My new laptop arrived today. I can't wait to get all my genealogy stuff loaded so I can get back to work. Since my old computer crashed several weeks ago, I've been making do with an older system we had. It hasn't been fun, especially since it was a lot less functional.
After shopping around, I finally settled on a HP Pavilion dm4-2180us from Staples. With the sale price and a rebate, it came to $479.99 plus tax. It has an Intel Core i5-2430m processor (2.4 GHz), 6 GB memory and 640 GB hard drive. It's lightweight, less than 5 pounds, and even comes with a fingerprint scanner for security. The battery is good for up to 8 hours, which will be nice when traveling with it.
With the new computer, I'm doing a redesign of the room where I have my genea-cave. Even though it hasn't been that long since we set the room up, it's not working for us. Since I have to share space with my home library and my husband and daughter's computers, we need the room to be functional. Once we get it set back up, I'll finally take the pictures I was planning to post after we moved.
Showing posts with label misc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label misc. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Does Decor Bring Back Memories for You?
I have a confession. I'm addicted to chef decor. It started out innocently. My sister and I were shopping and we came across a clock with a chef on it. It was cute so I bought it for my kitchen. A few weeks later, I was at a flea market and came across a chef napkin holder. I walked around three or four times before I finally bought it. That was the beginning of my obsession.
For Christmas, my sister got me a couple of the figurines and hooks with the chef decor. Since then, I've added dishcloths, potholders, oven mitts, kitchen towels, miniature collector's dishes, a couple wall plaques and a tablecloth.
For a while, my addiction seemed tamed. Then I went to a store one day and was confronted with a large display of more chef decor items. I had to have them. Before I could stop myself, I had four canvases, a sink sponge holder and a spoon rest in the buggy.
I can't help but wonder if since my daughter is growing up around this obsession, if she's not going to immediately associate any chef decor she comes across with me. It's not that strange of a thought.
You see, my paternal grandmother collects Aunt Jemima dolls. She started her collection before I was born and has added to it over the years. A few pieces I've even bought for her. To this day, whenever I come across one, it immediately brings her to mind.
My maternal grandmother collected Barbies, not the cheap ones, but the limited edition ones. They were never taken out of the box. One entire wall of her bedroom was filled with shelves of Barbies. Every time I see a Barbie in a store, I think of her.
What decor brings back memories of family for you?
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| The chef clock that started it all. It hangs above my sink mounted on the soffit that tops my cabinets. |
For Christmas, my sister got me a couple of the figurines and hooks with the chef decor. Since then, I've added dishcloths, potholders, oven mitts, kitchen towels, miniature collector's dishes, a couple wall plaques and a tablecloth.
For a while, my addiction seemed tamed. Then I went to a store one day and was confronted with a large display of more chef decor items. I had to have them. Before I could stop myself, I had four canvases, a sink sponge holder and a spoon rest in the buggy.
I can't help but wonder if since my daughter is growing up around this obsession, if she's not going to immediately associate any chef decor she comes across with me. It's not that strange of a thought.
You see, my paternal grandmother collects Aunt Jemima dolls. She started her collection before I was born and has added to it over the years. A few pieces I've even bought for her. To this day, whenever I come across one, it immediately brings her to mind.
My maternal grandmother collected Barbies, not the cheap ones, but the limited edition ones. They were never taken out of the box. One entire wall of her bedroom was filled with shelves of Barbies. Every time I see a Barbie in a store, I think of her.
What decor brings back memories of family for you?
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Importance of Backups
You may have noticed I've been a bit scarce lately. Unfortunately, this was due to a computer crash, my second since starting my genealogy addiction.
Thankfully, the first crash taught me a valuable lesson. Computers aren't infallible. They crash. Stuff gets accidentally deleted. If you haven't had an issue with your computer, it's coming. It's an inevitable fact of technology.
After my first computer crash, I became a little OCD about backing up my important files. I use a combination of methods to ensure I am able to restore everything in the event of my computer failing.
Automatic Backups
I have two automatic backup programs that run nightly, Dropbox and IDrive. I use Dropbox for my genealogy files and IDrive for my pictures. Both offer free backup space. Just download the program, tell it what files you want it to monitor and it does its thing.
Both backup options give you a way to get more space if you need it. You can pay to upgrade or refer others to get additional space. Note both links used here are referral links. If you sign up via them, I get more space.
Manual Backups
I also have Windows Live SkyDrive. It's not an automatic backup service. You have to remember to do your backups. Since it offers more space than the automatic backup services at the same price (free!), I backup both my genealogy and pictures files to it.
The important thing with SkyDrive is that you need to do it regularly for it to be an effective method. Set aside a day every week or month to do it. If you're concerned about forgetting to do it, write it on your calendar, set a reminder on your computer or phone, or make it part of your regular maintenance regimen (virus scan, spyware check, defrag, etc).
External Backups
I have two methods of external backup. The first is the 640GB portable external hard drive my husband bought me a couple months ago. I backup all my important files to it so if my computer goes down, I have it in reserve. All I have to do is plug it in to my new computer and I'm set. It has the added bonus of being small enough I can drop it in my purse when I leave the house so if something unfortunately befalls my home, I'm protected.
My second method is one I've been using for a while. Every few months, I burn a copy of all of my pictures and genealogy files to a disc and distribute them to family members. I make sure to label the disc with the date I burned it. In the event all other backups fail, I can simply go to family members to get the most recent disc. While it may not be as recent as what I had on my computer, it's still a lot better than starting over from scratch or losing irreplaceable pictures.
Paper Backup
There is a trend these days to go completely paperless. While I've made efforts to digitize all my paper files, I haven't destroyed them after the digitization. There's just something about holding the piece of paper that stirs something in me more than viewing it on a computer screen ever will. So even though it requires more space. I keep both paper and digital files.
Rebuilding your genealogy database from paper files isn't an easy process. However, it could be more effective in the long run because it gives you an opportunity to reevaluate everything you've found to date. In the process, you may realize that your initial interpretation of a record was in error or that you missed something on first glance at a record.
How do you protect yourself from unexpected computer crashes? What backup methods do you use?
Thankfully, the first crash taught me a valuable lesson. Computers aren't infallible. They crash. Stuff gets accidentally deleted. If you haven't had an issue with your computer, it's coming. It's an inevitable fact of technology.
After my first computer crash, I became a little OCD about backing up my important files. I use a combination of methods to ensure I am able to restore everything in the event of my computer failing.
Automatic Backups
I have two automatic backup programs that run nightly, Dropbox and IDrive. I use Dropbox for my genealogy files and IDrive for my pictures. Both offer free backup space. Just download the program, tell it what files you want it to monitor and it does its thing.
Both backup options give you a way to get more space if you need it. You can pay to upgrade or refer others to get additional space. Note both links used here are referral links. If you sign up via them, I get more space.
Manual Backups
I also have Windows Live SkyDrive. It's not an automatic backup service. You have to remember to do your backups. Since it offers more space than the automatic backup services at the same price (free!), I backup both my genealogy and pictures files to it.
The important thing with SkyDrive is that you need to do it regularly for it to be an effective method. Set aside a day every week or month to do it. If you're concerned about forgetting to do it, write it on your calendar, set a reminder on your computer or phone, or make it part of your regular maintenance regimen (virus scan, spyware check, defrag, etc).
External Backups
I have two methods of external backup. The first is the 640GB portable external hard drive my husband bought me a couple months ago. I backup all my important files to it so if my computer goes down, I have it in reserve. All I have to do is plug it in to my new computer and I'm set. It has the added bonus of being small enough I can drop it in my purse when I leave the house so if something unfortunately befalls my home, I'm protected.
My second method is one I've been using for a while. Every few months, I burn a copy of all of my pictures and genealogy files to a disc and distribute them to family members. I make sure to label the disc with the date I burned it. In the event all other backups fail, I can simply go to family members to get the most recent disc. While it may not be as recent as what I had on my computer, it's still a lot better than starting over from scratch or losing irreplaceable pictures.
Paper Backup
There is a trend these days to go completely paperless. While I've made efforts to digitize all my paper files, I haven't destroyed them after the digitization. There's just something about holding the piece of paper that stirs something in me more than viewing it on a computer screen ever will. So even though it requires more space. I keep both paper and digital files.
Rebuilding your genealogy database from paper files isn't an easy process. However, it could be more effective in the long run because it gives you an opportunity to reevaluate everything you've found to date. In the process, you may realize that your initial interpretation of a record was in error or that you missed something on first glance at a record.
How do you protect yourself from unexpected computer crashes? What backup methods do you use?
