Well, I had the best intentions when starting this blog, to enter posts diligently as I worked on my family history. While I have done some work on my family history, it has been minimal and random, due to many interruptions along the way. I thought life was supposed to be less busy when the children grew up and left the nest. Maybe, since they all left, and have returned, life will remain crazy. I hope not.
On to family business. When working on family history, and doing your research, it is most often suggested that you start with yourself, and go backwards. It is also suggested that you only work on one branch of the family at a time. Additionally, you should always mark each piece of information with where you got it, and the date, and file it in a way that is reasonably organized, so you don't redo your research down the road, wasting precious time. Well, I am here to tell you, that while all of these suggestions make sense, and it would be wise for the newcomer to follow these strategies as closely as possible, I have never been one to follow the rules! I am chronically disorganized, work on a whim, and finding one piece of information can lead me on a sideways track for hours, days, weeks,or even months.
To set a good example in my blog, I will make an attempt to start with me. Shorter posts are easier for most people to read, so I will stop here. Look for my next post to be about me: my place in history and what led me into family research. Until then...I'll keep digging, and hope you do to!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Finding People Who Don't Want To Be Found!
Welcome to the inaugural post of my new blog. I am happy you've stopped by!
Have you ever wondered where you came from? Why do you seem focused on art or music? Where did your sister's love of nature come from? Why is your hair straight while your brother's is curly? Why would anyone live in a state so cold that your teeth chatter just thinking of the morning temperature? For these and so many other details of our lives, we must often look to our ancestors.
I became interested in genealogy as I child, when I would listen for hours as relatives talked and shared news. Many of the names discussed stuck, so now as I pursue the dreams of publishing my family's history, I am thrilled to finally connect some of those names.
Although I have been buried in files filled with obituaries, censuses, death certificates,etc. for years, I have yet to start writing the book(s). As I start to assess the process, you may come along. While the whole book won't be found here, my goal with this blog is to share pieces of information I've found, struggles in the search, mistakes, and lucky finds. I will ponder what to put in and what to leave out. As I introduce the lives of people from earlier eras, perhaps I will spark an interest in life patterns your own ancestors shared. I will share the methods I use to find elusive ancestors and methods that have not worked well. I will answer any questions you might have and may even be able to offer occasional hints from my experiences.
I recently spent a few days on vacation, where I met up with a relative looking for family history information. Not everyone in the family (hers or mine) takes an interest in this research. My brother describes my hobby as 'finding people that don't want to be found!' I was happy to spend part of my vacation in these pursuits, as I often do when I have free time. The cartoon below pretty well describes what my family thinks about my idea of a vacation!
I'm glad you stopped by. I hope you will come back to visit again soon!
Have you ever wondered where you came from? Why do you seem focused on art or music? Where did your sister's love of nature come from? Why is your hair straight while your brother's is curly? Why would anyone live in a state so cold that your teeth chatter just thinking of the morning temperature? For these and so many other details of our lives, we must often look to our ancestors.
I became interested in genealogy as I child, when I would listen for hours as relatives talked and shared news. Many of the names discussed stuck, so now as I pursue the dreams of publishing my family's history, I am thrilled to finally connect some of those names.
Although I have been buried in files filled with obituaries, censuses, death certificates,etc. for years, I have yet to start writing the book(s). As I start to assess the process, you may come along. While the whole book won't be found here, my goal with this blog is to share pieces of information I've found, struggles in the search, mistakes, and lucky finds. I will ponder what to put in and what to leave out. As I introduce the lives of people from earlier eras, perhaps I will spark an interest in life patterns your own ancestors shared. I will share the methods I use to find elusive ancestors and methods that have not worked well. I will answer any questions you might have and may even be able to offer occasional hints from my experiences.
I recently spent a few days on vacation, where I met up with a relative looking for family history information. Not everyone in the family (hers or mine) takes an interest in this research. My brother describes my hobby as 'finding people that don't want to be found!' I was happy to spend part of my vacation in these pursuits, as I often do when I have free time. The cartoon below pretty well describes what my family thinks about my idea of a vacation!
I'm glad you stopped by. I hope you will come back to visit again soon!
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