While this blog site is mostly a soapbox to tell the story of some of our ancestors that have not had their full story (or a wrong story) told, I also may slide sideways into other areas of genealogical interest that helps to eak out the little details that strengthen their biographies.
Today's sideways roll is My Personal Genealogical Holy Trinity: the three things I most want to find about an ancestor:
1. Photographs. I always look for photographs. I have a very large extended family, one of which is still has yearly reunions, and others of whom keep in touch via FaceBook. These are great ways to ask for more photographs, because there are never enough.
With the apps available for cell phones, it is extremely easy to make copies without it ever leaving the hands of the owner. This is extremely important for many people who own valuable photographs.
And it doesn't just have to be photographs of people. In the collage above, in the lower right corner, is a picture of a necklace I wore in my first wedding. It was a cameo my great-grandfather gave my great-grandmother as a wedding present. I have several photographs of items from various branches in lieu of actually owning the item, and that works for me!
2. The farm. I have a deep abiding love for farms and farmers. Many of my branches have been traced back to the early 1700s and I have only found three men in all of those hundreds of ancestors who were known to have an additional occupation, (their census records almost always listed them as farmers however).
Once the Northwest Territory opened up, my ancestors headed there, and luckily, the big squares of Townships and Ranges used to divide it are fairly easy to use to pinpoint the location. Sadly, I will probably have to hire a professional researcher to locate the farm of my ancestor who reportedly lived next to Thomas Jefferson - metes and bounds are far beyond me!
Our families lived on a working farm up through my kids and only other farmers understand my loss. I have 35 first cousins, most of whom grew up on working farms, and one, just one is still farming and he has supplemental income.
So before I go off on a political tangent about the downfall of farming, I will move on to:
3. The cemetery. Ah yes, the cemetery - the place I always seem to drag my husband to for research. In January. In the midwest. Except when we ended up in Florida in July one year and I wanted to visit his great-grandfather (who had been dead for sixty years!)
The Find-A-Grave project is a great project, but it can't beat actually visiting the cemetery. Who is buried beside whom? More importantly, is there one family member buried off by himself? What does that mean? Is it transcribed correctly, especially if it doesn't match information you have? Some are so tricky to read...is there a church attached to the cemetery? Some volunteers are better than others when it comes to "extra" information.
Mostly I visit because I want to pay tribute to those who came before me. Ok, so when I finally located one guy, all I could do was throw my hands in the air and say "you rascal, here you are!"
But with others I have literally wept.
What is your Research Trinity? What three things do you most want to know?
Today's sideways roll is My Personal Genealogical Holy Trinity: the three things I most want to find about an ancestor:
1. Photographs. I always look for photographs. I have a very large extended family, one of which is still has yearly reunions, and others of whom keep in touch via FaceBook. These are great ways to ask for more photographs, because there are never enough.
With the apps available for cell phones, it is extremely easy to make copies without it ever leaving the hands of the owner. This is extremely important for many people who own valuable photographs.
And it doesn't just have to be photographs of people. In the collage above, in the lower right corner, is a picture of a necklace I wore in my first wedding. It was a cameo my great-grandfather gave my great-grandmother as a wedding present. I have several photographs of items from various branches in lieu of actually owning the item, and that works for me!
2. The farm. I have a deep abiding love for farms and farmers. Many of my branches have been traced back to the early 1700s and I have only found three men in all of those hundreds of ancestors who were known to have an additional occupation, (their census records almost always listed them as farmers however).
Once the Northwest Territory opened up, my ancestors headed there, and luckily, the big squares of Townships and Ranges used to divide it are fairly easy to use to pinpoint the location. Sadly, I will probably have to hire a professional researcher to locate the farm of my ancestor who reportedly lived next to Thomas Jefferson - metes and bounds are far beyond me!
Our families lived on a working farm up through my kids and only other farmers understand my loss. I have 35 first cousins, most of whom grew up on working farms, and one, just one is still farming and he has supplemental income.
So before I go off on a political tangent about the downfall of farming, I will move on to:
3. The cemetery. Ah yes, the cemetery - the place I always seem to drag my husband to for research. In January. In the midwest. Except when we ended up in Florida in July one year and I wanted to visit his great-grandfather (who had been dead for sixty years!)
The Find-A-Grave project is a great project, but it can't beat actually visiting the cemetery. Who is buried beside whom? More importantly, is there one family member buried off by himself? What does that mean? Is it transcribed correctly, especially if it doesn't match information you have? Some are so tricky to read...is there a church attached to the cemetery? Some volunteers are better than others when it comes to "extra" information.
Mostly I visit because I want to pay tribute to those who came before me. Ok, so when I finally located one guy, all I could do was throw my hands in the air and say "you rascal, here you are!"
But with others I have literally wept.
What is your Research Trinity? What three things do you most want to know?
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