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Welcome To Familygenesis
My name is Noralena 'Sue' Brown. I am a Historian and Genealogist. I come from a large family. There have always been tons of cousins and aunts and uncles around and loads of family gatherings to attend like marriages, birthdays, graduations, holiday celebrations and, sadly, funerals. At every one of these events I was always introduced to a new cousin or another relative and I'm still finding out about kin today that I didn't know I had.
These family gatherings, the large and small events that marked the passage of time, were where and why I first became interested in tracing my family history. I have pursued the interest on and off for the past three years. I was doing some work on the internet one day when a friend of mine decided that she wanted to look up a family member's Ellis Island ship record. From there we were directed to a website which contained a database of names and so on a whim, not expecting anything to come up, I punched in my great-great grandfather's name and was surprised when a record appeared on the screen bearing his name. Needless to say, I was shocked and excited all at the same time and it was at that point that my pursuit began.
When I was a little girl, I used to sit at my grandmother's feet when we visited her in Memphis, Tennessee, and was held captive by the stories that she told. There were the usual tales about how my great-great grandfather tied a wire around a small tree trunk to mark the boundary to his land so that as the tree grew the wire became embedded in its trunk so deep that it could not be removed; at one time serving as proof to a deceptive person, who was trying to claim the land as his own, that the land bordered by that tree was not a part of his property. Another tale was told of a relatives being shaken at the sighting or a 'visit' from a deceased loved one trying to relay a message. It didn't matter that over the years I heard the stories a thousand times. I always wanted to hear them again. They were both familiar and fresh and time and time again I'd sit and listen, absolutely mesmerized.
Many of the tales revolved around my g-g-grandfather, Winston Busby, an ordained minister and carpenter who built the home in Memphis with his own hands. The home that he lived and died in and that he passed on to my g-grandmother and, then on to my grandmother; the house now belongs to my mother and her brother. No one knew who his mother and father were, for instance, and while there was plenty of talk about where he might have come from, it amounted to little more than speculation. But that didn't stop them from telling the stories. In the absence of facts, the man of their invention was etched deeper and deeper into their collective memory.
I never got to know most of my g-grandparents. They died either before I was born or long before I was old enough to appreciate their importance to my own life and family history; but I always felt a connection to them through my grandparents and other kin. By the time I reached young adulthood, I was recounting the stories about them myself and slowly realized that I'd become a dedicated keeper of their memory and the tales that went along with them. But I wasn't satisfied with what I'd been told. I wanted to know more. I wanted to know who they really were, where they came from, and most importantly, who their folks were and that's why I became interested in genealogy.
I put this site together to share what I've learned about my family over the years and about genealogy in general and, hopefully, to make connections with others who share my ancestry or my interest in genealogy. It's a work in progress as I learn something new almost daily. Stay a while, look around and join me on my journey of discovery.
Genealogy is more than a hobby. Anyone who's been bitten by the bug knows that. It's more like a nagging preoccupation and has been mine more or less continuously for the past four years. I wish I could say that after all this time I know more today than I did when I started but I still don't know that much. Over time I've debunked some myths, added lots of newer branches to the family tree and pruned a few old ones -- things like that. But I haven't filled in the tremendous gaps in the foliage.
My research eventually extended to my father’s family and then on to my husband’s family and I am on a quest to ‘sort it all out’.
I must also acknowledge my mother Ernestine Coleman who has caught the genealogy bug too. She has helped tremendously in researching information for this site. Thanks Mom. Your research, investigations and information gathering has helped to make this site possible.
Send mail to:
FAMILYGENESIS
c/o Noralena Brown
761 Providence Court, #207
Streetsboro, OH 44241