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.
>> 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??...)