About This Blog

Nellie Mae discovered genealogy quite by accident in 1970s, while working as the Administration Assistant to the head of the Surgical Department of Church Home Hospital in Baltimore. Her employer, Dr. Zimmerman, was married to the Regent for the Custis Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). There came a time when Mrs. Zimmerman asked Nellie to mock up some flyers for an upcoming event, and then later requested her skill in event planning. Of course, she obliged, and her eyes were opened to this amazing world of genealogical research. She began searching her own lines, until she found an ancestor who awarded her the honor of her own induction into the DAR.  And that, my friends, is how this whole big ball got itself rolling.

She spent the next two decades traveling up and down the eastern seaboard, touring colonial houses and centuries old graveyards... often dragging me along! I was a young child and it must have been difficult to keep me entertained on these excursions, but I grew to love those adventures. I carry memories of playing in church playgrounds, while Grandmom made rubbings of headstones. I even remember what might have been a paranormal experience, but seemed perfectly normal to me at the time. I joined them at several DAR lunch meetings, and attended several historical home tours. I wish I knew then, all that I know now... I wish I had had an understanding of the places I had been, and the people that had once lived there, and of the events that took place in those long faded eras.

Stacey Chaney (me)
on one of Grandmom's excursions.

Grandmom uncovered soldiers of early wars, military heroes, and social leaders. Not only did she find contributors to our early government, she found the founders who bravely crossed the Atlantic to begin the European colonization of the New World. She took us through multiple Royal houses of Europe, and introduced icons of history to us as Aunts and Uncles.

The most amazing part, to me, is that she did all this before the computer age. Pre-internet searches required a lot of legwork. There were County Libraries to visit, City Halls, and Historical Societies. She corresponded with distant relatives, DAR members of other chapters, lawyers, historians, and Church Parishes on two continents. Most services and documents required out of pocket payment, and she paid. The evidence of certain ancestors allowed her entrance into worldwide genealogical associations, with associated fees, of course. The time and money that she put into her research just blows my mind. But she made quite a name for herself throughout the genealogy community, having contributed her own research into the expansion of various databases, and writing articles for national magazines.

In the mid eighties, as she retired from her illustrious career in hospital administration, she began the daunting task of putting all of her information into a written journal of timelines, photographs, maps, evidence and documents of authenticity. Even through medical issues of her own, she sat at her typewriter for months, producing multiple journals, with chapters for every name and charts following their bloodlines. In fact, they are so full of information, in and out of order, that they are difficult to follow.

Now here I am following in her footsteps, with a fiery passion for understanding our family's roots. I want, not only our current generations, but our future descendants to have these records, brought to life with a more modern mode of journaling. I have taken up the daunting task of digitally preserving and sharing her work. I certainly do give my thanks to the internet for it's genealogical services, the search engines that miraculously provide me with documents, photographs, and long removed relatives who share further information and more long lost photographs! When I think of how Grandmom did it all, I almost feel like I'm cheating!

But I'm just as addicted as she was. My cousins have been so helpful, by sending me the entire contents of our grandmother's desk, which had been hastily packed and stored when she passed on. It took months for me narrow it down to four large Rubbermaid storage containers, full of original photographs, documents, letters, articles, maps, wills, certificates... I could go on.

While in the process of filling in the online tree with Grandmom's data, I've also filled in the branches of many other people who fall into my family; my husband, my stepfather, my best friend, another friend, and a step-sister-in-law. Since my paternal line had already been done, I took it upon myself to research my maternal line, with a nice head start from my mom. Amazingly enough I have connected both of my parents to a common ancestor, as well as connecting my father to a lifelong friend.

Nellie Mae never set out to change my life, but she did. I'm sure she had no idea that anyone would carry her torch, but I will. Through this project, I will lift the torch and illuminate the past, in her honor.