I'm Judy Shea,or Judith Lee Howard Shea! Those are all my names and I like the two middle ones because they tell about my ancestry. "Lee" was given to me as a middle name when I was born, and I was lucky that it was a "girls'name.", as well as a family name. And our family name it is!

I love doing my family tree and finding out more about my ancestors. My father started one——on paper and without the help of a computer, in the 1950s and got a lot done! He travelled round the countryside to libraries, churches, etc. His mother and brother worked on it, too. Someone did a really great job on this big pieces of paper drawing it out and I still use it as a guide working on my tree on Ancestry.com.

I coincidentally (maybe - ARE there any accidents?) live in the town where many of my ancestors lived when they came from England - Northampton, MA. Bridge Street Cemetery hold many of them - the Allens, Parsons, Rusts, Sheldons, Strongs, Edwards, Fords, Woodfords, Woodwards. Some stones can't be found - so frustrating! I also find we have other Northampton names in old "cousins," such as Lyman and Pomeroy.

I seem to come from people who got here early and stayed put, marrying each other and later there were more choices, but still they did not go West nor marry "foreigners" (a word I see on the old Barbour records!) Only one line came from France, by way of the Danish West Indies. Now that is an exotic story. The Huguenot father Thomas Bourdoux, about to be murdered for his religion (and his property, I'm sure) put little Marie on a ship bound for who knows where (that's one story) and she came to the West Indies (now the Virgin Islands) and the family grew until finally her second husband took Maria de Malleville Suhm van Beverhoudt to New Jersey, and then the family was all in the States. Her granddaughter married William Allen, connecting us to Northampton, where some early members of the Allen family settled. Connecticut was also a starting place for many of the early families, as well as Braintree, MA, and mid-Massachusetts, e.g. Milford, and Worcester. Maine also played a part, with a Southgate family daughter marrying a Smith, bringing the name "Arixene" into the family. The name "Malleville," stayed in the family and passed down from generation to generation. My cousin and my daughter carry this name, as did my father. His last name, "Howard" was not always "Howard," he discovered. When they came from England, the name was "Hayward." The Haywards then Howards were farmers until one went to school and became a doctor, and the tradition of being in the helping professions started. In various parts of our ancestry, there has been wealth, genius, prominence and culture in the family, as well as poverty and survival-based life-styles.

I am astonished over and over at the hardship with which our early ancestors had to live, just in the regular course of things. It seems to have been expected that one would bear many children, because children would die, and that spouses would also die and that you would marry again right away to take care of all those children. There was little romanticism about a bride or groom being the only one you would ever marry! Sometimes I imagine the sadness, when I see the ages that the babies and children died. Without their faith, I don't think they could have made it. In fact, that's what brought them here to begin with!!

I find myself fascinated by historical events that I never cared at all about, just because my ancestors were there! Finding out about my ancestors brightens my day! I also have piles of old letters started by my 2nd great grandmother, Elizabeth Lee Allen Smith. I transcribe them sometimes, and am not sure what to do with them!

One of the things I get stuck on is seeing inaccuracies on genealogical records and trees, like on Ancestry.com where I have my tree, and Find-a-Grave. (So please let me know if you see something you think is inaccurate on any one my (few) memorials.) I can't understand why, on Ancestry, when there are hints for an ancestor that all say the same thing, except for one (which is wrong) that the person chooses the wrong one! There are far too many mistaken records on Ancestry - and they are usually the ones for which we can't see the original. I let them know whenever I see them, but I haven't seen it make any difference so far.

I live alone (with my cat Jesse) in Northampton, and have a few solitary hobbies, such as making jewelry, and writing, studying Near Death Experiences, and picking up sticks in the yard! Talking and emailing with friends and family and participating in online forums are all fun. Daily living activities take up a lot of time, of course. And, of course, there is sleeping! I am an older person and I find that working on my ancestry is challenging for the old brain, especially due to the habit the families had of giving people the same name generation after generation. I'm sure this brain-busting figuring things out will ward off the dementia! (That's what I comfort myself with when I want to scream!)

