Work on Family Tree

Over 20 years ago, I bought a software package called Family Tree Maker. I spent hundreds of hours looking up family tree information on CDs I had bought from the company. I had a collection of over 30 CDs and that was thousands of other trees from families that also used the FTM. Then in 2010, I decided to upgrade to Family Tree Maker 2011. It was a completely new design of the software and it would import the tree I had created from the old software app. The problem was, the CDs were no longer usable. The software had been bought by Ancestry.com. Now you had to spend money to search the website instead of buying CDs. I said when I got the time, I would buy a monthly (or yearly)  subscription and continue the family tree. Well, seven years later, I have since retired, and I still have not bought that subscription. My focus the last three years has been scanning in old photos. That project is nearing completion (I tell myself this but I keep finding more photos) and I have begun scanning old family pictures. I want to link these photos to the family tree. Great idea but I don't pay myself enough for that time-consuming job. What do I do?

My thought was to get some of this family information into my BLOG. Also, as I investigate each photo, I can ask people if they know information. I wish I had done this 40 years ago but the technology did not exist back then. My dad would have been a great fan of the Family Tree Maker program. Both of my parents would have been great resources for information. Now, it truly is a puzzle to be solved.

I scanned in a Provoncha family portrait. My great grandparents were John Provoncha and his wife Mary Marcil. I have seen the spelling of her name as Marcil, Marcille, and Marseilles. The problem with French surnames is that they get Anglicized. Even my last name, Provoncha, is a version of our true French name of Provencher. John was the son of Paul Provoncha (Provencher) and Olive Bailey. He was born January 28, 1860, in upstate New York. Mary was born in Canada in 1860 and married John in 1884. They had eight kids together. The following picture has Mary and John sitting in chairs and all eight kids with their spouses...

The following scan is a card of the names of the people in the photo. My grandparents were Albia and Lois Provoncha. Unsure of when the picture was taken, I guessed the summer of 1932. John passed in 1933 and is buried in Bristol. I have a picture of his gravestone which I also want to get linked up with the photos.

John had moved to Monkton Vermont where he owned a farm. I do not know when they moved to Vermont but I know that all the kids were alive. I have New York birthplaces for all the children. The next photo is an earlier one of Mary and John sitting near the stove. I guessed 1901 but Amanda, the youngest was born in 1901 in New York. So either they are sitting in New York in 1901 or later in Vermont

John was the sixth child of twelve kids. He had six sisters and five brothers. The next picture is of Mary and John standing with his sister Emma and her husband Frank Wilbur. Again I am guessing 1901 and New York as the location.

The next photo is of my great-grandmother Mary standing on a porch in either Vermont or New York in the early 1900s. I did notice that she has the same belt as the previous photo. The sleeves are different though.

Frederick Ellis Provoncha married Minnie Jane Johnson on December 23, 1891, in Newcomb, New York. Fred was the seventh child of Paul and two years younger than John. Fred E. is the great-grandfather of Fred V., also known as "Uncle Fred". He lives in Ticonderoga New York and is my third cousin and a friend on FaceBook.

Charles Provoncha was the youngest of the family and he married Jenny Palmer. I think this is a picture of her with one of their children. I do not have any tree information on Charles. The back of the photo had written "Aunt Jenny". If this photo belonged to my grandfather Albia, she would have been his Aunt.

I also had this photo that was marked as Charles and Jenny Provoncha. I think it could be the same woman as the previous photo with a full life in between. I have not identified the man on the right and the child in the background. I am not sure where they lived but I am guessing this is the mid-1930s.

The last picture was misplaced in this bag. The back of the photo is labeled:

"Mort and Ruth Wilcox - Western Union - 1959"

 I have no idea who they are and they are not in the family tree. Anyone know who there are?

That is all for now.

I think getting back into the family tree could be fun, but I do want to finish scanning photos and identifying the people, place and time the picture was taken. Until next time!