Friday, January 6, 2012
To Cite or Not to Cite, That Is The Question
It seems that the citation debate, among others, is making the rounds again. As with the other debates that make the rounds in the genealogy community, there seems to be a lot of opinions on the issue.
Why I Cite
You probably have noticed that some of my posts here at Ancestrally Challenged have source citations. I don't do it because it's expected. Nor do I do it so I can lord over all the non-citing bloggers. I do it for myself.
When I first started researching my family history, I made a newbie mistake. Who hasn't? Mine was entering information without citing where I found it. As a result, I've found myself backtracking and trying to relocate my sources. For the most part, I've been able to. In a few cases, though, the source is no longer available or I can't find it.
Now that I understand the importance of citing my sources, I've been trying to make it a habit. To that end, I decided to include source citations in all of my writing, regardless of whether it's for my personal files or here. My theory is that the more I do it, the more ingrained the habit will become.
Just because it works for me doesn't mean it's necessarily the right way, just the right way for me to instill a habit.
Why I Don't Care if You Cite or Not
I love reading other genealogy blogs. Even though in most cases I'm not related, I still feel an impact on some level. I may be excited about your discovery, share your frustration with a tough brick wall or get a laugh about one of your crazy ancestors (we all have at least one). I don't need a source list to get that.
If I think we have a connection and want to know your sources, I'll ask you. After all, don't we all on some level blog because we're hoping a connection will find us? If I contact you, it's a win-win. I get to find out the sources and you get contacted by a possible connection. We may each be holding the pieces the other needs. What's not to like about that?
When it comes down to it, your blog is yours to do with what you wish. Whether you cite your sources or not is completely up to you. To be honest, I was probably too caught up in reading your story to even notice whether they were there or not.
Final Thoughts
What drew you to genealogy as a hobby/obsession/addiction/career? Was it the yearning to know more about your heritage? The need to share your family's stories before they're lost?
I bet it wasn't the desire to write everything down and get a pat on the head for doing it the "right" way.
One of the things that I love about the genealogy blogging community is that it encompasses all levels of expertise from the newbie beginner to more experienced professionals. I read blogs that cover the entire spectrum and I have got something-a tip, a new tool or sometimes just a smile- from every one.
Just because someone is doing something a different way doesn't mean their way is wrong. It's just different. Instead of focusing on what someone is or isn't doing right on their blog, why not do what we came here for? Share your stories and enjoy the stories shared by others.
If a fellow blogger asks for help, feel free to offer your advice, but don't feel like you have to correct them because they are doing something differently than you. Remember, we were all newbies once and even among experienced professionals, there are differences.
Why I Cite
You probably have noticed that some of my posts here at Ancestrally Challenged have source citations. I don't do it because it's expected. Nor do I do it so I can lord over all the non-citing bloggers. I do it for myself.
When I first started researching my family history, I made a newbie mistake. Who hasn't? Mine was entering information without citing where I found it. As a result, I've found myself backtracking and trying to relocate my sources. For the most part, I've been able to. In a few cases, though, the source is no longer available or I can't find it.
Now that I understand the importance of citing my sources, I've been trying to make it a habit. To that end, I decided to include source citations in all of my writing, regardless of whether it's for my personal files or here. My theory is that the more I do it, the more ingrained the habit will become.
Just because it works for me doesn't mean it's necessarily the right way, just the right way for me to instill a habit.
Why I Don't Care if You Cite or Not
I love reading other genealogy blogs. Even though in most cases I'm not related, I still feel an impact on some level. I may be excited about your discovery, share your frustration with a tough brick wall or get a laugh about one of your crazy ancestors (we all have at least one). I don't need a source list to get that.
If I think we have a connection and want to know your sources, I'll ask you. After all, don't we all on some level blog because we're hoping a connection will find us? If I contact you, it's a win-win. I get to find out the sources and you get contacted by a possible connection. We may each be holding the pieces the other needs. What's not to like about that?
When it comes down to it, your blog is yours to do with what you wish. Whether you cite your sources or not is completely up to you. To be honest, I was probably too caught up in reading your story to even notice whether they were there or not.
Final Thoughts
What drew you to genealogy as a hobby/obsession/addiction/career? Was it the yearning to know more about your heritage? The need to share your family's stories before they're lost?
I bet it wasn't the desire to write everything down and get a pat on the head for doing it the "right" way.
One of the things that I love about the genealogy blogging community is that it encompasses all levels of expertise from the newbie beginner to more experienced professionals. I read blogs that cover the entire spectrum and I have got something-a tip, a new tool or sometimes just a smile- from every one.
Just because someone is doing something a different way doesn't mean their way is wrong. It's just different. Instead of focusing on what someone is or isn't doing right on their blog, why not do what we came here for? Share your stories and enjoy the stories shared by others.
If a fellow blogger asks for help, feel free to offer your advice, but don't feel like you have to correct them because they are doing something differently than you. Remember, we were all newbies once and even among experienced professionals, there are differences.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Happy Birthday to Ancestrally Challenged: Year 1 in Review
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| Photo credit: Confetti 5 by Billy Alexander |
When I started Ancestrally Challenged a year ago, I was just looking for a place to put down the history of my family. I never could have imagined how much I'd enjoy it or how much the genealogy community would come to mean to me. You have shared my disappointments and triumphs and offered encouragement for my goals and advice for my brick walls. For that, I thank you.
Top Posts
I have written about a little bit of everything in the past year from random thoughts to my research problems. Some posts were widely read, others only had a few readers. Regardless, I've enjoyed every minute.
The top ten posts ranked by views were:
- 100 Signs You're Addicted to Genealogy
- How to Rock as a Genealogy Lecturer
- Genealogy and Kids: I Start Them Early
- Getting Organized
- Pocahontas was my Grandma, Part 1
- December Genealogy Goals
- 2011 Genealogy Goals
- Book Review: Virginia Genealogical Research
- Comfort Food
- Why Facebook Rocks for Genealogy
It's always interesting seeing what search terms led people to my blog. For those searching James Thomas Hayes, he was my maternal 2nd great grandfather and I'd love to talk to you. In order from most searches, the top ten searches were:
- Pocahontas
- ancestrallychallenged.blogspot.com
- james thomas hayes
- ancestrally challenged
- confederate deserter
- family tree col. robert bolling pocahontas
- genealogy
- "james thomas hayes"
- confederate deserters 1865
- dangerous genealogy assumptions
As part of my stats, I get information on where my readers live. It's completely anonymous. Unless you tell me, I don't know who you are or where you live. Visitors came from:
- United States
- Russia
- United Kingdom
- Netherlands
- Germany
- Canada
- Ireland
- France
- Australia
- Israel
Monday, December 19, 2011
Treasured Christmas Memories
It's funny how the holidays make you nostalgic. As Christmas approaches, I've realized that some of my most treasured memories revolve around the holiday.
When I was about ten, my parents bought me a stereo for Christmas. After all the presents had been unwrapped, we put on music and danced around. My dad wasn't much for dancing, but he took the opportunity to teach me how to dance. It's a memory I'll cherish forever, waltzing around amidst the presents with my dad.
Growing up, we often spent Christmas with my paternal grandparents. Once we got older, we'd have Christmas at our house and they would sometimes come. However, it had been several years since I'd got to spend it with my grandparents.
A couple years ago, my mom decided to invite all the grandparents. Her dad accepted, but my dad's parents said they couldn't come because their car wasn't in good enough shape to make the trip. I was so disappointed and even offered to drive down. Little did I know that my grandfather had a trick up his sleeve.
My mom and I were in the kitchen on Christmas Eve prepping stuff for the next day when a truck pulled in the yard. She went out to see who it was and I heard her yell so I ran to the door, still holding a bag of flour because I was making cookies. When I saw it was my grandparents, I threw the bag of flour at my husband, not even waiting to see if he caught it, and rushed outside, not even stopping to put on shoes or a jacket.
Come to find out, my grandfather had decided to surprise us so he went out and bought a new truck for the trip. My dad was the only one who knew they were coming. Spending Christmas with my grandparents is something I'll cherish forever, especially since I lost both of my grandfathers not long afterwards.
What Christmas memories do you treasure?
When I was about ten, my parents bought me a stereo for Christmas. After all the presents had been unwrapped, we put on music and danced around. My dad wasn't much for dancing, but he took the opportunity to teach me how to dance. It's a memory I'll cherish forever, waltzing around amidst the presents with my dad.
Growing up, we often spent Christmas with my paternal grandparents. Once we got older, we'd have Christmas at our house and they would sometimes come. However, it had been several years since I'd got to spend it with my grandparents.
