SMALL WORLD

I do not believe in accidents. Things happen for a reason. I am sure of this. But sometimes the "coincidences" that occur in our lives really are amazing. Today I have been sorting through my boxes and drawers of family history files to try to put them into some kind of order. Tucked down in the side of one of those files was a letter I received from my uncle, Bob Krebs, at least 12 years ago. Scratched on the bottom of the letter is a name and phone number for a cousin of ours who lived in Las Vegas at the time and was interested in family history.

The name was Fred Ferrell, someone I remember very well. About 2001 I had an opportunity to visit with Fred in Phoenix when we got together for a family gathering and to share records. I also got to know his mother well, Bertha (Bert) Krebs Elwing. Some time after our initial meeting in Arizona I visited her again at her home in San Diego. I have a picture somewhere of the two of us together taken at the San Diego Zoo.

"Aunt Bert" was the sister of my maternal grandfather, Louis Krebs. She provided me with several wonderful pictures of her siblings and told me stories about the family that were very precious to me. However, since I have moved about five times since our visits I had lost touch, and wasn't even sure if she was still alive. (She is, now 94!) Because of all my many transitions I figured the chances of Cousin Fred still having the same phone number my uncle had given me all those years ago were somewhere between slim and none, but I decided to take a chance. Fortunately for me, not everyone is as much of a tumbleweed as I am. Fred not only answered the phone after just a couple rings, he immediately remembered who I was, even though we have been out of touch for quite some time. Then, as we talked I told him of a friend of my husband's who also lives in Las Vegas, someone we have just recently learned was living there that we hope to track down. My cousin Fred immediately knew who I meant, and had in fact PLAYED CARDS WITH THE MAN just the week before. They happen to attend the same ward. What are the odds of that??? So now I am thinking there is a trip to Las Vegas to be planned in the not too distant future so my beloved can reconnect with his boyhood pal and I will be able to make contact with my family. This is just one more proof to me that doing family history work will bring blessings IN THIS LIFE as well as in the world to come.

It really is a very small world!

A Legacy to be Grateful For

My mother, Nancy Ann Krebs, was a remarkable lady. It is largely because of her efforts that I came to have an interest in family history research.

Nancy was born December 5, 1930 - the second of five children and only daughter born to Louis Krebs and Florence Kurtz. She married my father, Donald Pendley on Christmas Day 1952 when she was twenty-two and he was twenty-four.

After a miscarriage early on, Nancy and Don had five children in quick succession: Wayne in 1954, Andy in 1955, me (Lynda) in 1957, Alan in 1959 and Sharon in 1960.

Nancy converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1956, the year before I was born. My dad also joined the church a bit later, but it didn't stick with him. He became inactive by the time I was very young and later had his name removed from the rolls of the church. My mom, however, did have a strong testimony, and did the best she could to live according to the teachings of the gospel. It was through the influence of the LDS church that my mother became interested in genealogy work.

She wrote dozens of letters to people all over the country seeking information on various family lines. She placed ads in newspapers and magazines to try to make connections. Long before the Internet, she understood the importance of networking to extend family research.

My parents had a difficult, turbulent marriage that ended in divorce in 1970. I honestly don't have any memories of them ever being happy together, although I've been told they were in the early years. Beyond that, for much of my life my mom and I did not get along. During my stormy adolescent years we both said and did things that were hurtful to one another. Even after I was an adult with kids of my own, my mother and I were not close. Since I lived in a different state I seldom saw her and often went several months at a time with no contact at all. That was the case up until she died on December 21, 1983 at the age of fifty-three.

Over the years since my mother's death I've had lots of time to think about her life and the challenges she faced. There is much I wish had been different, both for her sake and mine. But despite that, I am so grateful for the legacy she left me. It is because of my mother I was taught about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. My mother also made a special point to be sure all of her children valued education and had a special love of literacy. It is absolutely because of my mother that I care about family history work. She got me started with genealogy research, showing me how to fill out a pedigree chart and family group sheet when I was about ten years old.

Because I believe families can be eternal I have confidence that one day I will see my mother again. I will ask her forgiveness for the many unkind words that I said to her when I was growing up and I will frankly forgive her for the things she said and did that I once thought were so unforgivable. I have come to understand that we are all complicated people doing the best we can with what opportunities and obstacles get dealt to us. We all fall short of being our best selves. I know both my mother and I definitely did.

