Coming Soon...

PHOTOS

Soon I will be posting some of the photos of our ancestors which I have in my personal possession. Should you have any pictures you would like share, simply email me, and we will work out the details or download the photos to your computer, and email me with an attachment of the photos you would like to share. I will only be posting photos of those who have passed-away, so as not invade the privacy of the living, unless you would like to share pictures of yourself and your family. You may gain direct access to my email address by *clicking* on the antique typewriter to the right, here on the main blog page.

Do not forget, if you would like to know a bit more about me, visit my personal blog, by going to "All Things Wonderful." I would love to have a visit from you! : )

Regards and the Best to You,

A Question of Sources: Fact or Fiction?


I realize genealogists 9 times out 10 times want just the facts, however, there is more to individuals' lives than just the facts. Names, dates, and places are fine and good, but we cannot discount, based upon the extensive research of others and that which we do ourselves, the occurrences and incidents in life which make us and them living, breathing beings.

If a fiction writer, writes novels based upon their research which is fact, should that work to be discounted? It is my humble opinion it should be taken cautiously, but not totally discounted. It has been my personal experience after reading a number or fiction works based upon the lives of my ancestors, as well as reading factual data, where there is consistency in both fiction and non-fiction, therein must lie some truth. Where there is consistency there perhaps should be inclusion of that data within your family history. I realize to perform research in both the fiction and non-fiction genres is time consuming, and you will not want to note every detail of every individual, but do not discount information which is available to you.

My advice is to choose a particular family within your line which holds some appeal to you. Which family you choose is strictly your personal choice for your personal reasons. Check the basic on line sources, Rootsweb, Ancestry, Google surnames, etc. and see what other researchers have discovered, and connect with them if you feel comfortable.

If the particular family your are interested in has biographies published and fiction works published, read them, and note where the data is congruent and consistent. Make certain when reading fiction, you check the author's bibliography. Most novelists will provide a bibliography in their books for you, particularly historical fiction writers.

Go to your local library armed with your bibliography and see if their holdings contain the sources for which you are searching. If you local library does not carry a particular source, they may be able to locate it in another library within their system. If push comes to shove, you may have to purchase them, which I regularly do (my personal library is multiplying by leaps and bounds due to this).

When reading fictional works about your chosen family, enjoy the book. Approach the novel not as strictly research material, but as you would any other piece of work you would read for the sake of reading.

Be forewarned as well, you may not like everything you read, some of the material you will find on particular ancestors is not at all pleasing. You may not be happy to discover your ancestor, Lord So-and-so murdered his brother so he could gain his land. This type of discovery is not all uncommon, but it is part of your history, and you must take the good with the bad.

I believe at this point, this is all I am able to share. Should you have any questions, please email me, I would be more than happy to help you!

Marshal Fiction

There exists some wonderful fiction out there about our direct ancestors. I have read the works of several authors, and I think thus far, the best writer who is historically accurate is Elizabeth Chadwick. Ms. Chadwick's research and accuracy is far above many I have read. When I read about our ancestors, I prefer accuracy over entertainment. Unfortunately, there is not much non-fiction written on people such as these, only those who ruled Western Europe. Here are the books I have read by Ms. Chadwick, so far:

First in the stand alone novels, the early life of William Marshal.

"Based on a true story. From impoverished young knight to magnate of the realm via the tourney fields, bedchambers and political battlegrounds, The Greatest Knight is a sumptuous tale that restores William Marshal to his rightful place and reflects through him the triumphs, scandals and power struggles that haven't changed in eight hundred years."

Delves further into the lives of family of William Marshal, his wife Isabele De Clare Marshal, and of their 10 children. Our lineage is carried on through their third daughter, Sybire.

"The second of two stand alone novels about William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke and Regent of England. Following on from The Greatest Knight, The Scarlet Lion tells William Marshal's life story from 1197-1219."

I am currently reading this novel.

"The story of William Marshal's father. Based on detailed research but told as a novel. Cruel pirate, callous parent, or a man caught between a rock and a hard place and doing his best to survive. You decide."