A couple years ago, my mom decided to invite all the grandparents. Her dad accepted, but my dad's parents said they couldn't come because their car wasn't in good enough shape to make the trip. I was so disappointed and even offered to drive down. Little did I know that my grandfather had a trick up his sleeve.
My mom and I were in the kitchen on Christmas Eve prepping stuff for the next day when a truck pulled in the yard. She went out to see who it was and I heard her yell so I ran to the door, still holding a bag of flour because I was making cookies. When I saw it was my grandparents, I threw the bag of flour at my husband, not even waiting to see if he caught it, and rushed outside, not even stopping to put on shoes or a jacket.
Come to find out, my grandfather had decided to surprise us so he went out and bought a new truck for the trip. My dad was the only one who knew they were coming. Spending Christmas with my grandparents is something I'll cherish forever, especially since I lost both of my grandfathers not long afterwards.
What Christmas memories do you treasure?
Saturday, December 10, 2011
A Homemade Christmas: Heritage Crafts
Several years ago, our Christmas budget was extremely tight. There was no way I could afford to buy presents for the entire family. I debated about only doing gifts for the children, but it took the fun out of the holiday. There's something about seeing someone's face when they open a gift. Even adults can't hide the excitement.
So I compromised. While I bought for the kids, I went homemade for the adults. My dad is diabetic but loves white chocolate macadamia cookies so I experimented with recipes until I found a version that was tasty, but wouldn't run his sugar up. The chocoholics in the family got homemade fudge. Some people got plants that I had grown myself.
For genealogists and family historians, a homemade Christmas is a perfect opportunity. Heritage crafts can help you educate the family on the ancestors and provide a unique one of a kind gift.
Caroline Pointer of Family Stories has came up with several ideas for heritage gifts including coasters, ornaments and a story jar.
Julie Cahill Tarr of GenBlogJulie has made digital scrapbooks for her family.
Heather Rojo of Nutfield Genealogy brought her family photos to life in the form of Christmas cards and calendars. She also came up with a neat idea of heritage china plates that can be displayed year-round.
Not very crafty? Don't worry. Marian Pierre-Louis of Marian's Roots and Rambles has came up with an idea for you: a personalized deck of cards. Lorine McGinnis Schulze has another simple idea, a quick and easy photo album.
While these gifts were all made using a FlipPal Mobile Scanner, it's not required to do them. A regular scanner will work too.
Need more ideas?
Why not a family cookbook? Get relatives to send you their family's favorite recipes. Intersperse pictures of ancestors and notes about the family with the recipes. You can print it yourself and put in a binder, or self-publish.
While digital scrapbooking is great, not everyone is computer-literate. Put together a family tree scrapbook Kits are available for purchase or your can make your own from scratch.
Put together a family history video. Include interviews with older relatives, photos and video of ancestral homes.
Do a photo collage. Print out copies of family pictures and arrange them on a piece of poster board. Add a frame and you have a quick and easy heritage gift.
If you're handy with a needle, have family photos printed on fabric and put together a quilt that can be displayed on the wall.
Get the Kids Involved
Kids love crafts. This year, why not take the opportunity to teach them about their heritage while they make gifts for the rest of the family?
EnchantedLearning has several family tree crafts for kids. They can build a family tree from construction paper or fill in one of the printable books for a unique gift that will be treasured for years.
So I compromised. While I bought for the kids, I went homemade for the adults. My dad is diabetic but loves white chocolate macadamia cookies so I experimented with recipes until I found a version that was tasty, but wouldn't run his sugar up. The chocoholics in the family got homemade fudge. Some people got plants that I had grown myself.
For genealogists and family historians, a homemade Christmas is a perfect opportunity. Heritage crafts can help you educate the family on the ancestors and provide a unique one of a kind gift.
Caroline Pointer of Family Stories has came up with several ideas for heritage gifts including coasters, ornaments and a story jar.
Julie Cahill Tarr of GenBlogJulie has made digital scrapbooks for her family.
Heather Rojo of Nutfield Genealogy brought her family photos to life in the form of Christmas cards and calendars. She also came up with a neat idea of heritage china plates that can be displayed year-round.
Not very crafty? Don't worry. Marian Pierre-Louis of Marian's Roots and Rambles has came up with an idea for you: a personalized deck of cards. Lorine McGinnis Schulze has another simple idea, a quick and easy photo album.
While these gifts were all made using a FlipPal Mobile Scanner, it's not required to do them. A regular scanner will work too.
Need more ideas?
Why not a family cookbook? Get relatives to send you their family's favorite recipes. Intersperse pictures of ancestors and notes about the family with the recipes. You can print it yourself and put in a binder, or self-publish.
While digital scrapbooking is great, not everyone is computer-literate. Put together a family tree scrapbook Kits are available for purchase or your can make your own from scratch.
Put together a family history video. Include interviews with older relatives, photos and video of ancestral homes.
Do a photo collage. Print out copies of family pictures and arrange them on a piece of poster board. Add a frame and you have a quick and easy heritage gift.
If you're handy with a needle, have family photos printed on fabric and put together a quilt that can be displayed on the wall.
Get the Kids Involved
Kids love crafts. This year, why not take the opportunity to teach them about their heritage while they make gifts for the rest of the family?
EnchantedLearning has several family tree crafts for kids. They can build a family tree from construction paper or fill in one of the printable books for a unique gift that will be treasured for years.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Modern Health Studies May Provide Clues to Ancestor's Lives
Yesterday I read an article on the potential link between stress and the sex of a baby. If you missed it, be sure to check it out. It was really quite interesting.
In a nutshell, researchers studied births in Chile from 2004 to 2006. They found that in 2005, when a major earthquake hit the country, the rate of male births decreased by 5.8%. They hypothesized that male fetuses may be more susceptible to maternal stress and there is an increased likelihood of miscarrying a male fetus when the mother is under stress.
An earlier study (long and scientific, but interesting) theorized that in addition to male fetuses being less capable of handing maternal stress, other factors might include stress causing a decreased sperm count in the father or when baby-making happens, making the couple more likely to conceive a girl.
So what does this mean for genealogists?
If the study's hypothesis is right, we may be able to use gaps in children to pinpoint time periods we need to research more thoroughly. While a gap generally is indicative of a miscarriage or child that passed young, it might also be a sign that the mother was under stress. Since females are also more likely to be conceived when stress is present, a string of female children may also indicate your ancestor's life was stressful.
We can then use this clue to dig a little deeper to find out why the mother was stressed. Perhaps there was a court case, illness, famine, local battle or death of a loved one that you hadn't found yet.
In a nutshell, researchers studied births in Chile from 2004 to 2006. They found that in 2005, when a major earthquake hit the country, the rate of male births decreased by 5.8%. They hypothesized that male fetuses may be more susceptible to maternal stress and there is an increased likelihood of miscarrying a male fetus when the mother is under stress.
An earlier study (long and scientific, but interesting) theorized that in addition to male fetuses being less capable of handing maternal stress, other factors might include stress causing a decreased sperm count in the father or when baby-making happens, making the couple more likely to conceive a girl.
So what does this mean for genealogists?
If the study's hypothesis is right, we may be able to use gaps in children to pinpoint time periods we need to research more thoroughly. While a gap generally is indicative of a miscarriage or child that passed young, it might also be a sign that the mother was under stress. Since females are also more likely to be conceived when stress is present, a string of female children may also indicate your ancestor's life was stressful.
We can then use this clue to dig a little deeper to find out why the mother was stressed. Perhaps there was a court case, illness, famine, local battle or death of a loved one that you hadn't found yet.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Why I Now Plan Trips I Might Never Take
The other day my husband mentioned traveling out of state to look at a car he wants to buy. Since the trip would take us within an hour or so of where my Boling and Sanders ancestors lived, I immediately put in for a stop so I could research. The location I wanted to go research in is right on the Kentucky-Indiana line and a little over three hours from the car. We worked out a plan for him to drop me off in Kentucky in the morning, go on into Indiana to look at the car and then come back to get me in the evening.
Since I hadn't figured on traveling to Kentucky any time soon, I hadn't planned for it, which meant scrambling to put together a list of places to visit and things to research. In the process, I've learned something. Even if the likelihood of researching somewhere is slim, it pays to go ahead and plan.
I have a number of places I would love to visit and research in. These include the DAR Library; the National Archives, the Family History Library; the state archives for Virginia, West Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio; the Allen County Public Library and a number of libraries, cemeteries and courthouses all over the eastern US. And that's doesn't even include foreign locales I want to research in.
Only time will tell whether I actually get to research in all these places. I plan to be ready in the future. As you may recall from my post about my new system for genealogy organization, I have set up locality folders and each of these folders has a subfolder for visits.
