There is a Mexican saying that we die three deaths: the first when our bodies die, the second when they are lowered into the earth, and the third when we no longer remain in the memory of any of the living. It Lisa’s desire to keep alive the memory of those who came before us – to fan the flame of their life stories, to tell the tales of their triumphs and their tragedies, to prevent the death of memory within our families.
Over the years she has uncovered incredible stories of courage and character buried beneath the surface of memory just generations after brave ancestors have passed. History has become deeply personal as she’s seen the roles that family members have played throughout decades and centuries, living their lives in times and places previously unknown to her.
Lisa was age eleven when she made her first trip to the Clayton Library in Houston: that prominent destination of genealogical pilgrimage for those in search of their roots. Back then she had no idea how important this rite of passage was and how much a part of her life this search for family history would become. She didn’t find much that day, but several decades later she is still on the hunt.
Lisa’s family tree has its roots in Ireland, Hungary and Croatia, and its branches have extended on this side of the Atlantic to New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and now Texas where she and her family make their home.
One of a handful of early genealogy bloggers, Lisa began blogging about the different branches of her family tree in 2007. 100 Years in America is about her Hungarian and Croatian immigrant roots in New York City, Small-leaved Shamrock features her railroading, coal-mining, Civil War era Irish Pennsylvania roots, and A Light That Shines Again focuses on the famine-Irish Massachusetts branch of her family tree. She also helped found and contribute articles to The Catholic Gene, a blog dedicated to helping others find their Catholic ancestors.
Lisa created three Genealogy QuickGuidesTM published by Legacy Family Tree: one on research using Catholic records, the other two on Hungarian and Croatian genealogy, and she produced two webinars for Legacy Family Tree: Finding Your Roots in Catholic Records and Beginning Hungarian Genealogy.
Lisa hopes to help bring others, particularly young people, to an understanding of their own place in history and inspire them to carry on the beloved traditions of the cultures in which their ancestry is rooted.
