Destination - Chestertown Maryland

Destination Delmarva at Washington College in Chestertown Maryland was an event I am glad I attended this past Saturday. Sponsored by Colonial Roots, Delaware Genealogical Society and Maryland Genealogical and attended by at least 100 avid researchers, it was definitely not-to-be-missed.

My cousin and I traveled together and so thoroughly enjoyed driving past important markers in our ancestors lives.We are probably lucky it was cold and rainy or we would have stopped several times and been late both going and coming. Who knew that we would pass the Queen Anne Courthouse and St.Luke's Church? Someone did, of course but not these two from Salem County NJ and St.Georges Delaware who were enthralled at our proximity to our family history.We plan to drive up to the area on a non-rainy day and inspect "the road past where Henry Carrow lives" which has been memorialized in Queen Anne records.

Equally exciting for me was spending the day in the company of Mary Beaulieu my fellow blogger and compatriot in uncovering elusive Delmarva ancestors. The entire assemblage was so like minded as we scooped up newer publications like "Dorchester County Marriages" like they were gold nuggets and excitedly met others researching the same folks.

Russ McCabe is to be thanked for requesting as his "gold watch" at his recent retirement 100 copies of "East of the Mason-Dixon Line" and giving one to each attendee. I was awestruck when he told us how our ancestors traveled up from Accomac VA via the waterways which illustrated why they settled where they did. Russ told us of narratives like " my parents and I left Accomac in 1683 " which I must now go and find. His talk was absolutely one of the most exciting I have heard.

Sally Deakyne Burke and Peggy Deakyne Mealy, wonderful researchers and authors most impressed me with their interest in a common tie between my Carrow ancestors and their Deakynes. We mutually agreed to explore that tie in detail and I personally vowed to make sure my research is as accurate as it can be.

Ed Wright's Church records are always enlightening but he has shared much of that with me on other occasions. Rebecca Kolford gave a breathtaking talk on our female ancestors and how to illuminate their lives through their vital statistics and those of their family members. I won't soon forget her Whitman forebears.

Besides the rain and chill the only downside was that we had to make choices on which presentation we would attend. My gratitude to all those at the Delaware and Maryland societies who underwrote the workshops and provided the delectable bakery items that were ever available and were always ready to chat.