Meet our Members: Melanie McComb

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Hi everyone!

It's time to get to know another one of our wonderful WikiTreers. This week's member is Melanie McComb, Senior Genealogist at American Ancestors (NEHGS).

Melanie became a Wiki Genealogist in July 2018. She enjoys participating in our WikiTree Challenges and is most active in our Canada, Jewish Roots, Sourcerers and Connector projects.

When and how did you get interested in family history?

I've always been interested in family history since I was a young child. I would go through my parents' photographs and ask who was in the photos and what year it was taken. I officially started doing genealogy when I was in my first year of college at eighteen years old. I was a science major taking genetics courses. One of my projects was to construct a medical family tree and conduct interviews with living relatives. I started exploring some of the limited records on Ancestry.com at the time and was hooked. I have been researching ever since for over twenty years. 

What are some of your interests outside of genealogy?

I enjoy travelling (to new cities as well as Florida), going to new restaurants, Broadway shows, and concerts.

What is your genealogical research focus?

In addition to filling in the missing vital records, I'm exploring more of the stories of my ancestors. I'm digging into more difficult record sets to understand more about the circumstances of their life (social, historical, economical). 

Are you interested in certain surnames or locations?

My father's side of the family is from Prince Edward Island, Canada and Ireland (Counties Fermanagh, Louth, Monaghan). The primary surnames I'm researching are Dougherty, Clerkin, and Rooney. My mother's side is from Romania, Lithuania (then moved to Latvia), Poland, and Ukraine. The primary surnames I'm researching are Siegel and Gailunas. 

Do you have a favorite ancestor?

My 4th great grandfather, Owen Dougherty, is one of my favorite ancestors. I thought I would never identify my 3rd grandfather Francis Dougherty's father. Owen lived to be 101 years old when he died in Prince Edward Island, Canada. I blogged about my discovery on Owen at https://www.theshamrockgenealogist.com/2021/01/finding-origin-of-name.html. 

What is your toughest brick wall currently?

My maternal 2nd great grandmother, Joanna, who married Ignaty Gailunas. She's the mother of my maternal great grandfather, Anton Gailunas. We only know her first name based on Anton's marriage record. He couldn't recall his mother's maiden name! We last know that they were living in Riga, Latvia. 

(interview continues in comments)

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How long have you been on WikiTree?

I've been a member of WikiTree since July 2018. I heard about WikiTree at RootsTech and started talking to other members on how the web site worked. I slowly started exploring the site and added some details from my tree. I've been ramping up my usage of WikiTree since 2020. 

What do you spend the most time doing here?

I spend a lot of time doing the WikiTree Challenges. They're so much fun and they offer opportunities to research other types of genealogy. It's helped me learn a lot of new skills and connect with other WikiTree members. I first started getting involved in 2020 when genealogists were being featured as guest stars. It was a nice way to help some of my peers in this industry. I was so honored to be asked to be a guest star for this challenge as well! 

Which projects are you most involved in?

I'm most involved in the Canada Project, Jewish Roots Project, and Connector Project. I enjoy connecting notables and profiles that fall within these categories. I'm also a member of Team L'Chaim for Source-a-Thon, Connect-a-Thon, etc. 

How can others help those projects?

Volunteers can help connect more profiles and help categorize any profiles for future challenges. We also would love to have more volunteers for Team L'Chaim to help add/update profiles with Jewish ancestry. 

What inspires you to contribute so much of yourself? Do you consider your work here to be part of your legacy?

Everyone deserves to know more about their family history. WikiTree's global tree and tools enable genealogists from all levels to learn more about their family history and discover their ancestors. I do consider the work I do to be part of my legacy. Knowing that I helped someone learn about an ancestor they never knew about brings great joy to me. 

What is your favorite feature on WikiTree?

I love the CC7 feature! It allows me to see my connections amongst extended relatives, other members of WikiTree, as well as notables. I also love the Thank You feature - it's nice to see when members give someone a little love for helping make improvements to a profile, merging duplicates, etc. 

What feature would you most like to see improved?

The Search features need some improvement. Duplicates don't always come up even when I select "Include matches without dates" and "Include name variant matches". I think the advanced options should add the option to search for a child of a particular person as a way to help narrow down in case one parent is connected but no spouse. 

Do you have a story about how someone was helped through your participation on WikiTree?

I was really happy I could help my friend and fellow genealogist Amy Johnson Crow learn about her direct Johnson ancestor, Jonas Johnson (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Johnson-111252). I discovered he was a United Empire Loyalist who served with the Jersey Volunteers. Amy was shedding happy tears on the reveal as this was a line she was working on before her father passed away. 

Do you have a story about how you were helped through the work of others on WikiTree?

As mentioned earlier, I was a guest star for the WikiTree Challenge. So many great things happened during that challenge. You can read the highlights at https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1308624/highlights-from-melanie-mccombs-wikitree-challenge. I was particularly overjoyed to find out what happened to my maternal great uncle Isidor Siegel after he came to the United States. He left quite a paper trail with his scheme! 

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Do you have any tips for someone who wants to get more involved in our community?

I recommend reviewing the weekly e-newsletter that comes out. It's a very concise summary of everything happening at WikiTree. I'm always coming across new projects I've never heard of, another profile to work on, a new tip, etc. Members should also explore the WikiTree YouTube channel. Many projects share updates in the weekly summary calls or on individual videos (like the WT Challenge). 

What could we do to inspire more people to participate in our mission?

Having a presence at some of the other genealogical conferences will help increase people's knowledge about WikiTree. For example, attending the National Genealogical Society Conference, and other regional conferences in United States, Canada, etc. I also think partnering with some of the larger organizations in the industry would help.

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Answer 1

I loved reading about Melanie's story about finding her impossible Irish ancestors, Francis & Owen Dougherty. I remembered when we all helped her with her family tree during the pandemic "Genealogist" Guests challenge. Members like Melanie makes WikiTree a great place for genealogy!

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Thank you Maggie!

Answer 2

I enjoyed your interview and your blog. It gave me helpful tips on ways to break down brick walls.

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I'm glad to hear that Ralph! Thank you for reading.

Answer 3

Ahhh, My friend Melanie, the New Yorker living in the heart of Red Sox/Celtics nation. =D

Great interview and great tips! Keep up the good work and I'll see ya around the 'tree!

Now to see about getting you to wear Celtics gear....

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Thanks Chris!

Answer 4

I learned many very useful things in reading your blog about your search for your 4th great grandfather on The Shamrock Genealogist search! Alternative spelling was one - I have a Doherty  2nd great grandmother...but your methodology was especially illuminating...and those obituaries were wonderful. I will be reading other blog posts of yours.

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Thank you Jane!

Answer 5

Great interview Melanie!  I also have problems finding records and sources for my Irish ancestors.

Loved the way so many ancestors were connected to your tree by our Wiki Challenge participants, especially loved reading about Isidor Siegal.  Well done indeed.

Keep up all of the great work that you do for WT; you are appreciated!

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Thank you Brad!

Answer 6

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your whole interview, Melanie. I am particularly enthused that you are "digging into more difficult record sets to understand more about the circumstances of their life." Every person profiled was (is) a real person with her or his own story and that for me is what makes Wikitree alive! Thank you for everything that you have done and are doing to contribute to the whole family.

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thank you Clare!