One of the blessings of maturity is that finally I can put the resentments of the past behind me. Today I am very grateful for all the ways my life is blessed for having had Nancy Krebs Pendley as my mother. I will never completely understand what it was like for her to deal with her unhappy marriage, poverty, health problems, and other challenges she faced. Sadly, I know my mother did not have a very happy life. However, one of the things that did bring her much pleasure and satisfaction during her difficult life was doing genealogy. I hope that as I carry on the work that she began all those many years ago, that in some way she may be looking down and smiling.

Lesson 11 - Everybody Loves a Story

A key lesson of family history research is the importance of incorporating journals, histories and family stories into our genealogy.  When I took the genealogy class in my church our teachers, Quintin and Sue Phillips, illustrated this very well. The visual aid they used for an object lesson made perfect sense to me. Sue showed a list of the basic vital stats for one of her ancestors -Pattie Bartlett Sessions - date and place of birth, marriage and death. She then read some stories from a book based on the journals of that woman, a pioneer midwife with a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To further reinforce the point, Quintin put out a plate of sliced homemade bread next to the book, representing something rich in taste and smell, fully nourishing. Next to the sheet of paper with the raw data he put a bowl of flour. It was a worthy beginning, but only the most basic ingredient of what it meant to "know" this person.

I could not agree more.

Over the years I have done a fair amount of gathering of information on the Baldwin and Burlington families - ancestors to my children through my ex-husband's lines. I have been blessed with having found several wonderful aunts and uncles in that family who have been willing to continue to correspond with me and share information long after my short, chaotic first marriage was over.

One of those people is Roy Burlington of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. On several occasions Roy has generously shared copies of photographs and key information I would never have been able to find from any other source. However, until recently I've been so focused on getting to know the long dead who-begat-who of these families that I haven't really gotten to know much about the living, breathing man who was sending the information.

I wrote to Roy recently to tell him I would like to know more about HIM if he was willing to share some of his own stories. In response he sent me a copy of the book "Diamonds on the Water" that he wrote in 2007. This book is a wonderful collections of stories, primarily of various fishing adventures set in upper Michigan, Alaska and Florida. Woven between the tales of pulling in big catches are wonderful gems which give a peek at Roy's experiences and values and a few snapshots of various family members.

One such gem is this one, from page 13 where he is writing about his father, Ken Burlington: "I knew I was about to enter manhood at 10 years of age when he let me row the boat and bait m own hook. Just me and my Dad. He belonged to a generation of quiet fathers who seldom told their sons they loved them. They simply took them fishing." I'm only part way through the book so far, but I can tell already that it is going to be a treasure.

I am incredibly grateful to Roy for his sharing this whimsical, personal tale of life on the water, introducing me to friends and family members in a rich and meaningful way through stories.

Tracking down names and dates of family history is important. But capturing the stories is what makes it come alive. Quintin Phillips challenged the members of his family to each capture one family memory in 100 words or less. I think that is a great exercise. Not everyone is a natural writer. Some might be more comfortable simply talking into a tape recorder. We also talked about other means for keeping records - blogs, emails, notes on 3 x 5 cards, along with other possibilities. However it works for you, I would encourage you to record those stories of experiences that have been special to you - whether it be fish tales, testimony or about places you have visited.

One of the stories my father-in-law, Fred Bennett, told that was of interest to me was of how he loaded hay using a "Johnson Fork". I did not grow up on a farm and had no idea what that was. Having him take the time to specifically describe what to him was a mundane, utilitarian tool helped me understand more.

I've also been fascinated by tales of what sort of medical or dental care were available to my grandparents or earlier ancestors. That makes me wonder what my great grandchildren might think of the story of my husband's recent hip replacement surgery - something I would just as soon forget, but might we well served to write down.

Things like how we travel, the price of groceries, how we like to cook or how we spend our time may seem pretty dull and boring today. However the world changes so very fast that even our most modern conveniences and what they mean to us may be an interesting detail to those reading it two or three generations from now.

Family history has a lot to do with doing research about long dead ancestors. However, it also can have plenty to do with recording our own lives in the here and now.

