Sorry, I haven't been frequenting blogs as much as usual in the last week or so, but I've been off doing some family research. You see, I was a free member of ancestry.com for about a year or so. It drove me crazy not being able to see the parent's names and surnames when all of those wonderful records came up. There was this wonderful treasure trove of information out there and I could see it, touch it, but learn little from it. I was getting nowhere fast. I didn't really have the money, I know I really shouldn't have subscribed to it without considering how I was going to pay the fee. Finally though it just didn't matter to me anymore. I just had to break down the barriers that were keeping me from learning things that have been easily found for me this last week. I've been on the site almost every moment that I have been awake.
This post is for you Brenda. I want to give you hope that you can do it too. I wouldn't really consider myself particularly smart or really very talented of a researcher. Anyone can do what I have done. I just got lucky to have so many recent family members born in a state with easily accessible information. I'm not very experienced, but if I can attempt to answer any questions you may have about starting your research process. I wish you much luck, I've had much so far.
It's been too hot to get the painting done, it would simply dry too fast and create a more brittle finish than I'd care to tend to. If I painted in this weather I'd be painting again next summer for sure. No thanks! I have every intention to visit my friends when I turned on the computer. I check my email, but the temptation was too great. I couldn't resist the call of my ancestors.
When I got started with my ancestry research, I didn't have a whole lot to go on. The names of my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. A few great grandparents too, but I didn't know much about them. About any of them really. I may have given up if infomation didn't start falling into my lap so easily.
I was fortunate that many of my relatives were born in MN so I could access their birth certificates with their first and last name, birth year, and parent's names. Then I could use that information to find them in the census records. I like the ones that include all of the household's names on them. You'd be amazed how many family members I discovered that way.
I added 99 people to my tree yesterday alone. If only some of them were online maybe I could make contact with my 5th cousins or whatever they'd be to me. Only a few are researching the same people as I am. I have attempted to contact some of them, but so far I've only heard back from one of them. I'll keep working at it, but I'm sure the going is going to start being much less easy soon.
I suppose it will be cooling down too. Cheesehead is on vacation next week, so after we help his mom get some stuff done this weekend, we'll be heading home to attempt to finish our shed. I hope we can spend at least one day doing something fun though. We're thinking about going to the MN state fair, but those trips can end up being a bit costly...
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Do NOT Copy
16 comments:
That's okay Cinj. Life sometimes keeps us otherwise occupied. :) Good luck with the research. My mother is really into that and has discovered alot of interesting things in our family tree.
Anyone who can research this stuff and add 99 family members is pretty talented and busy! Good job!
Family research is great! A distant cousin of mine, (who is French), contacted me years ago from France. Since then, my husband and I have visited him and his family in France, and hosted one of his daughters here for a week. It's been great.
My father in law has traced their "family name" back to the first one arriving in USA. He found out that all with that name living in the USA, came from that one man! We plan to take a family Vacation this Oct. to see a grave in Williamsburg, VA.
Oh my! Now you have done it! Genealogy can be habit forming. I started over 10 years ago and have collected so much stuff that I started a website and share it with others to help those out of state. It is rewarding and at times quite aggravating. Congratulations on your search and good luck in your continued hunt.
http://www.geocities.com/lonadawn1/hocking_genealogy.htm
Sounds exciting, Cinj!!! Genealogy is so fascinating, especially if there are family stories to go with the names. Hope you and Cheeshead think of something fun to do next week!
Bravo for you and you are getting the hang of it quickly. I heard from very few people that I contacted because people protect their information. They don't mind hearing from you but they sometimes won't give out what they have. It's because the digging process is hard. They don't want to reveal to you what it took them years to discover. Some folks spend hours pouring over old Bibles, miroflims in dusty libraries, and search through countless cemetaries. Those who have really dug and put the info out there have had their stuff stolen and reprinted incorrectly. So many in the genealogy world have gotten cold feet about talking to newbies. But as you gain trust and can talk the talk--with birth and death dates---they will start talking to you.
Beware of the many family links that have linked incorrectly. My family was one of them and it was a big mistake that is in the process of being corrected. It's actually fun to find a mistake and then be part of the correction. You get a lot of people mad at you----but then you gain a lot of respect and are a hero in some ways. So make sure you document each generation!!!! Don't believe anything unless it's on a birth certificate, marriage certificate, census record, death record, will, etc!! Military records are good too.
There is one link in my family that only me and two other people proved but the one who shared it with me wants to publish the information. I am honoring that request to keep quiet and patiently waiting on her to write the book on our family. She only told me cause I too caught the mistake that had been printed and was on websites all over the internet. I caught the mistake by always proving each generation.
Some people just copy and paste links without making sure they are true links. Good luck to you and it is really fun. The rabbit trails are many and rewarding. This can consume you!!
Good for you, Cinj! My husband has been at it for years and is quite a good detective, I believe. It is one of those things that is addictive, and the longer you chew it, the bigger it gets. Have fun!
It is amazing to find out things about family history. I belong to DAR and my husband is a SAR member. Thats a lot of research. It took us several years to get the info I needed to get there. Good luck with your research.
PGL- That's for sure. I have a big load of craft projects to work on too. Thanks for the good luck wishes. I found my great grandmother's census records that have been eluding me so far. I was so happy to finally get my hands on it! That's the branch that needs the most work.
