Ancestry and answers

[dolson]

I've joined Ancestry to find my paternal grandfather's birth parents. It takes a lot of time and big bucks, but Legacy Tree got my grandfather's birth parents, WRONG! I spent $2,350 for 20 hours of work for nothing. Legacy Tree informed me they were associated with Ancestry. Boy what a Crock of BULL!!!!!

I have found out where I get my Type 1 diabetes and Microscopic Colitis. It's from my paternal grandmother's side - CASSIDY! They came from Ireland. My great grandmother who I got to meet was a Condon from Ireland. She lived to be in her 90s. The Condons were a healthy bunch. Not so for the Cassidy clan. My great grandfather had a drinking problem, but if he was a Type 1 diabetic and sick, there was nothing the medical community could do to help him. I'd drink myself to death too.

I talked with one Cassidy and they informed me we have lots of autoimmune diseases. That makes sense because I became a Type 1 diabetic and then came the Microscopic Colitis. I remember as a RN, we had meetings on Type 1 diabetes. My nurse manager informed us that Type 1 diabetes usually effects Northern Europeans. Makes sense. I looked at my great grandfather. He died at age 34. I looked at my gg grandfather and he died at age 25. I see a pattern here. When you got Type 1 diabetes, it was a death sentence. Insulin was not discovered until the 1930s. My father had a terrible case of doctor shopping and not getting an answer that he was a Type 1 diabetic. He got an answer by a doctor he worked with at the Public Health Service on Oatland Island, Savannah, GA.He worked with mosquitoes and Malaria. Plus other nasty diseases! He was sick in the Navy in WWII and the Korean War. He built our home with no help. He restored a 1937 Rolls Royce and 1917 air-cooled Franklin auto. Plus he restored antique grandfather clocks, old pianos, lapidary work, had a lathe and had a kiln for ceramics. He loved photography, used his own chemicals and processed his own film. But the damage was probably done and he died at age 50 from diabetic complications. The Microscopic Colitis left him with NO ENERGY! He was exhausted. No more entertaining. He was thin, emaciated, pale and no hair. He was 45 but looked 95.

Y'all, live today like there is no tomorrow. Now we have a nasty virus and who knows how long we'll be holed up in our home.

Keep safe, keep healthy and be prepared. Thanks, Dorothy Olson Rockwell Williams

This is my story and it's sad. Like I've said before, we are our parents.

[tex]

Hi Dorthy,

Thanks for sharing your research. I have to agree with you that we are our parents, and our grandparents, and our great-grandparents, and . . .

As you pointed out, researching our ancestry often uncovers painful and sad situations caused by health problems that could be treated today, but were tragic mysteries back then. Despite our many problems today, our lives are so much easier than our grandparents ever dreamed.

I hope the coronavirus (and future evolving forms) doesn't cause as much damage as it seems poised to do, but whatever happens, we're likely going to be in for some tough times ahead.

Tex

[jessica329]

Interesting. My great-grandparents were both from County Mayo. I've been told that my great-grandfather was a drunk. My great-grandmother died when I was 11 at just shy of her 96th birthday.

My great aunt is still alive and also has microscopic colitis. I'm not sure if any of the other siblings had MC (there were 11!), but I do know that retinitis pigmentosa runs on that side and several went blind from the condition. Anyways, interesting to hear family history from a fellow Irish.