Starting this month, I'm setting a goal of choosing one locality per month to focus my attention on. I plan to research courthouses, libraries, cemeteries, museums, historical and genealogical societies and anything else in the area that might be helpful in my search for ancestors. By the end of the month, I should have a comprehensive research plan put together. Then, when fate will have me traveling in or near the area, I'm ready. I can just pull that locality file and adapt my plan to the time I have there.
Since I hadn't figured on traveling to Kentucky any time soon, I hadn't planned for it, which meant scrambling to put together a list of places to visit and things to research. In the process, I've learned something. Even if the likelihood of researching somewhere is slim, it pays to go ahead and plan.
I have a number of places I would love to visit and research in. These include the DAR Library; the National Archives, the Family History Library; the state archives for Virginia, West Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio; the Allen County Public Library and a number of libraries, cemeteries and courthouses all over the eastern US. And that's doesn't even include foreign locales I want to research in.
Only time will tell whether I actually get to research in all these places. I plan to be ready in the future. As you may recall from my post about my new system for genealogy organization, I have set up locality folders and each of these folders has a subfolder for visits.
Starting this month, I'm setting a goal of choosing one locality per month to focus my attention on. I plan to research courthouses, libraries, cemeteries, museums, historical and genealogical societies and anything else in the area that might be helpful in my search for ancestors. By the end of the month, I should have a comprehensive research plan put together. Then, when fate will have me traveling in or near the area, I'm ready. I can just pull that locality file and adapt my plan to the time I have there.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Genealogy and Kids: I Start Them Early
A common lament among family historians (at least that I've noticed) is that they don't have anyone to pass their research on to when their time comes. They might have a distant relative or cousin, but not many have children of their own that are interested in family history. Hopefully, I won't be one of those people. You see I started my daughter early with genealogy.
My daughter was six months old when I started researching our family history so she's been around it her entire young life. Her bedtime stories were (and still are) based on stories of our ancestors. As an infant, one of her favorite toys was one of those soft photo albums that you can put your own pictures in. I filled it with pictures of our family. As she would flip through the album, I'd tell her who each person was.
Before she could even walk, she was accompanying me to cemeteries. The majority of cemetery visits were for FindAGrave rather than our own family history, but it has taught her a lot. She has learned that cemeteries are not a scary place, but instead a place to visit with those who have went before us. It also helped her learn her letters, an added bonus.
Last October, we were in Georgia visiting family and took some time to go around to cemeteries where family members are buried. It was then that she asked for (and received) her first camera. I was a little leery of giving a four year old a camera so I bought her a cheap 35mm to start.
Just before her fifth birthday, when it was obvious that she was going to take care of it, not to mention actually took some pretty good pictures, I upgraded her to a digital camera. She's had a blast with it, even showing it off to her cousins and teaching them how to take headstone pictures earlier this year when we visited another cemetery with them. She loves taking pictures of headstones, especially those of our ancestors.
She has met all of her great grandparents on my side of the family. Unfortunately, all of her great grandparents on my husband's side passed before she came along. She's extremely lucky because she has a 2nd great grandparent still living. We have a trip planned for April so she can meet her. She's also met five of her great-aunts, a 2nd great aunt and a 2nd great uncle.
Since she was a baby, she's been surrounded by items related to her heritage. As a baby, she slept with baby blankets made for me by my grandmothers. It's an awesome feeling to lay your child down on the same blanket you slept on as a baby. The quilt she currently sleeps under was made for me by my great grandmother as a graduation gift.
My bedroom suite has been passed down through four generations of women, starting with my great grandmother. Once she's old enough to understand its importance and take care of it properly, I will pass it on to my daughter. The bookends in her room were made by my grandfather when I was a child. The children's Bible we read to her from is the same one that her grandparents read to her dad and uncle when they were children. We also read to her from a set of fairy tales that entertained my mom and aunts as children, and later my sisters and I as well.
Does all this mean she'll inherit my interest in family history? Only time will tell. I can only hope that by giving her a good foundation, she'll build on it and understand the importance of knowing her heritage and want to carry on where I left off.
My daughter was six months old when I started researching our family history so she's been around it her entire young life. Her bedtime stories were (and still are) based on stories of our ancestors. As an infant, one of her favorite toys was one of those soft photo albums that you can put your own pictures in. I filled it with pictures of our family. As she would flip through the album, I'd tell her who each person was.
Before she could even walk, she was accompanying me to cemeteries. The majority of cemetery visits were for FindAGrave rather than our own family history, but it has taught her a lot. She has learned that cemeteries are not a scary place, but instead a place to visit with those who have went before us. It also helped her learn her letters, an added bonus.
Last October, we were in Georgia visiting family and took some time to go around to cemeteries where family members are buried. It was then that she asked for (and received) her first camera. I was a little leery of giving a four year old a camera so I bought her a cheap 35mm to start.
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| The munchkin taking headstone pics for FindAGrave at a cemetery nearby. |
She has met all of her great grandparents on my side of the family. Unfortunately, all of her great grandparents on my husband's side passed before she came along. She's extremely lucky because she has a 2nd great grandparent still living. We have a trip planned for April so she can meet her. She's also met five of her great-aunts, a 2nd great aunt and a 2nd great uncle.
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| The munchkin with her great grandfather on my dad's side doing a puzzle. My sisters and I visited him and my grandmother every chance we got and doing puzzles was one of the things we enjoyed. |
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| The munchkin with her great grandmother on my dad's side. She actually got to meet her a few years earlier, but hadn't met her great grandfather until this trip. |
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| The munchkin with her great grandfather on my mom's side. He passed a few days after this picture was taken. She met her great grandmother at his funeral but I was too upset to remember to get a picture. |
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| The munchkin with her great aunts (my mom's sisters) |
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| The munchkin in a basket with the blanket I used as a baby. It was made by my grandmother. |
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| The munchkin on the bed. The purple quilt was made by my great grandmother. In the background you can see the dresser that is part of the bedroom suite that has been passed down through four generations. |
Friday, December 2, 2011
100 Signs You're Addicted to Genealogy
You might be addicted to genealogy if:
- Every vacation includes at least one stop at a cemetery, library, courthouse and/or archives.
- Your doctor asks your family history and you ask how many generations back they want.
- Your kids can name more generations of ancestors than most adults.
- You've ever driven 100 miles out of your way because you hate to leave the state without stopping in where your ancestors once lived.
- You have more pictures of headstones than living people.
- Your ideal gift is a subscription to a genealogy website or publication, gift cards to bookstores or gas cards.
- You are a lifetime member of a genealogical society. Bonus points if you're a lifetime member of more than one.
- You've stalked the mailman because you're waiting for records to arrive.
- You regularly check obituaries and funeral home websites in the areas your ancestors lived to see if you recognize any family members.
- Your home is decorated with photos of ancestors, historic memorabilia and old maps of locations your ancestors lived in.
- You remember your 6th great grandmother's birthday, but forget your spouse's.
- Your family knows that "Just let me look at one more record" is code for "Mom's not cooking. Order pizza."
- You can find your 5th great grandfather's will easier than you can find the electric bill that needs to be paid.
- You know every cemetery within a 50 mile radius of your ancestor's hometown, but have to ask for directions to the hotel.
- You seriously consider moving to be closer to where your ancestors lived for easier access to records. Bonus points if you did it.
- A family member mentions someone died and you immediately ask how that person connects to the family tree.
- You know more about your ancestors than older relatives that actually met them do.
- You've joined a social networking site just to find relatives. Bonus points if it worked. Double bonus points if you got family pictures or a clue to a brick wall from it.
- You've logged more miles on your car visiting cemeteries than you have going to work.
- You've consider buying a microfilm/microfiche reader so you can spend more time researching and less time driving to the library. Bonus points if you actually did buy one.
- You have to buy another hard drive because your current one is completely full of genealogy files.
- You schedule major necessary surgery around your family reunion because you don't want to miss the opportunity to talk to older relatives.
- You start most letters with "You don't know me, but we're related through (common ancestor)."
- Your kids can spell genealogy before they can spell their name. Bonus points if it was their first word.
- Whenever you meet a new person with the same surname as one of your ancestors, you immediately ask them for their pedigree so you can figure out if you're related.
- You can pinpoint a tiny now extinct village on a map, but can't name the next town over from where you live.
- Librarians and town clerks know you by name.
- Your genealogy budget is bigger than your budget for household bills.
- You haven't checked your work email in a week, but you check your genealogy email hourly.
- You have your own keys to the local archives, library and courthouse.
- You have your own mailman.
- You've ever knocked on a stranger's door and asked permission to look around because an ancestor once lived there.