What stories do you want to record for your posterity?

Lesson 10 - Basic Research : Why We Need PROOF

There is a sign in the Family History library at my church which says: "Without Proof my family history would only be mythology."
 
Basic research means finding as many primary source documents as possible, and in the absence of those primary sources corroborating what we know about our family history with the best confirming documentation available.

In terms of family history research,
"PRIMARY RESOURCES are those that record an event at or close to the time that it happened; original records of events may include: diaries, journals, state or federal census records, courthouse records such as deeds, will probates, birth or death records, baptism or marriage records. Also included in primary records would be ship's passenger lists and military records." The USGenWeb Project)


SECONDARY RESOURCES,  on the other hand, are information that was recorded after the fact, usually by someone who was not present - quite possibly by someone who wasn't even alive at the time of the event the record is about.  this may include "Published records, including: family histories, indexes or compilations of census or marriage records, any sort of history (county, state, etc) and collections of cemetery inscriptions, for instance." (The USGenWeb Project)
 
As mentioned in the previous lesson, collaboration in doing family history work is a GOOD thing. However, in light of the ease of communication which modern technology makes possible, there can be a temptation to rely too much on that collaboration by simply getting copies of what other kind people are willing to share without taking the time to verify information through the use of primary sources, or in the absence of those, the most reliable secondary sources possible.

Fortunately, the technology available today also makes searching for primary sources easier than ever before.
For those looking for records in the Western United States, BYU-Idaho Special Collections many marriage and death records as well as census records and a whole host of published manuscripts about various families.

One source that was totally new to me was Gen.Forum This was of particular interest to me because of the information about immigration records which is a current concern of mine.

To find records specific to any state in the USA you can check out what is available at USGENWEB.ORG

I have very much enjoyed using various search tools to find information about my family lines. I have had some great successes at pushing the information I had started with back several generations which is exciting. However, until I can CONFIRM that information with corroborating documentation, it must be considered preliminary.

Particularly when using FamilySearch, there are MANY errors in the data which come from multiple people with marginal understanding of proper research techniques combining individuals or inputting data without due diligence. While I appreciate the kind intent of folks who want to help, uploading information that has not been sufficiently proven and then trusting that all the details will get worked out in the Millennium simply isn't useful.

Part of my goal for the coming months is to continue to extend what I know about my own family history. However, just as important will be the process of searching out documentation for what I already do know. By footnoting all of my records on Ancestry.com with scanned copies of the documents I have others following in my path or tying into my lines will be able to know that the information is accurate.

As it says in the article Assembling an Accurate Family History by Barry Leadbetter:

To assemble an accurate family history one must:
* obtain each piece of information from as many independent sources as possible
*include primary sources where ever possible
*properly assess the accuracy of each source of information and
*resolve the inconsistencies, giving more weight to the sources assessed as most accurate.

With that in mind, I have added several new links to my resources side bar - sites to go to for primary resources for records pertaining to the Civil War, the Revolutionary War and passengers of the ship Mayflower. I am excited to explore and see what they have to offer!

Lesson 9 - Clean Up & Collaboration

Doing family history research works best when it becomes a collaborative effort.  It is very common for people doing genealogy to discover other people working on the same lines so they can help each other by sharing information rather than duplicating efforts.  However, that kind of collaboration can get sticky when we discover our information to be slightly different from what someone else may have.  Which is accurate?  How can we be sure?

Sometimes those differences may be minor, such as a date of birth for some long dead ancestor being a week off one way or the other.  Sometimes it is a big difference, like having a particular person listed in an entirely different family.  When addressing the differences we find in our data, whether large or small, it is important to use tact and to give one another the benefit of the doubt.

Using digital tools like FamilySearch or Ancestry.com provides a great way for people to contact each other to discuss issues about contradicting information so that the records posted there can be made as reliable as possible.  Writing letters to others, making phone calls, or going to visit and share info can all be richly rewarding.

Particularly when working in FamilySearch which allows other people to make changes to the information posted, it becomes especially key to take care in how we communicate and to appreciate one another's intentions even when some of the information showing may need some clean up.