I'm Judy Shea,or Judith Lee Howard Shea! Those are all my names and I like the two middle ones because they tell about my ancestry. "Lee" was given to me as a middle name when I was born, and I was lucky that it was a "girls'name.", as well as a family name. And our family name it is!

I love doing my family tree and finding out more about my ancestors. My father started one——on paper and without the help of a computer, in the 1950s and got a lot done! He travelled round the countryside to libraries, churches, etc. His mother and brother worked on it, too. Someone did a really great job on this big pieces of paper drawing it out and I still use it as a guide working on my tree on Ancestry.com.

I coincidentally (maybe - ARE there any accidents?) live in the town where many of my ancestors lived when they came from England - Northampton, MA. Bridge Street Cemetery hold many of them - the Allens, Parsons, Rusts, Sheldons, Strongs, Edwards, Fords, Woodfords, Woodwards. Some stones can't be found - so frustrating! I also find we have other Northampton names in old "cousins," such as Lyman and Pomeroy.

I seem to come from people who got here early and stayed put, marrying each other and later there were more choices, but still they did not go West nor marry "foreigners" (a word I see on the old Barbour records!) Only one line came from France, by way of the Danish West Indies. Now that is an exotic story. The Huguenot father Thomas Bourdoux, about to be murdered for his religion (and his property, I'm sure) put little Marie on a ship bound for who knows where (that's one story) and she came to the West Indies (now the Virgin Islands) and the family grew until finally her second husband took Maria de Malleville Suhm van Beverhoudt to New Jersey, and then the family was all in the States. Her granddaughter married William Allen, connecting us to Northampton, where some early members of the Allen family settled. Connecticut was also a starting place for many of the early families, as well as Braintree, MA, and mid-Massachusetts, e.g. Milford, and Worcester. Maine also played a part, with a Southgate family daughter marrying a Smith, bringing the name "Arixene" into the family. The name "Malleville," stayed in the family and passed down from generation to generation. My cousin and my daughter carry this name, as did my father. His last name, "Howard" was not always "Howard," he discovered. When they came from England, the name was "Hayward." The Haywards then Howards were farmers until one went to school and became a doctor, and the tradition of being in the helping professions started. In various parts of our ancestry, there has been wealth, genius, prominence and culture in the family, as well as poverty and survival-based life-styles.

I am astonished over and over at the hardship with which our early ancestors had to live, just in the regular course of things. It seems to have been expected that one would bear many children, because children would die, and that spouses would also die and that you would marry again right away to take care of all those children. There was little romanticism about a bride or groom being the only one you would ever marry! Sometimes I imagine the sadness, when I see the ages that the babies and children died. Without their faith, I don't think they could have made it. In fact, that's what brought them here to begin with!!

I find myself fascinated by historical events that I never cared at all about, just because my ancestors were there! Finding out about my ancestors brightens my day! I also have piles of old letters started by my 2nd great grandmother, Elizabeth Lee Allen Smith. I transcribe them sometimes, and am not sure what to do with them!

One of the things I get stuck on is seeing inaccuracies on genealogical records and trees, like on Ancestry.com where I have my tree, and Find-a-Grave. (So please let me know if you see something you think is inaccurate on any one my (few) memorials.) I can't understand why, on Ancestry, when there are hints for an ancestor that all say the same thing, except for one (which is wrong) that the person chooses the wrong one! There are far too many mistaken records on Ancestry - and they are usually the ones for which we can't see the original. I let them know whenever I see them, but I haven't seen it make any difference so far.

I live alone (with my cat Jesse) in Northampton, and have a few solitary hobbies, such as making jewelry, and writing, studying Near Death Experiences, and picking up sticks in the yard! Talking and emailing with friends and family and participating in online forums are all fun. Daily living activities take up a lot of time, of course. And, of course, there is sleeping! I am an older person and I find that working on my ancestry is challenging for the old brain, especially due to the habit the families had of giving people the same name generation after generation. I'm sure this brain-busting figuring things out will ward off the dementia! (That's what I comfort myself with when I want to scream!)