- Your internet home page is a genealogy website.
- You've ever solved a genealogical mystery found in a newspaper article.
- Your will gives all your property to the first person that solves your brick wall.
- You start planning for the next census release years in advance.
- You research a unique non-related surname just for fun.
- You talk more to dead relatives than you do the living ones.
- You haunt eBay, antique stores, yard sales and thrift stores for photos of your ancestors or items that once belonged to them.
- You beat the librarian to the library in the mornings.
- The librarians turn all genealogy help requests over to you because you know more than they do.
- You've traced your pet's pedigree.
- You look forward to marriages because it gives you more lines to research.
- Your personal library has only genealogy and local history books.
- You go on vacation to Europe not to see the Eiffel Tower or Buckingham Palace, but your ancestors' homeplaces.
- You know more about historical events than current ones.
- The only maps you own are historical ones.
- You buy local history and cemetery books from areas your ancestors never lived on the off chance you might discover one that did live there.
- You've invented a genealogy game.
- You get more excited over a sale at your favorite DNA testing center than a sale at the mall.
- You have more books about genealogy than the local library.
- You are offered your choice of items from a deceased relative's home and you put dibs on the box of miscellaneous papers from the attic.
- You've spent hours crisscrossing backroads to find the location of a forgotten cemetery.
- You visit the nursing home in your ancestor's hometown to see what the older residents might know about your family or the area's history.
- The labor and delivery nurse tells you that you need to put the computer down so you can push.
- Your calendar includes birthdays of ancestors long passed.
- You give your children unique names to make it easier for descendants to trace your family.
- Someone asks a question about family history and everyone recommends they talk to you.
- You fantasize about being locked in a library or archives overnight, or even better for a long weekend.
- You personally make up the budget deficit so the archives doesn't have to cut their hours.
- Politicians know you as the person who gets mad and tries to have them voted out of office when they suggest cutting the budget for the archives.
- You move to a new house and unpack your genealogy files before the kitchen stuff.
- Your car breaks down and you have to wait for a tow because your emergency kit consists of eye drops, sunscreen, a mirror, extra batteries for your camera and bug spray.
- You come home late with wrinkled clothes and mussed hair and your spouse knows you have been reading microfilm rather than having an affair.
- Your kids learned their letters from headstones.
- You get upset when people come to your genealogy blog via a search of an ancestor's name, but don't contact you.
- You've ever overslept because you were up all night researching.
- You've ever called in sick because you were hot on the trail of an ancestor and didn't want to stop.
- Your local library asks you for recommendations before adding any new genealogy books to their shelves.
- You can calculate a new relative's relation to you in your head without referring to your files.
- Your ideal genealogy technology tool would be a time machine so you can go back in time to talk to your ancestors and get all those burning questions answered.
- You've pestered relatives you've never met in person to do DNA testing. Bonus points if you succeeded.
- You recognize the names of ancient occupations.
- You can identify ancient diseases and their modern-day equivalents.
- You move into an old house and immediately start researching the history of not only the house, but also the families that have lived in it.
- You had to rent a storage unit, build an addition or move to a bigger house to contain all your genealogy files and books.
- You wish more of your ancestors were black sheep because that would mean more records for them.
- Your only interactions with live people are librarians, courthouse clerks and people on genealogy message boards.
- You know how to cite non-traditional items (i.e.-engraved spoons, quilts, etc).
- You go through withdrawals when your internet is down.
- Your child introduces you on Career Day as the person who studies dead people.
- You've ever got a speeding ticket because you wanted to get to an archives early.
- You're allergic to dust but take allergy medications so you can stay all day in a dusty courthouse.
- You've ever done the genealogy happy dance. Bonus points if you've recognized anyone else doing it.
- You never leave the house without a roll of quarters, pen, paper and your camera, just in case you get a chance to stop for some research.
- You know more about the area your ancestors lived than the current residents do.
- You weigh a non-essential purchase by how many vital records you will have to give up to get it.
- You know where all cemeteries within a 25 mile radius are even though none of your ancestors anywhere near where you live.
- You've ever met a cousin while requesting a lookup.
- You regard burned courthouses as a challenge, not an obstacle.
- New people are warned not to mention anything related to family history before they are introduced to you.
- Instead of running background checks on prospective dates, you check their family history.
- You find out after spending hundreds of dollars and several years of researching that your great-aunt knew the answer to your question all along, but you don't care because you love the thrill of the hunt.
- You have more movies than NetFlix and they're all about your family-recordings of family reunions, interviews with older relatives and home movies.
- You are jealous of other genealogists because they have family Bibles, handwritten letters and other family memorabilia while yours apparently didn't save anything.
- The pharmacist asks you to decipher the doctor's handwriting on your prescription because you're better at reading hard to read handwriting than he is.
- You've arranged to have a QR code put on your headstone that points to a perpetually maintained website with your genealogy so that anyone with a smartphone that visits your final resting place can learn about your family.
- You've been offered a job at a courthouse, archives or library because you know more about the holdings than the employees do.
- You can pinpoint the exact location of your ancestor's 18th century land patent. Bonus points if you've traveled there to see what it looks like now.
- You've read this entire list and more than half of it applies to you.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Comfort Food
There's something about eating certain foods that makes me feel at ease. Just hearing the name of these foods immediately brings memories of eating them while surrounded by loved ones.
Up until my family moved to the Carolinas, I spent each morning before school with my grandmother. My dad would drop me off and I'd stay with her until school started. She made real grits, not the instant microwaveable ones. I'd sit at the bar and wait for her to bring a plate of steaming grits with a pat of butter melting in the middle. Even now that I'm an adult, she still occasionally makes them for me if I'm visiting.
To this day, I can't eat grits without thinking of those mornings with her. Unfortunately, the knack for making grits wasn't passed on to me. No matter how hard I try, when I try to make them, they turn into a huge glutinous ball in the pan. I have to rely on instant grits from the microwave for my fix, which isn't quite the same.
Not really a food, but an entire restaurant, but Checkers has to make the list. Growing up, whenever we were out of school, my sisters and I went to stay with our paternal grandparents. Behind their house was a car dealership and on the other side of the dealership was a Checkers. Several times a week we would ride our bikes over there and get something to eat. We don't have them around here so whenever I'm traveling and see a Checkers sign, I pull in for something to eat and memories of summers with my grandparents.
No list of comfort foods would be complete without chicken noodle soup. I ate it when I was sick. I ate it when I felt good. I loved it so much that when I went to college my parents bought me a whole flat of my favorite brand to take with me. Whenever I was sick, having a bad day or just plain homesick, I'd heat up a can and instantly feel a little better.
Grits
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| By Ernesto Andrade (originally posted to Flickr as Incredible Isaac) [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
Up until my family moved to the Carolinas, I spent each morning before school with my grandmother. My dad would drop me off and I'd stay with her until school started. She made real grits, not the instant microwaveable ones. I'd sit at the bar and wait for her to bring a plate of steaming grits with a pat of butter melting in the middle. Even now that I'm an adult, she still occasionally makes them for me if I'm visiting.
To this day, I can't eat grits without thinking of those mornings with her. Unfortunately, the knack for making grits wasn't passed on to me. No matter how hard I try, when I try to make them, they turn into a huge glutinous ball in the pan. I have to rely on instant grits from the microwave for my fix, which isn't quite the same.
Checkers
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| By Dwight Burdette (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
Chicken Noodle Soup
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| Photo Credit: Flickr user Hane C Lee |
Friday, November 25, 2011
What Would Our Ancestors Think of Black Friday?
As I stood in Walmart last night surveying the madness around me, the thought occurred to me "What would my ancestors think of Black Friday?" To be honest, I think they'd be appalled.
For the most part, my ancestors were simple people. Many were farmers, relying on what they could make or grow to take care of their families. Going out in the cold in the middle of the night to stand in line for hours fighting the crowds doesn't strike me as something they would do.
My ancestors weren't fighters. Unless there's a black sheep hiding somewhere, my forebears stayed on the right side of the law. Their fighting was reserved for military service and protecting the home from attacks. I can't picture one of them pepper-spraying a crowd so they could get an X-Box like a woman in California or robbing and shooting people in parking lots like happened in two states.
What do you think your ancestors would think of Black Friday?
For the most part, my ancestors were simple people. Many were farmers, relying on what they could make or grow to take care of their families. Going out in the cold in the middle of the night to stand in line for hours fighting the crowds doesn't strike me as something they would do.
