This website is the result of an assignment in high school to make a family tree. My father came from a family of nine children. The information required for the assignment was to much for one sheet of paper. I used a file card system to store my information. This was acceptable as long as I had the required data. I have continued to add the births, weddings, and deaths.

     Encouraged to write a story just for fun, I collected stories. It's amazing all I discovered in my search. People are accustom to my taking notes at family functions. My husband is use to my getting up in the middle of the night. I must write things down or check out some material while it's fresh.

     It's been a joyous journey searching courthouse records, libraries, and writing letters. I had the most fun when stirring the gray matter and getting people to talk about the past. My sincere thanks to those who shared. I treasure all of it.

     The most exciting discovery was the two hundred pages from Washington, D.C. Among them was my great grandfather Daniel Pernia's military and pension papers. The military and pension papers contained the name of Daniel's father. I also found the date of his wife's death. This enabled me to find information that otherwise would have been overlooked. Guidelines for genealogical research suggest little personal history is in the military records. It may sound strange, we are fortunate Daniel's health and habits were poor. Most of the information came from doctors and court records. They include: A personal interview in 1891, character references and the results of physicians' examinations. The rest I got from history books and vital statistics' records, and the dark recesses of the mind.

     I traced Pernia history back to 1763; a family named PARNIER in France. I confirmed names and dates from our family to some under Parnier. I followed clues and learned our family name changed about 1900. A big factor in doing genealogical research in Monroe County is the courthouse burned in the late 1870's or early 1880's. Rumor is the records did not burn with it, where they went is a mystery. Another draw back is the 1890 Census burned in Washington D.C.


     When you read this keep in mind the material is my interpretation of what I found. When researching family histories' one cannot be sure it is one hundred percent correct.