Budget Genealogy offers professional genealogical services at an affordable cost
03/14/2026
I'm ready!!! Today is a full day! Giving a Zoom Presentation on Preserving Family History and then after, volunteering for my first Parade, St Patrick's Day Parade in St Charles 😀...
Excited for the Irish Blessings God has for me.
03/13/2026
03/10/2026
🌟 Upcoming Presentation Alert! 🌟
Join me, Marcy Annette Baez from Budget Genealogy, LLC, for a Zoom presentation on “Preserving Your Family History.” 🧬✨
📅 Date: Saturday, March 14
⏰ Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Eastern
📍 Hosted by: Grand Stand Genealogy Club, South Carolina
💻 I will be presenting live via Zoom.
Discover how to preserve your family history across time—from early traditions like oral storytelling, handwritten journals, and family Bibles… to structured preservation through physical storage and archival albums… to modern digital tools that safeguard your stories for generations to come.
Whether you’re just beginning your genealogy journey or looking to better protect precious family memories, this session offers practical guidance for everyone.
To register, click below 👇
Preserve the past. Connect generations. Ensure your family stories endure—both in history and in the digital age.
See you online! ✨
March 14 - Marcy Lopez from Budget Genealogy – “Preserving Your Family History”
03/08/2026
🔎 Would you open it? There might be a hidden clue inside this frame. 🔍
🌧 On a rainy day thrift run, this beautifully framed old family photograph immediately caught my eye sitting on a table.
⁉️ As a genealogist, finds like this stop me in my tracks. Who were these people? How did this photo end up here?
📏 What makes it even more intriguing… the back of the frame is taped shut.
🕵♀️ Which makes me wonder — could there be names, a date, or some clue about this family hidden inside?
👣 Now I’m faced with a decision. Do I carefully open it and investigate… possibly track down living relatives and return it?
Or do I leave it exactly as it is?
What would you do?
Goodwill Industries International
03/05/2026
🌟 Some journeys take decades. Some answers take courage. 🌟
It was an honor to walk alongside this client as she found connection, clarity, and family. 🤍
If you’re searching for answers about your biological family, adoption story, or DNA matches — you don’t have to navigate it alone. ✨
📩 Reach out to begin your journey today!
Contact Marcy at Budget Genealogy, LLC:
💻 Link in Bio
03/04/2026
🍀✨ A Few Weeks Ago… Here’s the Reveal ✨🍀
A few weeks ago, I shared that I had made a reservation at a local Irish pub — excited to experience a space that celebrates my heritage.
That evening was spent at McNally's Irish Pub — and it was absolutely worth the wait.
From the moment I walked in, the atmosphere felt warm, welcoming, and authentically Irish. There’s something special about sitting in a space that honors tradition, culture, and community — especially when those roots are personal. As a genealogist, I’m always reflecting on how heritage isn’t just found in records and archives… it’s lived, tasted, and experienced.
The dish I was most excited to try? The Veggie. It did not disappoint. Every bite was layered, flavorful, and thoughtfully prepared. It turned what could have been a simple night out into a truly memorable experience. Honestly — the best sandwich I’ve had to date. I didn’t want it to end.
Some evenings turn into something remarkably memorable — not just because of the food, but because of what it represents. Culture. Identity. Story.
My full blog review is now live on my personal blog, A Life’s Journey, where I share more about the ambiance, the experience, and why this charming spot made it to my top list.
If you love discovering local gems or celebrating heritage through food and culture, I think you’ll enjoy this one.
02/28/2026
🧱 Breaking a Long-Standing Brick Wall: The Search for MJ 🧱
📜 For months, MJ—Maria Jane ‘Mary’ Shirley’s—birth and baptism record remained elusive, a true genealogy brick wall. Conflicting evidence, missing records, and decades-old oral history made the case challenging, but through careful research, persistence, and strategic investigation, we finally uncovered the truth. 🔍
🧐 Maria Jane’s journey began in mystery. Some records suggested she was born in Westport, County Mayo, others in County Wexford. She appeared as Maria Jane in some documents, Mary Jane in others. Her 1866 marriage in Clonmel referenced only a vague “Protestant Church,” leaving the door open for Catholic or Presbyterian records. And oral family history placed her birth in 1841—though no record matched that date. ⛪
🧬 The first directional clue came from DNA. Autosomal DNA matches connected the family to County Kilkenny and to Australian descendants of Maria Jane’s brother, John Shirley. This provided a broad geographic focus, but the breakthrough came only after exhaustive paper trail research. 🌏
🌟 By carefully analyzing marriage records, sibling records, and available indexes, we discovered a baptism index for Agnes Shirley through Roots Ireland—a significant find. This placed the family in Inistioge, County Kilkenny, and revealed their mother’s name for the first time, Mary Ann or Mariane. With this critical lead, we submitted a request to the Church of Ireland (RCB Library) Archives to locate Agnes’s baptism record, with the hope that Maria Jane might appear alongside her if they were twins. 🌟
❓The first request was partially successful. Agnes’s baptism record was located, confirming the correct parish and the family’s Protestant denomination—but MJ was missing. Was she recorded elsewhere? Had the oral history misdated her birth? 🕵️
Persistence paid off. 😉
💫 A second, more expansive request was submitted, exploring unexamined entries and different years within the same parish registers. And there it was: Maria Jane Shirley’s baptism record, finally discovered. The record named her parents, John Shirley and Marianne Dow, and confirmed the family’s origin in Inistioge before their eventual move to Clonmel. 🇮🇪
🍀 This discovery was not the result of luck—it was the product of methodical research, careful reassessment, and persistence. Every lead—DNA, sibling records, indexes, and parish clues—built toward this long-awaited breakthrough.
