Archive for General
A Death in the Family
We had ourselves a death in the family last week. My Uncle Clarence at age 93, finally decided he had done enough living for one person. He was mom’s only surviving brother and he spent his last few months banging back and forth between the VA Hospital, Home and eventually a Nursing Center. For weeks, it was a non-stop guessing game as to where Uncle Clarence would be this week.
My aunt and uncle had prepared themselves for the issues they would encounter. They had a plan, had the documents in place and ready to implement. They tried to follow that plan as best they could.
Who do you think you are?
The first season of this show has ended and being an avid Genealogist, I caught all the episodes except the one with Matthew Broderick. Sorry Matthew.
Anyway, I found myself laughing and also shouting No, No No, at the television set. Leave it to Ancestry.com to gloss over some of the fundamentals of Genealogy, in order to produce their hour long infomercial.
This last episode with Spike Lee, particularly made me sigh. While it is true that some African families did change their names away from that of their slave owning family, to make the grand assumption of the proper new family name, based on proximity is a bad way to teach Genealogy. Proximity should NEVER be used to make an assumption of connection.
Are you a Genealogist?
A Genealogist is a person who pursues knowledge about his ancestors. I tend to be a lot more precise than this. I don’t call just anyone pursuing information about their family a Genealogist. I see four different sets of people in this hobby.They lend themselves distinctly to their group whether by deliberate action or by chance, but they define themselves immediately.
The four groups are: Data Thieves, Hobbyists, Veterans, Professionals.
In this article I will define the characteristics of all four groups so that you may recognize which of the groups you fit into.
Genealogy and Adoption
Disclaimer: Nothing in this article should be construed or interpreted as legal advice.
I have been teaching Genealogy off and on for over three decades. One of the things that happens in every class I teach, is that there is at least one person who was adopted, who wants to know how to go about finding their birth parents. While my answers haven’t changed much in thirty years, the resources for both the adoptees and the birth parents have increased greatly, as has the civil understanding as to why adoption records should be made available to those searching. I have a lot to say about this issue so please forgive the length of this article.
Keep Traditions Alive!
Last weekend we spent the better part of two days hauling out all the Christmas Boxes and setting about the home placing all the Christmassy things here and there. The 6 foot plastic tree, because I am allergic to Pine, the boxes of ornaments and under the tree items. The Manger my father made decades ago out of spare wood, and the various under the tree characters. Under our tree looks like Bethlehem was invaded by rejects from the North Pole and Dickens “A Christmas Carol”. About the only thing missing is the train and that’s because there’s little room to do it right and besides the transformer burnt out a few years ago and I just haven’t replaced it.
Pass the Turkey
How many of you fight over the Drumstick? We never solved that problem in our house and the kids and some of the adults grabbed for only two available and the resulting spectacle was a sight to behold. But in the days of Atomic Testing and the Cold War, nothing seemed that strange and no one ever used the logic of buying a box of drums and leaving the rest of the bird at the store.
Twenty five or more people all crowded around an Adult Table and a Kids Table, all doing their best to grab everything in sight. Passing dishes in two different directions, so the poor suckers in the middle always got stuck with a pile up of dishes and no place to put them.
Genealogy Software
If you are working on your genealogy, you need a piece of software to record everything you find. I have some strong feelings when it comes to software because that was my profession for over a decade. I have designed, tested, sold and installed software and taught people how to use it. So when I talk about things in that arena, it comes from some very specific ideas and experience.
Here is some historical perspective and a bit of information different than the reviews you will find on most Software sites. I have dealt with many of the developers first hand over the years and know there many motivations. I have also seen many companies destroyed by tactics that reek.
The Big Promise
One of the things you will be sure to encounter once you have been researching long enough is what I refer to as “The Big Promise.” You will find someone, somewhere who will have documents, pictures, newspaper clippings, journals, military records or something else that it would be really great for you to have for your research. While many people might hand you these things you will always encounter the person who looks you squarely in the eye and says, “You can have these things when I die.”
Don’t hold your breath!
Cemeteries
If you are an avid Genealogist, you have spent time in a cemetery. For those of you who haven’t you have missed one of the more reliable sources of information for your older ancestors. Also, for no other reason, you should record the graves and locations, because cemetery stones do wear out and do fade over time and most methods of tracing an older stone do more damage to the stone. Tracking the dates and times in each cemetery can also help you design a timeline of your ancestors and also a geographic timeline of where they lived.
In the Beginning..
Welcome to Genealogy.
If you are new to the quest for your ancestors,you are sitting there with a desire to search out and find out information about those who have come before you. You are entering a world of dust and devils as you seek out knowledge and information, some of it decades gone by.
It is my fervent hope that you learn to do the research correctly and dive into the hobby with all of your energy and conviction. It is possible to become a genuine family historian with only some basic knowledge. Hopefully I can help you down this path and teach you some of the core principles of the hobby.
