November is right around the corner. Soon the beautiful fall colors will be leaves for me to rake up in my yard. The clocks will turn back, and it will be time to get the turkey. Where does the time go? In the last 2 classes of the year perhaps we will discover projects to keep us busy during that time we have between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Who am I kidding? What time will that be? 

We do have 2 more classes, Cluster and Collateral Research and Tips for the Occasional Genealogist. These 2 classes are back-to-back so there will be lots of learning to do.

For me recently it has been a lot of history reading. I read 3 history books, Irish History, History of Scotland, and the History of Ulster Ireland. I have been on a personal mission to try to understand what was going on during the time my ancestors might have been in any or all of these locations and why they might have left one for another or all of them to come to America. Some of the books also told of the folklore, myths, legends, and fairy tales of the areas. It was actually quite interesting. I wish I could say that I totally understood all of it. but I think some of it is about understanding the time period and having to be there as they say. I understood the books; it was the mindset that if I want to be king, I will wage war on you and kill your family which might also be mine. 

And then throw in the Tuatha De Danannn, Banshee, Selkies and that is just the Irish. There are the creation stories of the lands and islands. The loch (lake) that was created when one giant took a handful of dirt and threw it at another giant and missed creating the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea and a divot in his own land that became a lake. Now I understand the reason for these tales, and they are really quite interesting. I also understand that reading a history of a location that goes back as far as these places do will bring with it a lot of stories to explain the happenings of the day. And boy are there a lot of them.

One of the things I was curious about was the crossover from one to the other. And there was a lot of that as well. The names may have been slightly different but the stories very similar making my mind go to the fact that they had very similar origins. It also made me wonder about my grandkids project of giving them children's books from countries our ancestors came from. I have got the books and a few toys to match up with them, and I have written notes like “this story comes from the land of your ancestors.” But one particular book of Scottish Fairy Tales I am going to read myself first and give to the parents and let them decide when to read the stories to the young ones, so they won't be scared. 

All this is to say that even though I haven't found a new ancestor lately, I have learned a lot about where some of my ancestors might have come from. Heidi Geise, education@hqrl.com