05/03/2022
In 2010, I started my genealogy journey by used my grandmother's obituary to get a base outline of her siblings, her children, my grandfather's siblings and her mother. After having my mom and her siblings review my work, I soon learned there were several errors.
One of the quickest methods to add people to your tree is linking with other family trees on genealogy research sites. But since Obituaries automatically add family members, many spouses were being confused as siblings or two names were counting as one individual.
In 2012 my mom Cubby, my sister Shannon and I took a trip to Palau. Aside from the main purpose for this trip I set a side goal to clarify my grandmother's side of the family. It was then, Pauline offered to assist me. She gave me a more details outline of my grandmother's side of the family before I left. However, there were some names we were unsure of, since many were family names or not complete.
Despite not being familiar with Palauan names, her outline helps better identify who was who on the obituary. Then a new problem arose, now I had some people listed twice one using their Palauan name and a second time as a sibling using their English name.
Anyone who has tried to research Palauan genealogy, or who lives there would know that tracking information beyond 1960 is nearly impossible without someone to confirm details.
My mom and her siblings have help complete the branch for their parents, however I do not have all the grandchildren and great grandchildren. Considering my grandparents had sixteen children this like all other branches will continues to grow as time goes on.
After nearly 12 years of searching and a repost of an old photo Shirley helped me fill in another branch of my Great Grandmother Ochob and Great Grandfather Ngirchelui's line by providing the missing information for her parents and siblings.
Many people have helped bridge the genealogy gap for me between Guam and Palau. For that I am truly grateful.
The information below goes from 2009 back four generations to 1860s when our Great Great Grandparents Serui Ilelai & Idurumong Obrik Kmeed were born.
Please note, this branch is shared with permission from Shirley. Kindly ask her directly before copying or sharing this information. To protect their privacy the birthdates of living persons listed below has not been shared.
Thank you to everyone who has had the patience to help me through this journey of discovering our family history.
