You really get to know your family when you research them... or do you really?
Let's start with my great grandmother, Catherine 'Cassie' ANDERSON. She was from Scotland, she drank hot toddy, was about 5' 4", and had reddish hair. She was born in 1889. Her parents were John ANDERSON and Elizabeth ARMSTRONG. She made the trip to the US when she was a young teen. She traveled the ocean, aboard an immigration ship, all by herself. She got to see the Statue of Liberty and it must have made an impression, because she told the family about it.. What a grand statue that would be to see when you are just arriving in this new country. How overwhelmed, excited, and scared, she must have been at all once. She was still a teen, all alone, and and in a totally unknown place with unknown customs . Can you imagine going through the process at Ellis Island, all by yourself, at such a young age? The local grocery store is scary enough! A few years later she met and married my great grandfather. They had my Grandmother a few years after they met. They lived in the same town almost 40 years. They had many people attend their funerals. They are buried next to each other in the local cemetery. They have left some great memories for my Aunts and Uncles, and we have some wonderful photos of them.
The problem is, I am not sure if I know who she is. When looking for records of her, we find no official record of her prior to the birth of my grandmother. As a matter of fact, we can't even find her in 1910. She told us, she was already here by then. No one else seems to be searching for her either. After having several wonderful researchers help me with some Scottish records, we only find one possible record of her parents being married, but the wife passed away before Cassie was born, and they had no child named Catherine or Cassie. That's not them. We also cannot find a birth record for a Catherine Anderson on or near her birthdate with her parents names. To complicate things even further, we have no record of our Catherine Anderson coming to America. Hmmm..Well, let's get her marriage record. Nope, after checking several websites, and writing to several counties, I also find no marriage record for Cassie.
So, let me get this straight....
We have my great grandmother born in Scotland, but no record. We have her coming to America, but no record. She is supposed to be in the U.S. in 1910, but no record. She gets married, but no record.
Hmmm, I am beginning to wonder if we know her at all....
But even though I may not know who she is... she is still a gem in my book.
