[Genealogy] Mom Knew, Animal Stories, No Descendants

[Michael John Neill]

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20 February 2026

** Mom Knew and Journey Naps
** Working With pre-1850 Census Records
** Sibling with No Descendants
** FamilySearch Catalog Webinar
** Unsubscribing


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Mom Knew and Journey Naps
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Genealogy isn’t just about people. There can be stories in animals and
inanimate objects.
[image: image.png]

There’s a story about this cat that’s more about my Mother and me than it
is the cat. Years ago when Journey was a kitten he “appeared” on my
parents’ farm along a state highway in Illinois. It’s never been clear
whether he simply made his way there or was helped by a human who left him
there. My mother took a liking to him and mentioned to him to me. He was,
in her words, “the friendliest little thing” and had hung around my
parents’ home and farm outbuildings for several days. Mom had mentioned him
to me, and since she was undergoing chemotherapy at the time and already
had one farm cat to tend to, didn’t feel up to another one. But, he was the
“friendliest little thing.”

My daughter’s boyfriend’s mother worked at our local animal shelter at the
time and I told Mom that when my daughter and I came down that weekend to
visit, we’d take him back with us. So we had a plan.

Before we left for home, we put the little kitten in the back seat of the
car in a box with a blanket. He took the trip fairly well, but mewed a fair
amount as we went home. My daughter entertained the little kitten when
necessary on the way home. By the time we got home, I told my daughter that
she could keep the cat.

And of course, he already had a name by the time we got home: Journey.
After all, he’d had a long journey back to our house. I called Mom when we
got home to tell her we’d arrived safe and sound. She asked about the
kitten and I told her that he traveled fairly well. Then I told her that he
wasn’t going to the shelter, that we’d decided to keep him. Mom’s response:

I knew the minute that cat got in the car he wasn’t going to the shelter.

And he didn’t. He went to the local vet the next week, got his shots, had
that procedure, and got acclimated to his new surroundings.

Mom didn’t have any living siblings and she was particularly close to her
Aunt Ruth who was ten years older than she was and in some ways was like an
older sister. There are several pictures of Mom and Aunt Ruth playing with
the cats and dogs on my great-grandparents’ farm. Mom passed away in 2015
and her Aunt Ruth passed away in 2019.

The afghan Journey is napping on is one from my Aunt Ruth’s home that now,
along with Journey, is with my daughter in Virginia. So there’s something
of a connection between the cat and the afghan other than geographic
proximity.
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If you’re looking for something “genealogical” to write about, remember
that not everything has to be about a document, someone who's been dead for
a hundred years, etc. Sometimes your own memories are the best. After all,
if you don’t share and preserve them, who will?
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Working with Pre-1850 US Census Records
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If pre-1850 US census records have you scratching your head or if you've
wondered if you've looked at them correctly, our webinar is for you.

Details on our announcement page.
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/creating-families-from-pre-1850-census-records/>
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Sibling with No Descendants
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It’s easy to focus on the direct line ancestors in our research. Their
names appear in our direct ancestral tree and, if we didn’t inherit any
property or wealth from them, we sometimes hope to have inherited some
spunk or personality trait from them.

That’s all fine and good, but don’t forget those ancestral siblings. I’m
not talking about the ones who have living descendants with whom we hope to
share some bit of autosomal DNA so that we can make a genealogical
connection. I’m talking about the ancestral siblings who left no
descendants of their own. The ones who grew to adulthood and, for one
reason or another, have no living descendants of their own. Then there are
the ancestral siblings who died as children.

They have stories to be told as well. Some of the stories are unfortunately
short and some, because of the records that did not get left behind, will
be lacking in abundant detail. But their lives likely impacted your
direct-line ancestors. The deaths of children or baby brothers or sisters
impacted the family members who were left behind. The “maiden aunts” who
raised the children of their deceased sister and her husband left an impact
on the family even though they had no children of their own. The great-aunt
who had a photo album which included numerous pictures of each of her
brothers’ children and their communication with her has a story that
deserves to be told.

So when the genealogical information on the direct-line ancestors runs a
little dry, move over to the siblings of those ancestors–the ones who
didn’t leave descendants of their own.

They have a story to tell as well.
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