My ancestors weren't fighters. Unless there's a black sheep hiding somewhere, my forebears stayed on the right side of the law. Their fighting was reserved for military service and protecting the home from attacks. I can't picture one of them pepper-spraying a crowd so they could get an X-Box like a woman in California or robbing and shooting people in parking lots like happened in two states.
What do you think your ancestors would think of Black Friday?
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Problems with Ancestry Census Search (And a Workaround)
If you're been reading Ancestrally Challenged for a while, you've probably saw me mention that my paternal line comes from West Virginia. As most people know, West Virginia was formed in 1863 when the western end of Virginia broke off from the state to form a new state. All of the counties in present-day West Virginia were either originally Virginia counties or formed from parts of original Virginia Counties. So tracing ancestors back in time requires making the jump from West Virginia to Virginia once you reach the 1860s.
Ancestry's search doesn't seem to realize this.
Many of my paternal ancestors are from the counties of Gilmer and Lewis in West Virginia. Both of these counties were originally in Virginia. When searching census records on Ancestry from 1870 to 1930, I have no problem choosing an exact search for one of these counties.
However, once I reach the 1860 census, at which point these counties were part of Virginia, I ran into problems. From the search screen, typing in Lewis County in the location box brings a dropdown which gives me the option of choosing the one in Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Tennessee, Washington or West Virginia. I can't choose Lewis County, Virginia.
When I tried researching Aaron Schoolcraft (my current person of interest who I happen to know was in Lewis County in 1830 and 1840) and narrowing the results down to only census and voter lists, it only gives me three results. One is the Census returns of Lewis County, (West) Virginia for 1850: copied from the original federal census records in the Census Bureau database. The other two are from the 1920 census for unrelated people.
On the surface, this sounds okay, but if you click on the result, it only gives you only the heads of household and the number of people in the household. This won't work for a variety of reasons. One, it's only a transcription, which means there may be errors. I want to see the actual image. Two, it's only an index so it doesn't give all the information from the actual census record. I want to see what else is in the record.
Most people that know me know that I'm not one to give up if something doesn't work right away. So I tried something different. I went back to the search screen and I put Lewis County, Virginia in as the exact location, even though it wasn't on the dropdown. Once again I used Aaron Schoolcraft and narrowed it down to the census and voter lists. This didn't work either. It gave me the same results as when I used Lewis County, West Virginia.
After giving it some thought, I approached the search screen once again with a new tactic. Instead of including a county, I put only Virginia in the location box and marked exact search. Then I went down to the keyword box and put in Lewis as an exact keyword.
Once again, when the results loaded, I narrowed it down by census and voter lists. This workaround was successful. It returned two results for Aaron Schoolcraft in Lewis, Virginia. As you can see from the image below, the results were not compiled transcriptions, but the actual census.
This just goes to show the importance of researching the historical background of whatever area you're looking for records in. If you're working backwards through records and your ancestor suddenly disappears, it may be a result of a changing boundary.
Ancestry's search doesn't seem to realize this.
Many of my paternal ancestors are from the counties of Gilmer and Lewis in West Virginia. Both of these counties were originally in Virginia. When searching census records on Ancestry from 1870 to 1930, I have no problem choosing an exact search for one of these counties.
However, once I reach the 1860 census, at which point these counties were part of Virginia, I ran into problems. From the search screen, typing in Lewis County in the location box brings a dropdown which gives me the option of choosing the one in Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Tennessee, Washington or West Virginia. I can't choose Lewis County, Virginia.
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| Search screen at Ancestry. As you can see, there is no option in the dropdown to choose Lewis County, Virginia |
When I tried researching Aaron Schoolcraft (my current person of interest who I happen to know was in Lewis County in 1830 and 1840) and narrowing the results down to only census and voter lists, it only gives me three results. One is the Census returns of Lewis County, (West) Virginia for 1850: copied from the original federal census records in the Census Bureau database. The other two are from the 1920 census for unrelated people.
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| Results of search for Aaron Schoolcraft using Lewis County, West Virginia as an exact location and narrowing it down to only census and voter lists. |
On the surface, this sounds okay, but if you click on the result, it only gives you only the heads of household and the number of people in the household. This won't work for a variety of reasons. One, it's only a transcription, which means there may be errors. I want to see the actual image. Two, it's only an index so it doesn't give all the information from the actual census record. I want to see what else is in the record.
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| Result for Aaron Schoolcraft in Census returns of Lewis County, (West) Virginia for 1850: copied from the original federal census records in the Census Bureau database. This is curious because Aaron was actually in Gilmer County in 1850. My suspicion is that whoever compiled the census returns included Gilmer County residents because it was formed from part of Lewis and Kanawha Counties in 1845. |
After giving it some thought, I approached the search screen once again with a new tactic. Instead of including a county, I put only Virginia in the location box and marked exact search. Then I went down to the keyword box and put in Lewis as an exact keyword.
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| Search screen using Aaron Schoolcraft with Virginia as exact location and Lewis as exact keyword |
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| Success! Using the state as location and adding the county as keyword will pull up the actual census records. |
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Genealogy Morning Tech Routine
I have been reading with interest the morning tech routines of some of my favorite geneabloggers. I have come to a conclusion. Apparently everyone but me is a morning person.
The alarm (aka my cell) goes off at 6:45, at which point I get up, although I have been known to hit the snooze button before, which results in a very rushed morning. I head to the kitchen for my first dose of caffeine in the form of Pepsi before moving on to my computer. I spent about 15 minutes checking Facebook and Twitter. While I may tweet good morning, I rarely join in any conversations this early because I have to be awake for a while before I'm coherent.
At 7:00, I wake my daughter up and get her ready for school. Once we get to school, I have a battle of wills with the car line monitor. He's supposed to open the doors for the kids and get them headed into school, but he usually ignores the cars lined up waiting on him to do his job. The parents either do it themselves or sit there until he finally comes over. Whether I wait or get out depends on how stubborn I'm feeling that particular morning and also whether I hit the snooze button, which usually means I'm still in my pajamas.
After arriving home, I fix breakfast and head back to the computer. Since I'm more awake at this point (having to get out of my warm car to walk around in the cold to open the car door does that), I check the news and RSS, sharing items of interest as I go.
With those complete, I check my email before moving on to my blogs. I check their stats and start working on posts. While I generally don't post every day (this month being the exception due to NaBloPoMo), I do try to work on a post daily. Not all of the daily posts I work on actually get published. Some sit around in my drafts folder waiting to be completed or deleted. Others are combined to make a single post. Occasionally, I will polish one up and post it on an article marketing site to help drive traffic.
The rest of the day until it's time to pick my daughter up is spent on genealogy and the duties of a housewife. Most of my genealogy research is not paid at the moment, although I plan for that to change in the future. In addition to researching my own family, I research for friends to get more experience in a wider range of locations and records.
I check in at Facebook and Twitter periodically throughout the day, joining the conversation if I have something to add. While I'm on G+, I don't check it as often as I probably should.
The alarm (aka my cell) goes off at 6:45, at which point I get up, although I have been known to hit the snooze button before, which results in a very rushed morning. I head to the kitchen for my first dose of caffeine in the form of Pepsi before moving on to my computer. I spent about 15 minutes checking Facebook and Twitter. While I may tweet good morning, I rarely join in any conversations this early because I have to be awake for a while before I'm coherent.
At 7:00, I wake my daughter up and get her ready for school. Once we get to school, I have a battle of wills with the car line monitor. He's supposed to open the doors for the kids and get them headed into school, but he usually ignores the cars lined up waiting on him to do his job. The parents either do it themselves or sit there until he finally comes over. Whether I wait or get out depends on how stubborn I'm feeling that particular morning and also whether I hit the snooze button, which usually means I'm still in my pajamas.
After arriving home, I fix breakfast and head back to the computer. Since I'm more awake at this point (having to get out of my warm car to walk around in the cold to open the car door does that), I check the news and RSS, sharing items of interest as I go.
With those complete, I check my email before moving on to my blogs. I check their stats and start working on posts. While I generally don't post every day (this month being the exception due to NaBloPoMo), I do try to work on a post daily. Not all of the daily posts I work on actually get published. Some sit around in my drafts folder waiting to be completed or deleted. Others are combined to make a single post. Occasionally, I will polish one up and post it on an article marketing site to help drive traffic.
The rest of the day until it's time to pick my daughter up is spent on genealogy and the duties of a housewife. Most of my genealogy research is not paid at the moment, although I plan for that to change in the future. In addition to researching my own family, I research for friends to get more experience in a wider range of locations and records.
