User:LaurieKelleyWentz

Biography

For me, since my lines go back to the early 1600s in North America, genealogy personalizes history for me. I feel a closer connection to the events I read about in school. It also gives me a sense of perspective. When I read about the hardships, tragedies, and triumphs of my ancestors, it makes me realize how realively easy I have it, and fortunate I really am. And it gives me a real sense of debt and gratitude.

It gives me a lever to pry simple questions about me out of my own parents. What do my parents and I have in common here? We now know that, if family history is to be saved at all, with all the "old folks" passing on, the time is now or never, and I want to save what I can while I can. If, years from now, someone in the next generation wants to REALLY dig into the family stuff, at least I have given him or her a good, solid, scaffolding from which to begin, preferably with lots of interesting family stories too.

I do genealogy to leave my mark. I would hate to think I passed through this lifetime without leaving some sort of mark so that other people know I passed. I continue to do the work, sorting it all out, filing it in the appropriate places, and for me that is leaving my mark. What started out as a simple project has now become all consuming. One of the nicest things to happen from this research is I now spend hours and hours talking to my family about my "finds" as opposed to talking about their health or the weather. I enjoy playing detective and sharing my finds with any and all relatives who care to have the information.

Mostly though, I enjoy it. To tell other people why is difficult. I love puzzles, solvable puzzles, the kind of history the digging entails. For me it's more of an addiction - ok, I'll be honest, it's an obsession. It seems like I have climbed every courthouse step in the state Missouri, as well as the surrounding states, but I'll keeping climbing those steps until I can't.

The main focus of my genealogy research has been my Kelley, Parker, Rector and Lee families. I currently have 5800 documented members of these families, and am in the process of adding/updating profiles on WikiTree to include them all.

Ancestor Portal

On My Father's Side I am descended from:

• James Kelley and Catharine Stewart -- There are many different stories about this couple. My goal is to get the stories straightened out, sourced, and published. We do know that he served with Gen. George Washington during the American Revolution, that he and his brother John (along with their families) moved to Kentucky together, and that James and his family eventually moved to Ohio.
• John Detrow - I am still looking for the name of the wife of John Detrow. Some have stated that her name is Elizabeth, but I have found no reliable source for this information.
• Mary Ann Ritchie - Some have reported that Mary Ann is the daughter of Robert Richey and Elizabeth Gwinn. I am still looking for a reliable source for this information. Still others have said that she is actually Mary Ann Samuels, which name I have found on the death certificate of her daughter Athalinda (Kelley) Taylor.
• Mary Emma Behon - I got the name from my Great-Aunt Irene, who was her daughter. The only proof that I have found is from the marriage license of David Andrew Kelley and Mary Behan. I am still looking for her parents.

My Current Genealogy Projects

• Mayflower Passengers -- I am a direct descendant of the following passengers: Isaac Allerton, Sr.; William and Mary Brewster; Degory Priest.
• U.S. Presidents: You will find the following U.S. Presidents in my tree: George Washington, John Adams, Zachary Taylor, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.