A Norman woman traced her genealogy back to the 1600s.
Now, she helps others track their ancestry.
“If you're willing to turn over the rock and accept whatever is there, then it's a big puzzle, you find one piece and that leads you to more pieces and you just keep going,” said Joyce Bell, genealogy enthusiast.
Joyce, 91, said she started genealogy research when she retired in 1998.
She had a friend who wanted to join Daughters of the American Revolution and didn't want to go to the luncheon by herself. So, Joyce started researching her own background, to see if she could prove she's a descendent of a patriot of the American Revolution.
“I have the 14 approved Revolutionary War patriots,” Joyce said. “I discovered that I had an ancestor that was a member of the honorable and ancient society artillery battalion of Boston of 1846, so that one I'm pretty proud of.”
Joyce learned all her relatives were here in the United States before 1750. She didn't just prove her lineage to a patriot — she became registered and helped 92 women with applications and research to join Daughters of the American Revolution , a nonprofit volunteer women's service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism.
Joyce said she’s still doing research and making new discoveries.
“I guess the biggest surprise most recently was the discovery of an accused witch,” Joyce said. “Basically, everyone will have a brick wall and for one reason or another.”
She pays for a membership on ancestry.com and then pays fees to hunt down official documents from state and county offices.
"My interest didn't start until I was in my 60s, so you never know,” Joyce said. “You look for the newspaper clippings and the little things that fill in what they actually did and who they were.”
Joyce lives at Brookdale Senior Living in Norman. She says many residents have dementia and don't remember details, but she's willing to help anyone learn about their ancestry. Right now, she's working to surprise a staff member by tracing her ancestors all the way back to the 1600s.
"There's a major connection to the Mayflower, and I wanted to be sure it can be proven if she ever wanted to pursue it, “ Joyce said. “As many as I've done, I feel I kind of have an instinct. It gives me a great deal of satisfaction because I enjoy finding out the information.”
Joyce says it's exciting to see technology evolve because every time you look online, there's a new database.
She says it's easiest to get records from the state of Ohio, and it's a bigger challenge to get information from states like Kentucky and Tennessee, because of courthouse fires.
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