I check in at Facebook and Twitter periodically throughout the day, joining the conversation if I have something to add. While I'm on G+, I don't check it as often as I probably should.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Serendipity in Genealogy
I strongly believe that if our ancestors want to be found, they will find a way to show us. Whether it's tripping over what appears to be a rock but is actually the gravestone you have been looking for, bumping into a stranger that knows something about your family, coming across a photo album with pictures of your family while browsing an antique store or meeting a cousin you never knew you had, these things have a way of happening. You can call it luck. You can call it serendipity. Call it whatever you want. Our ancestors let us know when they want to be found.
Early in my research, I had contacted a lookup volunteer to try to locate a marriage record for my 2nd great grandparents. I got more than I expected. When the volunteer responded, it was with the information that he had a connection to my 2nd great grandfather as well. He graciously shared his research into the line.
A couple years ago, I was searching on Footnote for obituaries for some members of my paternal line. When I opened one of the results, I was surprised to learn that it wasn't an obituary, but a newspaper column mentioning the person I was searching for. When I scrolled up to enlarge the page for easier reading, I learned that my great grandmother had written the column. After doing a little digging, I found out that she had written a column for the local newspaper for several years.
Last year, while out of state attending two family funerals, my mom and I visited a cemetery in the area where my 2nd great grandfather's brother and his wife (who may be my 2nd great grandmother's sister) are buried. While at the cemetery, we talked to a member of the church, who turned out to be a grandson of the couple.
A few weeks ago, I got a message from my aunt alerting me to a cousin on Facebook who had put up some family pictures. After sending her a friend request, I looked through her friend list to see if I could find any other family members and ended up coming across another cousin who had even more family pictures. That cousin led to another one and I now have over 50 family members as friends, many of whom I wasn't aware of until recently. Thanks to all these new cousins, I now have a lot of family pictures, stories and clues for my brick walls.
Early in my research, I had contacted a lookup volunteer to try to locate a marriage record for my 2nd great grandparents. I got more than I expected. When the volunteer responded, it was with the information that he had a connection to my 2nd great grandfather as well. He graciously shared his research into the line.
A couple years ago, I was searching on Footnote for obituaries for some members of my paternal line. When I opened one of the results, I was surprised to learn that it wasn't an obituary, but a newspaper column mentioning the person I was searching for. When I scrolled up to enlarge the page for easier reading, I learned that my great grandmother had written the column. After doing a little digging, I found out that she had written a column for the local newspaper for several years.
Last year, while out of state attending two family funerals, my mom and I visited a cemetery in the area where my 2nd great grandfather's brother and his wife (who may be my 2nd great grandmother's sister) are buried. While at the cemetery, we talked to a member of the church, who turned out to be a grandson of the couple.
A few weeks ago, I got a message from my aunt alerting me to a cousin on Facebook who had put up some family pictures. After sending her a friend request, I looked through her friend list to see if I could find any other family members and ended up coming across another cousin who had even more family pictures. That cousin led to another one and I now have over 50 family members as friends, many of whom I wasn't aware of until recently. Thanks to all these new cousins, I now have a lot of family pictures, stories and clues for my brick walls.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Their Story is My Story Too
While driving my daughter to school the other morning, I was listening to a Rascal Flatts CD we had recently found while unpacking after our move. The song "Take Me There" came on and while it's meant to be a love song, it struck me how it could apply to the reason we research our family history and heritage. I've included some of the lyrics so you can see what I mean.
The average person probably doesn't care that my paternal great grandparents' love goes back to childhood. They probably don't care that when the community did a lunch pail auction, she prayed that my great grandfather would win the pail she had prepared because she wanted to spend time with him. It's probably not important to other people that her mother had sent her out to the garden one day to pick vegetables and when my great grandfather showed up, he proposed to her right there in the midst of the dirt and plants.
It probably wouldn't be that difficult to find a marriage record for my maternal 2nd great grandmother and her last husband. There might even be a newspaper article. What you probably won't find is the fact that they had both been put in the nursing home by their families, which is where they met. It's also unlikely that it's written down anywhere (other than here of course) that they fell in love, ran away from the nursing home together and got married.
With a little bit of research, most people could probably find a death certificate for my paternal 2nd great grandfather. They might even find his obituary. What these two pieces of paper don't tell is the story behind his death. Every morning while my 2nd great grandmother prepared breakfast, he would go sit in the swing under the trees and relax before the day's work began. When he didn't come at her call that breakfast was ready, she went out and found that he had passed peacefully in the swing.
Names and dates are easy for my maternal great grandfather's step-brothers. However, most people probably don't know that both were professional musicians. One was also a composer who worked in theater.
To look at my paternal grandfather, you would only see a man who was always cracking jokes and had dirt under his nails from working with the earth. You wouldn't know that he was one of the pioneers of truck pulling in Florida, that he had an amazing voice and sang in his school choir, or that whenever his granddaughters (my sisters and I) would visit, he'd get down on his hands and knees in the floor with us to play even though he had severe back problems and looking back, it must have caused him a lot of pain to do so.
Unless you were looking for it, you probably wouldn't know that my maternal 5th great grandfather was one of the many imprisoned during the Civil War. A Confederate soldier, he was imprisoned at Fort Delaware Prison in New York, which is where he passed away. From reading accounts of other prisoners that were there, I can guess what happened. The divisions of the prison were filled with bunks, with the lower bunk on the ground, which made them very damp. Even though a stove was provided in each division, the heat it put out was paltry, not even keeping those within a few feet of it warm. This combined with inadequate food, water and clothing led to illness.
I know the names, dates and locations of my ancestors. However, it's the stories of their lives that bring them to life for me, that make them real people who lived, loved, knew joy and sadness, raised families, worked, had friends, fought for what they believed in and died. I want to know who they were, the experiences they went through and what values they passed on to their children. I want to know their story because it's my story too.
Tell me about your momma, your daddy, your home town, show me around.For me, I want to know everything about my ancestors, not just names, dates and places. I want to know the nitty-gritty bits, the seemingly insignificant details that shaped the man or woman they became.
I wanna see it all, don't leave anything out.
[Chorus:]
I wanna know, everything about you.
And I wanna go, down every road you've been.
Where your hopes and dreams and wishes live, where you keep the rest of your life hid.
I wanna know the girl behind that pretty stare.
Take me there.
Your first real kiss, your first true love, you were scared.
Show me where.
You learned about life, spent your summer nights, without a care.
Take me there.
I wanna roll down main street and backroads like you did when you were a kid.
What makes you who you are, tell me what your story is.
The average person probably doesn't care that my paternal great grandparents' love goes back to childhood. They probably don't care that when the community did a lunch pail auction, she prayed that my great grandfather would win the pail she had prepared because she wanted to spend time with him. It's probably not important to other people that her mother had sent her out to the garden one day to pick vegetables and when my great grandfather showed up, he proposed to her right there in the midst of the dirt and plants.
It probably wouldn't be that difficult to find a marriage record for my maternal 2nd great grandmother and her last husband. There might even be a newspaper article. What you probably won't find is the fact that they had both been put in the nursing home by their families, which is where they met. It's also unlikely that it's written down anywhere (other than here of course) that they fell in love, ran away from the nursing home together and got married.
With a little bit of research, most people could probably find a death certificate for my paternal 2nd great grandfather. They might even find his obituary. What these two pieces of paper don't tell is the story behind his death. Every morning while my 2nd great grandmother prepared breakfast, he would go sit in the swing under the trees and relax before the day's work began. When he didn't come at her call that breakfast was ready, she went out and found that he had passed peacefully in the swing.
Names and dates are easy for my maternal great grandfather's step-brothers. However, most people probably don't know that both were professional musicians. One was also a composer who worked in theater.
To look at my paternal grandfather, you would only see a man who was always cracking jokes and had dirt under his nails from working with the earth. You wouldn't know that he was one of the pioneers of truck pulling in Florida, that he had an amazing voice and sang in his school choir, or that whenever his granddaughters (my sisters and I) would visit, he'd get down on his hands and knees in the floor with us to play even though he had severe back problems and looking back, it must have caused him a lot of pain to do so.
Unless you were looking for it, you probably wouldn't know that my maternal 5th great grandfather was one of the many imprisoned during the Civil War. A Confederate soldier, he was imprisoned at Fort Delaware Prison in New York, which is where he passed away. From reading accounts of other prisoners that were there, I can guess what happened. The divisions of the prison were filled with bunks, with the lower bunk on the ground, which made them very damp. Even though a stove was provided in each division, the heat it put out was paltry, not even keeping those within a few feet of it warm. This combined with inadequate food, water and clothing led to illness.
