About

At the beginning of 2022, after a 30-year hiatus, I returned to searching out my ancestors.

Things have changed a lot during those three decades. For one, I am a different, more evolved person having engaged in my own healing journey. This has allowed me to look at the ancestral story with more compassion and empathy, and less judgement. Another change, of course, has been the advent of technology which has made the old records so much more accessible. What a blessing this has been. And last, but certainly not least, I have a cousin who has stepped into the ancestral foray. This means there’s someone with whom to bounce around ideas and share findings. Certainly not as lonely an endeavour as it was all those years ago.

My focus is maternal lineage for which there is much available information. Many of those lines take us back through 1600s New England to Plantagenet and related families.

My father’s ancestors originate in an area outside of Budapest, Hungary, where they were peasant farmers for generations. Not much to see here.

For my part I am a creative soul whose working life in public relations gave me the skills to research, write, and edit. This comes in useful while shedding light on the family tree. My equine experiential learning background underscores my ability to look at the story behind the story by considering the times and travails through which my ancestors lived and the emotional impacts of what they experienced and lived through.

For instance, what of the ancestors who survived the Great Fire of Michigan in 1881, or the United Empire Loyalist ancestors who found refuge in the untamed wilderness of Upper Canada? Their experiences coloured the filters through which their children and grandchildren etc. viewed the world. The more this can be brought to light the more likely we are to be able heal generational trauma. And that is part of my mission.

I’m not just interested in the data, I want to know the rest of it to the degree that it’s possible. So much is lost to time and misplaced records, but I will do my best to share the stories of my ancestors by writing the truth from my heart and with compassion.

Their story is my story. And the truth is, I am not here without them.

Dorothy E. Chiotti
Family Historian .Writer . Fine Art Photographer

~*~

©Dorothy E. Chiotti … All Rights Reserved 2023… Aimwell CreativeWorks

25 thoughts on “About”

      1. I think I’m transferred over to the new site properly. I un-followed the one and followed the new one. Good luck in your new life.

  3. Something you said in response to another writers content drove me to you. I am very happy it did as you have a beautiful way about you that is extremely pleasurable to the mind. It was a comment you made to Mike Crape about why we do this and would love to share my response with you…
    “What you and dorothychiotti just said sent a ping off in the deepest parts of my mind. I have been lucky enough to gain many readers and Facebook likes but cannot seem to “get found” by any other bloggers. At a time or two I found myself sullen over that fact but then the truth of it is… it’s no more then my journal. It started as such and that’s what it truly is. What we write and do is uniquely us and a view into our world… most of all for ourselves.”
    dorothychiotti, I look forward to reading more of your work.
    TimurZ

    Reply

    1. Thank you for your heartfelt response to my words about why we write. … It is very tempting to get caught up in the need to be heard by others when, in fact, I believe the real point to writing is that we actually get to hear ourselves. It seems to me that often people are as ignorant of their writing as they are of their speech, and don’t actually grasp the impact their voice has on the people whose lives they touch. … I’m careful about whose works I read because their voice will live in me, at some level, forever. Likewise, I am mindful about my own writing because I know my words will live in my readers at some level for a long time. I want to ensure my voice edifies and enhances the lives of those who chance to stop to read them. If my writing has reached you in some positive and uplifting way, I am honoured. … Write from your heart and you’ll never go wrong. Even if the only person you reach is you, it is enough. Be well and thanks for stopping by. Dorothy 🙂

      Reply

  4. You are a thing of beauty, Dorothy. Inside and out. Congrats on your wedding –

    We share the love of horses too. That can be our bond (smiling).

    God bless and keep you and yours always.

    Reply

      1. Allow me to extend my most well intended and belated Birthday Wish, Dorothy. I surmise you’re still a blushing 24 ? (smiling).

        God bless you and yours.

  7. Congratulations on your wedding, a bit late 🙂 Looking forward to reading more of your blog or blogs I should say. I´ll have to thank Kellie, since I found this blog through the FWF prompt.

    Reply
  10. Pingback: Blogging 101: The Commons,Day Three: Say Hello to the Neighbors | mukhamani

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.