A to Z Challenge: Delia

Hello and Welcome to D Day!

We’re four days in! How are you doing with the challenge? Are you finding it challenging to post daily? Are you participating in the Blog Hop? Popping around to see how others are doing and what they’re up to? I have to say, as much as I love the research and writing I’m getting in for this challenge, the community is such a bonus! Thank you for being here!

But I digress.

Name:

Delia E Duval

Vital Information:

Delia was born in May of 1883 and died in October of 1958 in New Hampshire.

Relation to Me:

Delia is my paternal great grandma.

Tidbits/Characteristics/Commonalities:

As Delia is another of my paternal kin who I didn’t know existed until just a few short years ago, I’m still learning about her and hope to uncover much more in my future research.

For now, I know that she was the youngest of seven children born over the course of 17 years, six girls and one boy.

Coincidentally, she herself had four children over the course of 17 years, the youngest of those four being Arthur, my paternal grandpa.

Delia remained on the periphery of my research until I had a rather interesting dream about her one night. The two of us were sitting in her kitchen chatting about how easy it is to overcomplicate things and how important it is to keep life as simple as possible…that there is so much beauty in simplicity.

She was clear as day in this dream even though I’d yet to find a photo of her.

When I woke up, I knew I had to dive into her story. I also hoped I might find a photo of her. So began the next layer of research involving many messages sent to genetic kin inquiring about her. Many replied (miracle of all miracles!) and many knew nothing.

Then, I received one final response from the wife of a distant cousin who knew that Delia’s sister was quite close with sister-in-law in her later years! Within a day I had not one, but two photos of Delia!

You can read more about it all here and here.

Remarkably, the woman in my dream looked just like Delia (dare I say it was Delia?), and Delia has/had very similar features to my oldest daughter.

Wild.

In Your Research…

Have your kin come to you in dreams? Have they shown their faces or shared unique (and/or timely) perspectives?

Though I love my data, I am also a very sensitive/spiritual person who leans towards the Woo in life as much as I lean into the science of life. I’d love to chat if you do, too 🙂

Housekeeping

My theme for the 2025 A to Z Challenge is Kin! The first names of direct lineage kin, to be more specific.

I’m spending the majority of the month focusing on the first names of many of my direct lineage kin. I’ll include their full names, any vital information I’ve found in my research, their relation to me, any fun tidbits/characteristics/experiences, and any commonalities I may have gleaned between myself and them.

In a couple of cases, where I have not identified an ancestor whose first name starts with a particular letter, I will choose a unique middle name, a direct line surname, and/or ancestral lands/places of significance.

Pop over here to read my full theme reveal: A to Z 2025 Challenge Theme Reveal: Kin

Pop over here to visit our host and see what they’re up to throughout this year’s challenge: A to Z Challenge

If you’re visiting from the A to Z Challenge please leave a comment so I can visit you, too! If your comment bio doesn’t link back to your site, please feel free to add the link to your most recent post to the comment field so I can be sure to find you.

Thanks for being here! See you again soon!

Onward,

Melissa