Plans and Transitions

Genealogy research can sometimes lend itself to long-term projects—witness the series on the World War II letters home from Frank Stevens—as well as short-term studies, such as the new media exploration we’ve just completed.

At this pivot point, I’m about to launch into a set of explorations that will take up the narrative where we left off, quite a while back, with Frank Stevens’ parents, William and Agnes Tully Stevens. While I’ve already written much on Will and Agnes’ children and on Agnes’ siblings and cousin Edna, I now want to focus on the Irish lines related to Will’s Stevens family. This will include exploration of two different Kelly lines in Indiana, as well as the Falvey family of Fort Wayne.

Of course, the hope is to tie these different Irish immigrant lines back to their point of origin in their homeland. There are two reasons for that goal.

One is to obtain the documentation that may help make sense of DNA test results we are just starting to receive from my husband’s Y-DNA test at Family Tree DNA. I have so much yet to learn on that whole process, and as I make these discoveries, I may as well write about them. If I have to participate in anything in which I don’t have the foggiest notion about what I’m doing, I’m a firm believer in being a journaling guinea pig.

The second reason for revisiting this quest for the Irish connection is the exciting possibility that our family may be able to visit there, a year from now. The occasion, we hope, will be our daughter’s opportunity to study abroad for a semester at a university in Ireland. Why waste an opportunity like that?! Between now and next fall, I need to be diligent to prepare by laying the groundwork so that, upon arrival, I’ll know exactly what needs to be done on location. Judging from the difficulties I’ve encountered in my last couple forays into these immigrant lines, it will take quite a bit of work to find the missing links I’m seeking.

For now, we’ll start tomorrow with a re-introduction to Will and his family. Then, to work: moving back through the generations on the Stevens line as far as possible. Hopefully, along the way, we’ll find additional documentation to confirm the link to County Mayo in Ireland—or to whichever point of origin turns out to be the right one.