Nancy- It sure is. My husband has even checked out the work I've been doing a few times. My Bowman family line has been researched back to 16th century England by someone. I'm working on verifying all of those records for myself, but someone sure did a lot of hard work. I've found quite a few misspelled names in the census information so far.
Tina- It was super easy though since everyone was from MN and the records were easy to find. Thanks for the encouragement though.
K&V- It sure is, isn't it? Looks like another humid day tomorrow so we'll be headed off for our last $1 movie of the summer. I'd love to find a relative from Sweden or Finland or something.
Skeeter- Wow, now that sounds like a vacation! I'd like to find some of my relative's grave sites.
HG- I agree. I don't think I'll ever be done, but the research is fun. I'm helping Cheesehead get his line together too, but it's harder when you have to ask someone everything.
Ben- I'm hoping to find those stories to go with the names. One of my ancestors had a dearly loved wife buried close to his house in MN with plans of being buried next to her. He went back to Kentucky for a visit and died of pnemonia. They buried him there. I felt bad for the poor guy when I read about it, but I understood the reasons.
Anna- It is neat. I found some people who shared ancestor's names that seemed to have an interesting story. I assume one must have lived in an orphanage with all of the children in the census. It wasn't the right person, but interesting anyway. I'm checking all of the "facts" that pop up on my screen. I wish I could afford to order the original records, but seeing some of the information is neat. Maybe someday when I win the lottery....
Barbee- Got any tips to share? It sure is turning into a big project, we have over 700 names in our tree already.
That sounds facinating. I would look into my family, but I am afraid of what I might find. My husband's aunt did years of work and presented us with a genealogy book of his family last christmas. It was great.
Cinj I am into genealogy to. I would like to find out more about my father but I don't have any info to go on. Odly enough my brother mail & said he was 1/2 Cherokee. Never heard that before.
We do have my mother's mothers side back to 1710. It is so interesting. I would like to find out all I can. It makes it hard when all the older generation has gone on. Maybe one day.
Cinj--if you are now a paying member of Ancestry.com...then you only need to pull up the records online and print them from your computer. Many generations prior to and including your grandparents are online. Ancestry.com has easy access to them. Did you get that far yet?
I forgot how far back public records can be copied to the internet. New privacy laws and laws concerning terrorism keep newer records from being published. But you can go back to the 1600's with Ancestry and most of what you need to document is right at your fingertips. All you need is a printer. Is is true that original documents are the best----but having a photo copy from Ancestry.com of the record--say like a copy of a census or marriage record----is now accepted as authentic copies. The DAR will take Ancestry.com copies. They will not take published genealogy lines as proof---but if you prove it by printing out all the death, marriage, etc records--then your line will be accepted.
That's why I said you must start keeping files on everyone. Let's say you go off on a rabbit trail and run across someone on a census record. Print that record and put it under the file of the person you are working on---and make a second print for that individual's own file. Print every story--etc.
Sometimes---you find out that you were related to someone but then you can't go back and figure out where you were to begin with.
Sorry, I'm, so wordy but I've been at this for over 20 years and I hope to make it easier for you. You are smart about what to look for and catching on quickly since you been doing it for awhile. You'll go days were you just can't put it down--especially if you are right on the verge of something big.
Good luck---let me know if you need help.
Cindee- You must have snuck in there when I was answering everyone's comments. What exactly is the DAR anyway? I mean I know what the initials stand for and everything, but....
Debbi- LOL. Every family is bound to have a couple of characters in it. I think a gift like that would be great, it would make it easier to find the documents you're looking for to have all of the information at your fingertips.
Lola- That's when you have to go off of hints from documents you dig up. My dad passed away 2 years ago, but he had some information in his files that I managed to get ahold of.
Anna- I've been finding all of those, but I didn't know if it had all of the information the originals did. I guess I'll have to get my printer fixed soon. Cheesehead has looked at some of the records I found for his family with great interest. He asked if I could print them, but my other computer that's got the printer is messed up right now. Grr.
I've been attatching all of the records I find to the people though to make it easier for me to find them again once I get my printer functioning. It also makes it easier for other researchers to find the same records. I'm not going to be selfish about my hard work. Isn't it the job of a family historian to share what they find with the family?
I haven't sprung for the world membership yet, but most of my ancestors are from US anyway. Maybe once I get back to everyone who came across the Atlantic I'll think about paying the extra money. For now it's not really worth my hard earned money though.
How do you go about getting things fixed on there? I've found many errors as well, but mostly spelling errors. Some people have all of the different errors listed as seperate people. My grandma is listed as Selven because of a census record. I don't know, maybe it's not all that important to some people though....
I like wordy and detailed because that's the kind of person I am. Maybe I share too much information sometimes, but I don't force anyone to come over and read my words anyway so what's the harm in it? LOL.
Hello Cinj!
I think we're all in the same boat..the summer is coming to an end and I have been busy too. I've spent some much needed time with my family the past couple weeks as well.
Genealogy is a lot of work but worth the effort isn't it!
Thinking of you!
Hugs,
Kathi :)
Good luck with your research! My sister did a bunch of digging awhile back and gave us all books with pictures, very cool!
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