There’s something interesting around every corner

Welcome to the Ford Family Genealogy Trails or Down the Rabbit Hole! I hope to share with you genealogy discoveries from the Ford family, but also from the Johnsons, the Cobbeys, the McFaddens, the Earls, the Gillettes and more. Currently I am working on the Morris side of the family, in preparation for July trip to Wales.

Sharing what I learn feels important to me. First, I spend a lot of time researching the various genealogy strands. I’m learning a lot and I want my family to know what I’m learning, if they are interested. Secondly, this is our family heritage. It is rich and deep. Just in this county alone, several of our lines go back to the mid 1600s. That is not to mention the Irish, English and Welsh roots that go even deeper. Thirdly, most people can’t listen to the depth and details I unearth without their eyes glazing over. So, maybe if I can dose it into blog posts, members of my family will be able to access the stories when they are able to absorb them.

I first began this journey in my teens, sitting in my grandfather’s “hoopey” house in his back yard on Beverly Drive in Fullerton, CA. We would sit and play cribbage and he’d tell me stories of how he drove a mule train out into the desert to homestead, or of how his grandfather first settled the Placentia area. I loved the stories, but now I wish I’d asked more questions, of him, my grandmother and my parents.

My grandparents were very modern by grandparent standards. I lived with them part-time while my parents were in Bolivia with my other five siblings and I was getting ready to go to nursing school. So we had time, and I am grateful that we did.

Here’s my grandfather’s immediate lineage.

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By way of introduction, my name is Marilee Ford. I’m a retired nurse and artist (www.marileeford.com) living in Petaluma with my husband Rob Hendricksen, our two kitties Gypsy and Pearl and our three chickens. In my retirement I have joined my cousin Carol Johnston Snow in venturing down into the rabbit hole of DNA, DNA connections, family stories, pictures, land plots, maps and family bibles. We support one another in going after the proverbial road blocks as we try to get back yet another generation in our various family lines.

I have an Ancestry.com family tree, where I am most active. I have started trees in MyHeritage and on Family Search. I have taken several genealogy classes through the local JC and online. I think my genealogy habit feeds my curious mind. It certainly keeps me occupied and endlessly looking around yet another corner. I hope you will enjoy the stories I share as time moves along. Thanks for reading.