...BASICS... move from the known to the unknown

This statement sounds SO self-evident, like.... the sun comes up in the morning, in the east.

However,... part of the issue is the genealogical definition of "known."  For this genealogist, "known" equals solid evidence of the particulars of a person, from careful examination of documents and analysis and ...

My father knew that his gggreat, Patrick Ross, was killed during the Civil War (Union), and he wanted to find the parents of Patrick.  Off to the National Archives in DC (close by since he lived in northern Virginia) to have a look at Patrick's compiled service record, and, as it happened, his wife's widow's pension. 

By that time, I had attended a number of genealogy seminars, and had a basic working knowledge of how this world worked, and we made a day of it. 

Dad, a lovely and intelligent man, who spent his working life analyzing complex cross-cultural questions, was totally disappointed in the information offered by the thick pension file.  As he read each page, he would shake his head saying, "It doesn't say who his parents are."  I heard this at the end of almost every page, and when it wasn't said, the head would shake, saying the same thing without words.  I however, was totally delighted with the pension record.  As said, it was huge, with pages and pages of depositions by everyone in the area.  I "met" the people in the neighborhood (think FAN club), and got the married names of the daughters, and one deposition was even given by James Shirley, who said he was married to one of the daughters.  Pay dirt on any number of points -- at least as I was concerned.

Fast forward about 30 years, add unnumbered hours of research, and I have a working hypothesis about Patrick Ross' father. Is it proved?  Not yet.

But the joy is in the search.... right??
and stay tuned... Patrick et familie may make an appearance from time to time  (GRIN)

... So you want to "do Genealogy"...

Genealogists – or “so you want to “do Genealogy”

What would you need to pack for your first few road trips into the world of Genealogy?

What would you need for this journey into this new place?

Part One:

A Working Car.  You will be traveling - locally, and more.  Libraries, meetings, archives, etc., etc..  Nuff said. 

 

Part Two:

>>  Computer skills.  Yes, lots is off-line and will forever be off-line, but computer is the gateway to information about societies (most now publish their newsletter electronically), about conferences, and the starting place for most inquiries, the databases held by Ancestry and FamilySearch. 

>> Organization skills.  Information will be coming into your net through many portals, electronic, paper, lecture notes, webinars, books (!), electronic books, web pages, etc., etc.   You must  have a way of remembering what you have seen, learned, done, or I promise you, you will re-do it, possibly more than once (been there done that, hope to do it less and less.)

>> Good family social skills.  It doesn’t matter if Aunt Gladys hasn’t talked to anyone in the family for years. If Aunt Gladys is holding the letters written during WW1 by great uncle Simon to Glady’s mother, you want to see them, read them, and take photographs of them. 

>> Good advertising skills.  Everyone, and I do mean everyone, in the extended family should know that you are “doing genealogy” and that the very best present they could give you is copies of all the family documents that they hold, and, if they feel flush, a DNA test.  Ditto for family photos.   My grandmother died young, had the bottom desk drawer full of photos, and the cousin who cleared the house (rapidly) tossed everything.  The result?  I do a huge happy dance when I find a photo in a school yearbook or newspaper.  “don’t let this be you”

>> Good archival skills.  You will spend hundreds of hours (or more), and hundreds of dollars (or more) amassing information about your family.   Even as you begin, it is not too early to look for someone within the family, or your community, who will inherit your work.  Even if they are not “doing genealogy” they are willing and able to be custodian of this opus, and will safeguard it, and as the family grows, look for another who is doing genealogy on this family.

         AND... you will make it much easier for someone to enjoy keeping your work when it is arranged and accessible, rather than 17 boxes of mixed paper and documents and photos.  (..yes??...)

 

Well,  bon voyage, and happy trails....

A.B.C. darium --- E is for the easy button? No deal...

E is for the easy button.  We have come to an ‘easy button’ orientation.  All those services where you summon a genie to do your bidding with a phone call or a click: peapod, bed-in-a-box, personal shopper, kindle books, grub hub (and similar), and the ENTIRE internet shopping gig, and now even removal companies “point at it and it’s gone.” 

By comparison, genealogy is in the dark ages.  To be sure, Ancestry and Family Search have digitized not only the information, but the images of many of the ‘usual suspects’ (ie. first places to look), starting with the Federal census and WW1 & 2 draft registration cards.  These databases add more records weekly, if not daily.  One can sit in one’s jammies, or deal with insomnia, by surfing for hours on internet, genealogy and other sites, and come up with some interesting stuff for one’s tree, but….

            You will  end up going off-line, off-computer, and unless your family has lived since their arrival in the US in the same city in which you reside, you will  end up taking road trips to see cemeteries, churches (those things that don’t move), and to do research in those libraries (local treasures) and courthouses (or spend lots for photocopies, and perhaps not “get it all.”)

I remember one speaker who said, “If genealogy were easy, there would be no genealogists, and everyone would have their trees back to Adam.”  (glad to credit you, but I truly don’t remember where or when.

Genealogy is invigorating, exciting, rewarding, fulfilling, useful, wonderful, but it is rarely easy.  More often it is challenging, frustrating, annoying as the pieces that you have about a family don’t mesh into a full picture or a road to take you forward. 

There is no EASY button, but there is lots of hope.