Never Give Up! Never Surrender!

Submitted by: HOST GFS LynnB@aol.com

 

"This is it," I thought. "I've had it."

There were too many things competing for my attention: Two small very active children at home and a daughter in college with roommate problems, my DAR and C.A.R. responsibilities, PTO, and other school and community activities. I could no longer find the enthusiasm to do one more search of the Genealogy Forum using the Search The Forum button, or try again at www.google.com to see if there was anything new on "wanger genealogy," or look until my eyes got bleary at message board after message board in the Genealogy Forum and on www.genforum.com.

Oh sure, I loved to chat with the people who came into the Family Treehouse, and the attendees in Afternoon New England were probably closer to me than my own siblings (I certainly "saw" them more often!). I had no problem cheering when someone made a great discovery in their family research. I just wasn't having any luck with mine, that's all. And my head hurt from beating it against that brick wall!

But then, that line from the immortal movie "Galaxy Quest" (OK, I confess, I love science fiction, even bad science fiction. My ancestors probably really WERE aliens, for all the trace I can find of their immigration records.) would run through my head: NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER SURRENDER!

And one day, I got an email. A Robinson descendant had seen an ancient posting of mine on a message board and took a chance that I would still have the same email address after four years. She had a copy of a deed of her ancestor Joseph Bonsall Robinson, naming his sister Margaret B. Robinson and her husband Archibald Frazier. She did a search for Margaret and Archibald and came across my posting on them. Did I know what the B. in Margaret's name stood for? YES! I DID! (Bonsall, just like her brother.)

Did I know that William Robinson, Margaret and Joseph's father, was born 5 August 1780 in Queen Anne's Co., MD? NO! I DIDN'T! (That might explain why I couldn't find him in PA, though.) And how did she know that? Because she has seen the original entry in the ROBINSON FAMILY BIBLE, that's how! It's currently owned by one of her relatives.

My brick wall is crashing down, everyone! NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER SURRENDER! (And remember to post on those message boards every so often. You never know!)

HOST GFSLynnB

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