Hi! I’m Melis & I’m so glad you’re here!

As so many of us do, I wear many hats: Mama (to a 29 year old and a 10 year old), Wife (to the most amazing Wife), Farmer (caretaking 10 acres in Northern NM), Writer, Photographer, and Family Historian.

My dive into learning about my lineage started when I was just a small child, asking my maternal grandma, Eve, endless questions about our family that apparently inspired her to entrust me with the wealth of information she had accumulated and documented throughout her life. When she passed in 1997, much of what she held was passed down to me and I did my best to honor her and all those who’ve come before by continuing her research the “old fashioned” way.

Truth be told, though, being young, busy, and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of paper I was gifted (as well as wildly cumbersome and time consuming research processes of old-school genealogy), much of what I was given simply sat in storage waiting patiently for me to get my act together.

When my mom passed in 2006, I was given a bit more of our family history, mostly in the form of old (largely unlabeled) photos and seemingly random notebooks filled with scribblings and old appointments.

Over the years, I would occasionally pull it all out to sort through it and try to make some sense of things, but there just seemed to be so many missing pieces of the puzzle.

Until, that is, I decided to take a DNA test in 2019 ... a test that would forever change my life. It would be an understatement to say that it blew my life and my family tree wide open. Pursuing genetic genealogy was like moving a pebble and uncovering a brand new Universe.

Since then, all three of my mom’s siblings passed away and my maternal cousins have gifted me more writing, photos, and art to carry forward. Precious heirlooms I’ll be forever grateful for.

Which brings us to present day, where I’m working to make sense of the past and leave it in (hopefully) better shape than it was given to me. In the process, I also hope to offer you some of my hard won tips and tricks that might inspire you on your own genealogy journey.

Thanks for coming along for the ride, it’s a wild one!

Inspired by Hannah

Hannah Ann, born in 1860, was my 2x great Grandma and is the inspiration for this space. A do-no-harm, take-no-shit kind of woman, Hannah was called “bold and queer” by her mother for acting outside the norm of her family and faith. Bold was not a compliment at the time, and queer had not yet become a slur, but neither were meant to inspire her actions. Despite this, Hannah quietly embodied these labels throughout her life with grace and resilience by going against the grain, surviving unimaginable loss and heartbreak, and never ceasing to fight for what she knew to be good and true.

Hannah’s steadfastness and bravery inspires me daily and is the foundation for how I aspire to walk through this wild world of ours.

Ever Onward

I often wonder what Hannah might think of the winding paths of her descendants navigating an ever-changing world, but something tells me she‘d not only be proud of what her life provided and inspired, she’d push up her sleeves and jump in to help any of us in any way she could with her full heart.

The path she (and countless others) laid has allowed us all to live our boldest, queerest, most creative lives and I couldn’t be more grateful. As a farmer, mama, and wife , I am continually awe-struck by the opportunities around me and all that this time in history has to offer. Full of curiosity and fueled by copious amounts of hot tea and fresh cookies this journey is, truly, pretty amazing.

So, whether you identify as bold (as in confident and courageous) or queer (as in odd and peculiar) or queer (as in LGBTQ+ queer), I hope you’ll find some creative and genealogical inspiration in this space that you can carry forward with you, either in your own heart or on your body.

Thank you for being here. Please know, my inbox is always open. If you ever have a question to ask or a tip to offer, I’d absolutely love to hear from you.

Onward,

Melis