👉 If your family history feels like a dead end, strategic, patient, and creative research can transform what seems hopeless into a breakthrough. This success isn’t just about one record—it’s a reminder that every lead, every clue, and every piece of evidence matters. 👣
🤷 If your family history has left you feeling stuck, I’d love to help uncover the stories hidden in your past.
To learn more, visit the website — link in bio — or send a message to get started.
Sources:
Roots Ireland
Church of Ireland
Image Credit: Underway in Ireland https://flic.kr/p/wFBy
"Inistioge windows; Well-maintained church in County Kilkenny, Ireland."
02/21/2026
Date Night 🌙 with Marcy 💕
I’ve officially made my first reservation for what I’m hoping will be an exceptional dining experience at one of the local Irish pubs (I’ll share the name soon!). I’m especially excited to try one particular dish and will be writing ✍️ a review to share my thoughts.
There’s something meaningful about finally stepping into a space that celebrates my Irish roots — an authentic cultural experience so close to home. I’ve been wanting to visit for quite some time, and tonight feels like the perfect opportunity to both explore and honor that part of my heritage.
I can’t wait to share more about the experience with you soon! 🍀✨
02/16/2026
I'm looking forward to an incredible experience as I join the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Saturday, March 14, for the first time, and I'm excited to connect with my Irish heritage in a new way. ☘️ 🇮🇪 🌳
Thank you for Volunteering! Looking forward to seeing you there! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email: info@stcalliance.org
02/05/2026
Our office is closed today, February 5th, as we honor and remember my son on his death anniversary.
Joshua Baez
December 14, 1998 – February 5, 2022
02/05/2026
Our office is closed today, February 5th, as we honor and remember my son on his death anniversary.
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My grandmother Lydia passed away in 2005 in her Bronx apt. While my family and I were sorting through her belongings, I realized how much I didn’t know about her life and family. I remember sitting beside her going through old family albums. She shared stories in her native tongue, Spanish, as we looked at each picture. So sadly, because I am not fluent in the language I felt what she had shared with me was utterly lost.
Or was it?
Looking back I think of her imparting a special blessing to me, one that she knew I would one day delve into, welcome and walk in a path dedicated to preserving our family history. Her Bible ...was the starting point. Of all my grandmother’s belongings that I could choose to bring back with me, what drew me most was her worn, black leather-bound bible and another religious book. Hidden inside was a funeral card with a name I had never heard of, William Horacio Vargas. William I learned was her father, my great grandfather. The first clue.
Months later... after I had forgotten about the other religious book, on a particular day I felt drawn to it, pulled. When I opened it up, numbers were written across on the first page. “Why did she write these numbers down?” I thought to myself.
With both of my grandparents gone and no known family history, I was surprised to learn the mystery numbers were their social security IDs which then led to their applications. The applications gave their full names, birth-dates and birth places, both parents names and also where they were from and even more vital information. The second clue.
This was key to the beginning of my genealogy quest.
It all started with my own family, building our tree, one branch at a time. Every clue led to new discoveries and family lines. Connections with lost family. Oral stories considered myth or legend proven reality! A rich and colorful family history and a few ancestors remaining hidden waiting to be discovered. There’s an Indian princesses and the ancestors who met Columbus on the shore. Young Spanish maidens and a bishop knighted by the Queen of Spain. French settlers in New Orleans. The Jews who fled Spain in 1492. The President of Venezuela and his family who fled to Puerto Rico. The African slaves and highly suspect white slaves too. There are stories of pirates, story-tellers and writers, witch doctors, the wealthy and prominent settlers falling in love with the unaccepted undesirable poor, family dramas and political wars. And it doesn’t end.
During my years researching my own family history, I joined a local genealogy group. Soon after, I was asked to lead the group and it was then that I met my genealogy partner, Tom Kanagie. Together we co-founded Genealogy Detectives. Through Genealogy Detectives is where I started Budget Genealogy and had my first client. Since then I have completed over 25 genealogy cases and managed several of my clients’ DNA accounts; connecting them to their genetic family.
Fast forward 14 years later... I am ready to take this journey to the next level. Trusting God every step of the way moving forward. I invite you to partner with me as our ancestors resurface from the dusty old pages, stored in a web covered chest, forgotten in musty basements and attics... waiting silently to be found... for their stories to be told and their lines to flow once again in us, through us, down into the ages yet to come.