I have this book on order, from Great Britain, as it is not available in the States, until next year. Mahelt Marshal was the eldest daughter of William and Isabele De Clare Marshal, and my 25th great grandmother (Mahelt was our 25th great aunt.)

"The story of Mahelt Marshal, daughter of the great William Marshal and wife to Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk."

Quotations and illustrations taken from Elizabeth Chadwick's website: http://www.elizabethchadwick.com/books.html

Researcher for the Madden/Claycomb families

Some Things About Rootsweb

At the top of the blog is a wreath, if you click on that icon you will be taken directly to Rootsweb, and the beginning our family line. This particular link begins with Paul Madden, but you may click on any individual you like to find information on them.

A Bit About Rootsweb Subheadings

You will notice in blue print some subheadings which in order to save you some time, I will tell you about; that way you are not going all over the place, tyring to figure out what is what.

• 
  
  "Index" = All surnames in this line in alphabetical order.
• 
  
  "Descendancy" = From that individual, you are viewing at that time, forward in time.
• 
  
  "Register" = Descendancy
• 
  
  "Pedigree" = Provides you with the a pedigree chart from that person you are viewing at that time, backward; you may click on a name, and view their vital statistics, and go as far back as information exists on that chart.

There are other subheadings but, if you would like to explore those, you may on your own (I really don't find them very relevant).

                                                        My Shorthand

Some of my shorthand, which you will notice particularly within names are FNU and LNU; they stand for "first name unknown" and "last name unknown" respectively. Should there be some other abbreviations you are not certain of, feel free to post a question on the blog or email me. You will see many UNKs, these are typically wives or females within a family where it simply is not definitively known who the family member was; I would rather leave a UNK than to place some speculative name in place.

In addition, I have avoided including names of living individuals except for my family. If you would like for me to include your family, again, just email with the information of each individual: full name, dob, pob, and parents' full names as well as their dob, and pob.

Finally, when viewing royalty, please remember the tendency was for cousins to marry one another, and these spouses were chosen so there will over-lapping familial lines...no it's not a mistake. Most of my facts came from other researchers, and there were many mistakes which I have pain-staking attempted to correct (if I had a penny for every mistake I found, I would be a wealthy woman)!

I think that is all I will discuss today.

Peace to you,

Introduction

Welcome, please know I appreciate you being here and taking the time to peer into your family's lineage. I want to take the opportunity to give my reason for this blog and to tell you, I hope you find it informative, enlightening and even at times, surprising.

Madden...Past, Present Tense sole purpose is to provide you with genealogical information concerning the ancestors of Paul Robert Madden and his wife, Phyllis L. Claycomb Madden. I will be including copies of documents, letters, wills, land deeds, photos, artists' renderings, factual historical data, and perhaps even some fiction concerning our progenitors. In addition, I will have some suggested reading, should you be interested.

The family of Paul Madden has remained elusive to me; I have hired researchers in three states and they each have turned-up little or next to nothing. My research on this line is, I am sorry to say, an continuous project. I do have facts, and you will discover them here; however, what I provide is what I have at the time I provide it to you. And unfortunately the Madden line is my proverbial "brick wall." I have found the Maddens, no matter which line they are related to, simply do not like sharing genealogical information...well, I am changing that!

The family of Phyllis Claycomb, is another matter. I have uncovered a treasure trove of information which dates back to approximately 700 AD, and this is only one line. I will indicate to you where a individual is a direct lineal ancestor to you, by a symbol the symbol:  *  I found this symbol readily accessible to use as I was downloading information from various websites into my GED COM file.

You will not find our GED COM file on this particular blog, but rather you will find the detailed information at the site where you are at the present time. When I began setting this up, unbeknown st to me, Rootsweb did not act as host to websites, but merely makes a place for the site to be listed. So, the Madden GED COM family file only is located at Rootsweb and may be accessed by clicking on the laurel wreath icon at the top of the page.

Please know, I have studying one line or another of my family history for 15 years, and it can be a slow and tedious process. I am not a novice, but I am extremely impatient! I have loved every moment of doing this research, and rest assured there is will always be more information added as it is uncovered.

Should you have any questions or if you have any ideas, leads, or recollections, please do not hesitate to email me (my email button is on the right sidebar).

With warm regards,