A blog of musings, experiences and morning coffee…
Here lies a genuine mystery! While researching the McCrystal name for my family genealogy, I stumbled upon a genuine mystery in Co. Cork:
I was investigating Michael as being a potential name for a 3X grandfather in Ireland. There were multiple instances of family lore saying my 2X grandfather came from Co. Cork. Could this be a clue? Continue reading “The Co. Cork McCrystal — A Murder Mystery”
When I picked up the threads of all my old research, I had no idea the journey I was embarking on. This has been an incredible 11 months. I had the basic DNA tests done from both My Heritage and Ancestry, became a Green Room member, bought a database program (Family Historian7) that I am happy with, found out that my James, in all likelihood, came from Northern Ireland, not Co. Cork as I believed for 3/4 of my life and so much more. Amazing what, after 20 years of ignoring a subject, can be revealed via the search engines and artificial intelligence if one just asks the right questions. Continue reading “The genealogical journey – McCrystal/McCristle”
A few years back we started discussing the retirement options. We decided I should take social security at 62 while Mike continued to work. After he reached 66, we began to revisit the questions again. Since most of his work is performed as a contractor (i.e., not FTE) in 6 to 60 month gigs, it is easy to put off the retirement decision each time a contract expires and a new one starts. Continue reading “Retirement leads to more questions than answers”
