Joe's Genes
(Pat's too)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm Joseph Raymond Travis [just call me 'Joe'] and my wife is Patricia Irene (Manning) Travis [just call her 'Pat'].  I welcome you to my latest attempt at a Web site.

 

I confess, Web Page design is not my passion.

 

I'm willing to put up with the effort involved only to the extent that it provides me with a way to share my interest in genealogy.  In a sense, that interest is inherited.  My mother, Phyllis Marie Kissock (Phyl K. Travis), must have spent hundreds of hours researching and entering data in old genealogy ledgers.  If you've seen these ledgers, you know something about the effort involved.  My own interest was rekindled as I began to enjoy playing with computers.  I bought one of the earliest versions of FamilyTreeMaker when it was still a DOS program [for you computer 'newbies', that's before Windows].  I never entered info in genealogy ledgers again!

 

I began by inputting my own data, then mother's.  Not long after, the Internet began to evolve into the World Wide Web.  Web-based genealogy resources began to trickle in, but quickly became a flood.  The flood continues unabated.  Thousands of hours of work by dedicated people becomes available weekly, perhaps daily.  I'm like the proverbial 'kid in a candy store'.  My wife, Pat, is constantly amused at my excitement when I find new sites, new connections and new 'cousins'.

 

My data has grown and I currently make it available at RootsWeb's World Connect site (you'll find a link at the bottom of the page).  But be forewarned, I don't pretend to be a real 'genealogist'.  To be honest, I am somewhat less interested in the exact component of my 'genes' than in the 'story' that genealogy tells.  Hidden behind each name is a person with the same basic hopes, dreams and fears that we all share.  They may be separated from us in time and place but far less separated in soul and spirit.

 

Shakespeare:  As You Like It; Act 2, Scene 7

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players:"
There is a single stage upon which we must 'play' the story of our lives.  We are permitted only a limited number of 'acts' and are not told when the play must end.  That stage is History.  It can limit the size of the stage, the range of scenery we are permitted to use and the tools/props available.  The 'acts' of our play are pre-defined and include childhood, adulthood and old age.  History even defines the 'roles' we may play ; be it as Noble, Servant or Slave.  That role is defined as the 'play' begins by the mere accident of our 'place' at birth.  Some roles cannot be changed and others are changed by the capricious whims of fortune or misfortune.  Still others may be changed only at great risk, effort or sacrifice.  Finally, we are not permitted to know when our play will end - as it ends with the ending of our lives.

 

Despite the limits that the stage of History imposes; each person's 'play' is different and within each there is much to learn as we attempt to move upon our own stage.  But to understand each 'play', we must understand History.  If my own 'eyes' are keen enough and if I can understand what I 'see', perhaps I can learn something useful as I prepare to enter the 'final act' in my own play.  But then again, perhaps my bespectacled eyes are too dim and I just 'ain't that smart'.  Whatever; I still find the whole thing fascinating as hell - beats the snot out of anything on the boob-tube.

 

 

Things to consider as you view my material:

 

Errata  |  Privacy  |  Cousins

 

 

As a child, I spent quite some time in Oklahoma and attending Native Indian gatherings, 'Stomp Dances', etc.  My family even spent a short period of time actually living in the Isletta Pueblo near Albuquerque.  It became a bit embarrassing trying to explain that I belonged to no 'Tribe'.

 

My childhood embarrassment at being ‘just white’ faded and I would later trace many of my 'lines' to early Pilgrims.  A few traced to the Mayflower, but more to the flood of English immigrants that immediately followed and associated with 'Winthrop's Fleet'.  Still, it reflected such a narrow 'page' of History.  English, English, English - it just lacked 'zest' and 'color'.  Eventually I was able to find significant Dutch roots and some French Huguenot's - these provided some 'zest'.  Finally I found Minnie (Van Drexler) Van Dreksal.  She was a Mohawk maiden raised by a Dutch family.  Through her I am 1/32^nd Mohawk.  That may not be much, but I'm proud of it nonetheless.  My ancestry now has a splash of 'color'.

 

A few of my major surnames

 

Beers  |  Conine  |  Cook(e)  |  Kissock  |  Soule  |  Crispell  |  Irish  | Houghtaling

 

 

 

View my genealogy data at:

Joe's Genes at WordConnect

 

Joe & Pat's personal pages:

Other stuff