Back in the 1980's and '90's I was quite passionate about family history research. In addition to doing a lot of work on my own family lines, I worked in a genealogy library helping to teach other people how to get started with it. However, that was a long time ago - before genealogy (or anything else for that matter) went digital. So my research methods back then were most definitely "old school". I went to court houses. I wrote letters which were mailed at a post office to various libraries and genealogical organizations. I walked through cemeteries. I cranked lots of microfilm machines. It was rewarding, but rather tedious, expensive and slow to track down new information.
Then as time went by, my life got very busy with career and family responsibilities. I had two very active sons who kept life interesting with all their activities. When they got older, I went back to school to complete a graduate degree. After that I was immersed in establishing a career. Along the way our family moved a few times. Basically, life got full and I allowed a lot of other things to take precedence over my genealogical research.
During the next decade or so, most of my family history records got put on the back burner. Once I packed it all up for one of our moves, I never really got it all out again to have it be an ongoing part of my activities. I would go back and dabble in it a bit from time to time whenever circumstances would allow, or if I learned of a new lead. But I was not nearly as focused on keeping up with it as I previously had been.
Then around 2010-2011 I decided it was time to get it all out to take stock of what records I had and to organize it again. I got into a Family History class at my church and that re-ignited the old spark of passion. An aunt and uncle I hadn't spoken to in years sent me several boxes of old family photos, documents and personal correspondences when they were clearing out closets. Filled with renewed energy for the project, I was ready to pick up where I had left off. However, I discovered the whole world of family history research had changed dramatically with the advancement of the Internet. Genealogy had gone digital while my back was turned!
Today I have a whole new set of tools and research methods from how I did things before. So I decided to embrace those tools by using the internet as a means of both recording data I had collected and for sharing my love of family history research with others. This is why:
1) I want to PRESERVE my information. By recording my various family information digitally and posting it on this blog, it keeps it safe, no matter what happens to my original records. Potential dangers of flood, fire, mice, or other destructive elements are far less of a threat when my data and images and saved to the "virtual cloud". Beyond that, most of my family does not have much interest in genealogy. It's quite possible that when I grow old and feeble or die, someone cleaning out my house may pitch out the whole stack. Saving things digitally will insure that my many years of gathering information will not go down the drain once I am no longer there to watch over it.
2) I want to SHARE my information with others. Even though no one in my immediate family is particularly interested in these records, other people might be. My great grandparents had many descendants through other lines besides my own who I know nothing about. Perhaps one of them will one day go looking. Or, it may be someone from a generation not even born yet will one day wonder where they came from. Google did not exist when I first started doing family history research. Now with a few clicks, people anywhere in the world can search for information. By putting the info up on the internet it will make it possible for others to find pictures, documents, stories and other information that took me years to track down.
3) I want to ORGANIZE my information. I've collected quite a bit of stuff over the years. There are boxes and boxes of miscellaneous papers in my collection, in addition to the files and books I generally keep in my office. There is so much material that even with the best of filing systems it is hard to find what I need when I want to locate a particular image or piece of information. By having everything converted to digital format it's much easier to store and sort. With a few clicks of the mouse I can get to the family group I am looking for and then sort by generation. In a few minutes I can find just what I'm looking for without losing every horizontal surface of my home to stacks of paper or straining my back searching through boxes in my storage shed. It just makes sense to me to keep things this way,
4) I want to VALIDATE my information.
No matter how careful I've been, it's always possible that errors have crept in as I copied over information from court houses, cemeteries or other people's records. It is also possible some of the information provided to me by others was not complete or not accurate to begin with. By having it out on display like this, if there is anyone else who may be researching the same families, they can let me know if they notice mistakes in what I am claiming.
I really do try to be careful in putting my information together, but I know very well I am not perfect. I do not take offense at all if someone tells me "hey - you've got that information wrong" or "you did that the wrong way".
I am eager to make my records as accurate as I possibly can, so I welcome any feedback from others who may find something that needs fixed.
This blog has three main sections. The links at the TOP portion of the sidebar are tools that I routinely use that I have gathered here just to make it easy for me to access by having them all in one place. In the middle are the lessons. These are summaries of the class I took at my church that kick started my re-entry into the world of genealogy. Those are there as a reminder for my own benefit, as well as aids to potentially help others who have an interest in family history. At the bottom of the side bar are Links to information about the families I am doing research on. I keep most of my own data on FamilySearch and Ancestry.com. But I also have created separate blogs for each of the main family groups that I research as a gathering place for some of the stories and photos I have. This blog is my central key to it all so that with just one URL and one password I can readily click to everything I have.
So if you have stumbled across this humble little blog, welcome. Enjoy. I hope you find something useful. If you have suggestions for some other resource I might want to add - please let me know.
Whatever your reasons may be for finding this page - welcome. Isn't the digital age an amazing thing?
