A Maze of Brick Walls
I thought that Genealogy was going to be easy.
I know, all of you are laughing right now and shaking your heads.
Actually, my mother's side was pretty easy to find. I was able to join the Daughters of the American Revolution with her lineage. I have many ancestors who fought in the Revolution. Henry Grier was the easiest and had all the proper citations and lineage.
I knew that my father's side was going to be a little bit harder to find. My dad left my family when I was very young. I did not know anything about the Matakiewicz side. All I knew was his name and that was about it. When I was in my 20's I wrote to him and demanded the answers to my questions. When I received the letter back, I became angry with him and threw the letter in a box and forgot about it. Many years later after my father and my mom died I was leaving to go overseas on an assignment with the Air Force. I opened the letter and reread it. There was information there that I never really saw before. The name of my grandparents, something I never knew before.
I also met my half siblings. My father was married 3 times. All together my father had 8 children. 2 from the first marriage. 4 from the second marriage (my family), and 2 from the last marriage. 4 boys and 4 girls. There was also a Baby Boy Matakiewicz who died at birth. We were all a little surprised with that one. But my father was a bit of a cad and played the field whenever he could. I have learned to forgive my father and just keep going with the genealogy. You can't change anything, so you might as well start looking for some good. And that is where all my brick walls were building. A maze of brick walls!
- I have a very unique maiden name.
- My mother's genealogy went back to the beginning of the United States, so I thought it all would be easy to find.
I know, all of you are laughing right now and shaking your heads.
Actually, my mother's side was pretty easy to find. I was able to join the Daughters of the American Revolution with her lineage. I have many ancestors who fought in the Revolution. Henry Grier was the easiest and had all the proper citations and lineage.
I knew that my father's side was going to be a little bit harder to find. My dad left my family when I was very young. I did not know anything about the Matakiewicz side. All I knew was his name and that was about it. When I was in my 20's I wrote to him and demanded the answers to my questions. When I received the letter back, I became angry with him and threw the letter in a box and forgot about it. Many years later after my father and my mom died I was leaving to go overseas on an assignment with the Air Force. I opened the letter and reread it. There was information there that I never really saw before. The name of my grandparents, something I never knew before.
I also met my half siblings. My father was married 3 times. All together my father had 8 children. 2 from the first marriage. 4 from the second marriage (my family), and 2 from the last marriage. 4 boys and 4 girls. There was also a Baby Boy Matakiewicz who died at birth. We were all a little surprised with that one. But my father was a bit of a cad and played the field whenever he could. I have learned to forgive my father and just keep going with the genealogy. You can't change anything, so you might as well start looking for some good. And that is where all my brick walls were building. A maze of brick walls!
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