated to finding them. As I see you have and are. In my heart hey may be gone but not forgotten. I have tried to contact some but they say.. oh we are not related. makes me giggle because I know we are.
I do not want to put who is who on here per my moms request. Super hugs to you and I would love a copy of this and even more so.. Would LOVE to get in touch with you somehow. My email is whispers_heart@yahoo.com
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