On this St. Patrick's Day I just found out that my 3x Great Grandfather lived 11.7 miles away from

[ShazzieB]

50. Thanks for the tips!

I know the family was Roman Catholic, and I know my grandparents' birthdates and birthplaces by way of what a cousin posted on Ancestry. I found my grandmother's death certificate on Ancestry, also, but I've never even looked for my grandfather's. It shouldn't be that hard to track down, though, since I know they settled in Scranton, PA after they got here, and lived the rest of their lives there.

There aren't many people left to ask about things, unfortunately. All my aunts and uncles have been gone for quite a while, and many of my first cousins as well, as most of them were older than me. I don't know the later generations at all. For reasons I was never made aware of, my dad didn't maintain much contact with his family while I was growing up, and we were living in a different part of the country, so it wasn't like we could visit back and forth easily. My father had 8 or 9 siblings, but I only ever met 3 of them, and I never met my grandparents at all. (Grandmother died when my dad was a teenager, about 25 years before I was born, and I'm not sure when my grandfather died.)

There are definitely things I could do to find out more, though. Thanks for giving me some ideas.