I know the names, dates and locations of my ancestors. However, it's the stories of their lives that bring them to life for me, that make them real people who lived, loved, knew joy and sadness, raised families, worked, had friends, fought for what they believed in and died. I want to know who they were, the experiences they went through and what values they passed on to their children. I want to know their story because it's my story too.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
SNGF-The Ancestors' Geneameme
Time for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. This week's mission is to participate in the Ancestors' Geneameme. Below is my contribution.
The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
You are encouraged to add extra comments in brackets after each item
The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
You are encouraged to add extra comments in brackets after each item
Which of these apply to you?
- Can name my 16 great-great-grandparents
- Can name over 50 direct ancestors
- Have photographs or portraits of my 8 great-grandparents [I have photographs of everyone but my great grandfather Charles William Radcliff. I should have it soon.]
- Have an ancestor who was married more than three times [I have more than one, the closest being my maternal great grandfather Clyde Thomas Vanzandt, who was married 8 times, although he only actually had 4 wives]
- Have an ancestor who was a bigamist
- Met all four of my grandparents
- Met one or more of my great-grandparents [I have met them all, although I only remember my great grandmothers and my step great grandfather. One of my great grandmothers is still living.]
- Named a child after an ancestor [This is something I've thought about. If I have another daughter, she will be named for some of our ancestors.]
- Bear an ancestor's given name/s [My name is pretty unique. I have yet to meet anyone with the same given name.]
- Have an ancestor from Great Britain or Ireland [On both sides]
- Have an ancestor from Asia
- Have an ancestor from Continental Europe [Haven't proven it yet, but I'm pretty sure I have this one both sides.]
- Have an ancestor from Africa [It was a complete surprise when I stumbled across that one because no one had said anything about it.]
- Have an ancestor who was an agricultural labourer
- Have an ancestor who had large land holdings
- Have an ancestor who was a holy man - minister, priest, rabbi
- Have an ancestor who was a midwife
- Have an ancestor who was an author [Probably not an author in most people's book, but my great grandmother Evelyn Edna King Carson had a weekly newspaper column.]
- Have an ancestor with the surname Smith, Murphy or Jones [On both sides]
- Have an ancestor with the surname Wong, Kim, Suzuki or Ng
- Have an ancestor with a surname beginning with X
- Have an ancestor with a forename beginnining with Z
- Have an ancestor born on 25th December
- Have an ancestor born on New Year's Day
- Have blue blood in your family lines
- Have a parent who was born in a country different from my country of birth
- Have a grandparent who was born in a country different from my country of birth
- Can trace a direct family line back to the eighteenth century
- Can trace a direct family line back to the seventeenth century or earlier
- Have seen copies of the signatures of some of my great-grandparents
- Have ancestors who signed their marriage certificate with an X [I'm sure there were some; I just haven't came across them yet.]
- Have a grandparent or earlier ancestor who went to university
- Have an ancestor who was convicted of a criminal offence [But I did have one that had to pay a penance.]
- Have an ancestor who was a victim of crime
- Have shared an ancestor's story online or in a magazine (Tell us where) [Does this blog count?]
- Have published a family history online or in print (Details please) [This is something I have been considering for a while.]
- Have visited an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries [Most probably no longer exist today, but I can always hope. I know Bolling Hall, home of my Bolling ancestors is still standing and currently operates as a museum.]
- Still have an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries in the family
- Have a family bible from the 19th Century
- Have a pre-19th century family bible
Monday, October 10, 2011
Conversations With My Ancestors
Last night I had a dream. I'm sure it's a common one among genealogists and family historians. Even if they haven't dreamed it, they've thought about it. I dreamed I was talking to my ancestors, asking all the questions that go through my mind while I'm researching them.
To my 2nd great grandfather James Walter Sweat:
To my 2nd great grandfather James Walter Sweat:
Exactly where the heck did you go between 1900 and 1920? I've searched census records using every possible variation I could think of. I couldn't find you in the WWI Draft Registrations even though you should have been there. It's like you, Addie and the kids fell off the face of the Earth and didn't find your way back until 1920.
And while I'm on the subject of things that baffle me, what's the big deal with moving all the time? You were born in Ware County, Georgia; showed up in Pierce County in 1880 and were still there when you married Addie in 1896; appeared in Appling County in 1900; disappeared for twenty years; reappeared in Atkinson County in 1920; popped up in Colquitt County in 1930 and your last appearance was Berrien County where you passed away in 1940.To my 2nd great grandmother Addie Mae Deen Sweat:
Are my suspicions correct? Were Doley, John Wesley and Annie Deen your siblings? And what was your mother's name? Your death certificate says (blank) Jerdan. I've searched marriage records to try to determine her name and I've come up dry.To my 3rd great grandfather Thomas Vanzandt:
Why are you listed as widowed in the 1910 census when your wife Ellen was alive and well living with her new husband and four of your children not even 100 miles away? Ellen even admits in the census that Frank Knipe is her second husband and your children are listed as his step-children.To my 2nd great grandmother Eva Mae Sanders Boling Cooper:
Why is there a family legend that you were married eight times, outliving all your husbands? Were you a victim of genea-skankery or is there something else going on?To Thomas Smith, father the man I suspect to be my 4th great grandfather, Thomas Smith:
Seriously? As a Thomas Smith yourself, you should realize how common that name is. Why not name your son something more unusual like Zachariah or Ezekiel? Finding the right Thomas Smith in census and other records is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Apparently pairing common given names with a common surname is a family trait seeing as some of your grandchildren were named James, William, Mary and George.To my 4th great grandfather Oliver Perry Register:
Exactly what happened during the Civil War that led you to be accused of being a Confederate deserter? I've read your pension application and that of your wife Mary, studied your letters and brooded over the petition signed by other Confederate veterans. It must have been a real kick in the teeth to get called a deserter and denied a pension after serving faithfully.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Musings on Pedigree Collapse
Last night on Twitter, Valerie Craft made a comment about pedigree collapse.
In the end, you will find that certain ancestors have more than one relationship to their descendants. This is especially true of royal families where spouses were selected based on noble blood, which inevitably meant that the couples were related in some way.
Examples of pedigree collapse in my tree include
When I was in elementary school, I remember we did a segment on local culture and history. We learned how to milk a cow, churn butter, weave on a loom and make candles. At the end of the week, the mother of one of my classmates played her banjo and sang folk songs. Some were sad; some were serious. The one that cracked all of us up was "I'm My Own Grandpa," a ballad documenting the series of marriages that led to the song's author becoming his own grandfather.
Further Reading on Pedigree Collapse
Family Tree Magazine: What is Pedigree Collapse?
International Society of Genetic Genealogy Wiki: Pedigree Collapse
Ontario Genealogy Society: Pedigree Collapse
The comment got me thinking. In a nutshell, pedigree collapse is where ancestors marry distant relatives (and sometimes not to so distant relatives), resulting in a narrowing of the family tree the higher up you go. Instead of having an exponential amount of direct ancestors, some ancestors will be found in more than one spot of your family tree.
This brings to mind a comment made at one of the sessions I attended at last year's Atlanta Family History Expo. In the session Breaking Down Brick Walls with Location Based Genealogy, presenter Bernie Gracy said that prior to the advent of faster methods of travel, ancestors often stayed in the same area their entire lives, marrying other people from that area. Since area residents were often family members of some degree, this resulted in intermarrying with family members.
If you trace your family tree far enough back, you will see that pedigree collapse is bound to happen at some point. As the number of possible direct line ancestors grows exponentially, the number will soon reach an amount that is higher than the world's population at that particular point in time.
Examples of pedigree collapse in my tree include
- My grandfather's third wife (I descend from his first) married into the family several times. My grandfather was one marriage, another was to his first cousin and a third marriage was to a man I'm fairly sure was his first cousin once removed.
- My great grandfather's niece married my maternal great grandmother's brother. The children from this marriage are my double first cousins twice removed.
- I have several instances of siblings of one family marrying siblings of another family.
- My 3rd great grandfather second marriage (I descend from his first) was to the niece of his brother's wife. Two of his wife's sisters married brothers of his daughter-in-law.
- My 2nd great grandparents were second cousins.
- My 7th great grandparents were first cousins.
When I was in elementary school, I remember we did a segment on local culture and history. We learned how to milk a cow, churn butter, weave on a loom and make candles. At the end of the week, the mother of one of my classmates played her banjo and sang folk songs. Some were sad; some were serious. The one that cracked all of us up was "I'm My Own Grandpa," a ballad documenting the series of marriages that led to the song's author becoming his own grandfather.
Further Reading on Pedigree Collapse
Family Tree Magazine: What is Pedigree Collapse?
International Society of Genetic Genealogy Wiki: Pedigree Collapse
Ontario Genealogy Society: Pedigree Collapse
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