Requests

Plus a poem and some tips

Requests

1. In reading over some of my recent newsletters, I have found a lot of errors — leaving out words, mixing up links, accidental grammar or spelling errors, etc. What can I say? Once upon a time I never made mistakes, but I’m old now, so if you see something that needs correcting, would you please send me an email and let me know? It’s true sometimes my brain goes faster than my fingers (or vice versa), but that’s no excuse. I’ll try to be more diligent about proofreading.

2. If you have not done the survey I posted on Jan. 14, please take a minute and do it now. I’d like to get about five more responses before I post the final results.

3. Speaking of the survey, quite a few people said they would like to see/share photos of houses or ancestors. I think that’s great, but no one has sent any. Today, I hope to get just a few photos of people born before 1800—or their houses.

4. I can tell from the messages and emails I’m getting that I’ve got some super-smart and talented writers among my readers. Once again, let me encourage you to write a guest post about anything to do with genealogy or history of southern West Virginia.

5. There are other features that I can add to this newsletter site. One of them is a chat feature. How many of you would like to see a chat feature? I guess I should have put that on the survey.

6. Sometimes I make changes or corrections to my posts, and you may not be aware of them if you are just reading the newsletter in your email. You might want to check the actual page online for important corrections or additions.

I’d like to thank those of you who take time to comment or send me emails. I can’t really do much to help you with your tree, but I’m happy when you share something related to any of our current topics.

A Poem

Tips

Irish Naming Patterns

I have assumed many of my ancestors followed these patterns, but I’m going to take a closer look. It’s especially important to be aware that when middle names became more common in the 1800s, they were often used to preserve the mother’s maiden name (and still are).