This is my name & I am very much wondering if I have any cousins in Mount Gambier here in South Australia as my partner & I know someone who lives there & we have a friend who is waiting also to hear from Ismael. I have done my family tree & please have a look for yourself. Very Kind Regards Cherie Bennett.

Leave a comment
Thank you dayne for all your research and efforts that eventually paid off this is truly inspiring and fascinating for future generations. Although not all members will appreciate the time and effort you spend on all the researching the generations that come will have an fascinating story to tell their children. All the research you gave done is truly amazing as it is fascinating! ! Well done cuz!!
Well done Dayne. I have so enjoyed reading all that you have written. Thanks for keeping us all ‘in the loop’.
As we allow ourselves the luxury of going back in time, we touch the history of our past. I’m fairly new at researching my family history, less than four years, but have loved the journey.
My ancestry, like your own, touches lands so distant from my own.
The maternal side reaches back to the Russian Federation, with a widow and small daughter finding a sanctuary in the United States of America. That daughter was raised on the shores of Lake Superior in Wisconsin on a Native American Indian Reservation. She married a Full-Blooded Chippewa and my Grandfather was one of many children from that union.
On my paternal side there are still many blanks as his mother was born in 1886, her mother died there in 1889, and she immigrated from Norway in 1892 with her father and several others. One became her step-mother. They also settled in Wisconsin near my Maternal family. My father was born in 1900 there. I have never found his father’s name, his birth certificate, or his mother after 1905. He was raised by her father and his new family…taking their family name. Upon retiring in 1965 that decision caused problems as there was no birth record, fortunately a mid-wife at his birth was still alive and could legally verify same.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.Dayne, you have done well. I began researching ten years ago and agree that much of the information available has flaws. I have been reluctant to publish my information without validating everything. It is up to people like you and I and all other researchers to keep the spirit of those who have come and gone alive. There is a reason that we take so much pride in knowing. DISCOVERY has so many exciting rewards and soothes the soul. The more that we learn the more we feel connected. You will find that every time you have the opportunity to engage in conversation with a complete stranger that you will want to know their name and where they are from. You never know if those you are related to have passed you by or if you even had words with them. Your story is appreciated and much enjoyed.
fascinating story, inspiring me to continue with my search for two very elusive family members of my own, james and mary ann finigan.their son edward finigan, was my great grandfather, and after four years thats as far as i ve got
Thank you Dayne you have inspired me to start again I had given up as I came to a full Stop.
Really enjoyed your story and happy for you.
Regards
Fantastic Dayne! I started my tree in 2004 beginning with my Grandma on my fathers side her mother had a French/or Flemish name as did three generations back from her, I Am now stuck-all these women lived in England I have gone back to 1810….I would have loved to have been able to trace someone in France.
I have travelled widely in France and love the country and never new until I did my Tree. The surname Jacques is the oldest I have found and he had his own business in Staffordshire as a Wheelwright.Dayne I really enjoyed reading about your story and the long journey that you have taken. It makes me want to keep working on my family history. Thank you
Hi Everyone,
Thank you for all the kind words and for taking the time to read my story. I am glad my story could provide some motivation for your own unique genealogy journey.
I am a member of the South African Genealogy Facebook group, and a few months ago one of the members of the group posted this interesting perspective of discovering ones family history.
“We Are Chosen
My feelings are that in each family there seems to be one who is called to find the ancestors. To put flesh to bone and make them live again. To tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know, and approve. To me, doing genealogy, is not a cold gathering of facts, but instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe – all tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone on before cry out to us, tell our story! So we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told my ancestors – you have a wonderful family, you would be proud of us. How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt that there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes beyond documenting facts. It goes to who I am and why I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery, about to be lost to weeds and indifference, and saying, I can’t let this happen. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses. Their never giving in or giving up. Their resolution to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that they fought to make us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us, that we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do, with love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence. Because we are them and they are us. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to the one called in the next generation to answer the call, and to take up their place in the long line of family storytellers. That is why I do genealogy and that is what calls those, young and old, to step up and put flesh to bone. We are chosen!”
This really spoke to me on so many levels. I have developed such a great passion for family history. My family history adventure has been exciting, with many great discoveries, as well as dead ends. When I compiled my family tree, I knew I had ancestors, but they were fictitious to me. It was only once I got in contact with distant relatives, that their stories started to take shape. My journey to discover my family history has given character and given life to the names that started out as lifeless identities on paper. Through this experience I discovered who I am and all the great people from who I come from.
So I wish you all the best of luck in your family history endeavors and may each discovery enrich your life and bring you closer to finding yourself at the same time.
Kind Regards,
DayneGood Day, I have been trying to do our family tree from my fathers side, but shoo, to find people to give you info, thats another story. my grandfather passed away when my dad was still small, so he never had much info, and my gran would not speak of him, so all i have is their wedding certificate and a portrate of him. Not sure if both his parents came from Ireland or just my graet-grandfather, Here is my grandfather’s names Frederick Johannes Jacobus McKnight, Born 4/2/1888, dont have date of death, his birthplace was Dundee, Natal, South Africa.
Hi Dayne, I am so glad that you are doing this there is very little availanle on the Norwegian settlers I have hit a brickwall with my husbands grandfather Emil Martin Rees definitely of Norwegian descent as the first son was baptised Roydan Viking Oliaf Rees each of the other children also have at least one Norwegian Name. Yet I can not find where he came from or what happened to him. He was married to Charlotte Howard but they were divorced
Dayne are you still doing your family tree? I knew Uncle Tobie
Regards LynHi Lyn
I am always doing family history research. I would love to hear your stories about my grandfather. Please contact me on dayne.skolmen@gmail.com
Janice
October 18, 2014
An inspiring and touching story, Dayne. Learning our family history truly enriches our lives. Wishing you continued success.