I’m having some Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (#SNGF), with help from Randy Seaver and his prompts! Feel free to join in.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: March 28, 2026

Prompt: “Write a story using the phrase “ancestor I really admire” in 200 words.”

Discussion

There are many ancestors I admire, but one stands out: Theresa Kilkenny Anderson (abt 1851–1911).

Theresa’s life reads like a series of losses. Born in Ireland during The Great Hunger, she disappears from her early family and reappears as a young newlywed in New York City. She and her husband, Michael, lost their first child, and though more children followed, hardship did not leave her. She was widowed while pregnant – and then lost that child as well.

And yet, she kept going.

Years later, I find her in the census, working as a laundress, supporting the three children still at home. What I love most is that she was living in the same house as her married daughter. Despite everything, she kept her family close. She was part of her grandchildren’s lives – children old enough to remember her.

When she died, two of her sons paid for her burial.

Theresa could have folded under the weight of her losses. Instead, she built a life defined not by what she lost, but by the family she held together.

She is an ancestor I really admire.

For more information, I wrote more about here in this blog post.

AI Disclosure

This post was created by me with the help of AI tools. While AI helps organize research, the storytelling and discoveries are my own.