“Hooked” on Genealogy

Masonic Village at Lafayette Hill resident Denise Francis has always been interested in history. As a young girl, she loved taking history classes and reading biographies in her spare time.

She spent nearly 17 years as a reference librarian for the Lower Merion Township System/Bala Cynwyd Library in Pennsylvania before retiring in 2000. Like her husband, Jerry, she was also a tour guide for many years at the Historic Houses of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia.

“I have always been very interested in knowing about other people and how they lived in other times,” she said. “I love American history, medieval history and military history. It’s addictive. You get hooked.”

Denise has been working for more than 15 years on a genealogy project involving her and Jerry’s family histories. Jerry is a dual member of PalestineRoxborough Lodge No. 135, Lafayette Hill, and St. Alban Lodge No. 529, Philadelphia.

Denise became interested in genealogy after visiting Belgium, where her grandparents came from, with her sister many years ago.

“My sister got me started on this journey,” she said. “She had cleared out my grandparents’ home and came across numerous photos. We realized we didn’t know much about our family because our grandparents never talked about it.

“We went to the villages where they came from and started seeing where they lived, and when I returned home, I started going to the library and doing research,” she said. “I found information dating back to 1795. On and off, it took about 15 years to complete all the research.”

Denise used a program called Family Tree Maker, where you can print out a family tree using online templates. You can plug in information, from census records to death certificates. Denise keeps paper copies of all her documentation in six large boxes in her apartment and more in storage. She purchased a magnifying glass so she could read the fine print from all the records.

“Ancestry.com is all work done on the computer, but with Family Tree Maker, you can print things out,” she said. “I’m old fashioned and like to work from paper and print things out on my printer.”

Denise proudly displays a giant black photo album containing her complete family history –well, as complete as it can get.

“You’re never really finished when it comes to genealogy,” she said. “There’s always more to learn.

“It’s a never-ending process, and it takes so much work. I love doing puzzles. The historical research is right up my alley, as a former librarian and history major. It’s the digging and putting the pieces together. Why is this? Why isn’t it this?”

Part of the joy of genealogy is the amazing gems of information you discover along the way, Denise said. She recently learned that one of her relatives, an early aviator, died performing in an air show in Spain. He was the first Belgian to attempt a Loop De Loop, and his rudder broke.

“This was my grandfather’s brother, and he had pilot license No. 41 obtained in 1911,” she said.

After completing her family history, Denise began working on Jerry’s. This has proven to be more difficult than doing her own family history, even though his family hails from western Pennsylvania and hers is from another country.

“The records are harder to find,” she said. “The state of Pennsylvania did not require you to register a birth, marriage or death certificate until 1906.”

Denise was able to dig up information about Jerry’s great-great-great-great grandfather, Robert Francis. She visited his grave site in Mt. Pleasant, PA, and his tombstone confirmed his date of birth/death (1797 - 1881).

“He lived a long life,” she said. “Using his death date, I was able to find his will online from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission website. That contained even more information.”

Denise said it’s important that people learn about history. She still attends Main Line Genealogy Club meetings once a month to keep her skills intact.

“Once the information is gone, it’s gone,” she said. “Talk to your family members while they’re still alive. Ask them what it was like growing up. Older people love to talk about when they were young. You just need to ask them about it.”