MOST online genealogy tools are closed, meaning that each person enters their data how they think it should be and no one else can touch it.  If they have set their research to be made public, others can see their information which is great for collaboration.  But if I am working in FindMyPast or Ancestry.com I cannot do anything to someone else's data base.
 
FamilySearch is a very different sort of program.  The goal of FamilySearch is to create ONE big database for the human family that we each tie into.  That means when I post a listing for my grandmother, that SAME post is what will appear for my cousins (for whom she is also their grandmother),  for my aunts and uncles (for whom she is their mother) or for my grandfather (for whom she is his wife.).   Any of us can go in and tinker with the spelling of the name, the date and place of key events, or post other notes, photos, documents, sources, etc.

It is all too easy to get our feathers ruffled if someone tells us our information is wrong or criticizes some change we made.  Or, the flip side of that, some may initially get down right indignant if they see someone else has been making changes in the records that they originally posted.   Particularly when someone has spent a lot of time and energy putting information into the system, or has a close personal bond to the family, it is only natural to feel somewhat territorial about how things appear.

People approach doing family history work with all different skill levels.  Sometimes mistakes will be made, even by the most skilled researchers. How we respond to those mistakes can make or break our future relationships with potential collaborators and can make the difference between having a great experience in doing family history work or one big knot of frustration.

I really do believe that the potential for building stronger bonds between the living family members is as important a feature of  FamilySearch as is the ability to record information about the dead.  

We all can learn from each other.  Whether you are on the side of having the best, most accurate and complete information or on the side of having some records that could be improved - EVERYONE has something to contribute.  The more we are open to sharing what we know and genuinely being willing to listen to and learn from others, the greater experience we will have.

Lesson 8 - The Ten Minute Genealogist

One of the reasons some people are hesitant to begin working on family history is because they do not have the TIME to get serious about genealogy. Beyond that, they are afraid they will never see their dining room table again. For some people, working on family history projects has a way of taking over their life and space. But it doesn't have to be that way. Meaningful family history work can be done in manageable, bite size increments that can be kept neatly organized.

The lesson in my family history class today was about doing family history in just 10 minutes a day. That's right. TEN MINUTES.

The exact amount of time set aside may vary from person to person, depending on their own circumstances. For some it may be 10 minutes. For others it may be 30 minutes or an hour. However the principle is a good one. Instead of getting overwhelmed by the enormity of the task and not starting at all, or getting lost in one or two marathon sessions that we never return to, we can each set aside whatever amount of time fits for us and then incorporate regular periods of family history work into our daily life.

It really is amazing what a person can get accomplished in just a few minutes a day if they are willing to set aside a plan of action. How that plan will look will of course be customized to fit the individual. But here is one suggested process we talked about:

1. Set the timer

2. Begin with a short prayer
3. Open the log you have created, and note what you will be working on that day. (This may be a simple notebook or a document in a word processing program. Use whatever works best for you. )
4. Open whatever family history program you are using.  This may be
FamilySearch,  Ancestry.com, My Heritage or some other system. 
5. Spend the time you have pre-determined on whatever task that you had planned.  It might be checking census records for particular family members.  It might be writing query letters (either by hand or online) to relatives.  It might be viewing a tutorial video to learn something new.  Each of those things are worthwhile and can be done in as little as 10 minutes.
6. STOP when your timer goes off.  Don't say " Oh, I just need to do one more thing".  There will ALWAYS be one more thing.  Plan your time and then respect those limits.  That makes it far more likely you will come back to it consistently and THAT is what will make all the difference.
7. Save and close your software
8. Close with prayer

A KEY PRINCIPLE of the lesson today was that as Latter-day Saints, we are involved in a spiritual endeavor. MANY people outside the church do family history out of curiosity or from pride in their family history. That's great. But for us, it is something different. We believe we are undertaking a work that has the power to bind families together through the sealing power of sacred temple covenants. With that in mind, we should begin and end each session of family history work with prayer. Because we are doing work the Lord wants us to do we have the opportunity to ask for inspiration and personal revelation to guide us where we should go.

The other principle we talked about was the importance of keeping a log. Especially because this method means committing to working in small, manageable bites it is critical that we stay on track. It is very easy to get distracted on different tangents. Also, if we don't leave a bread crumb trail of notes in a log sheet of what we checked already and what we plan to check on next we may forget where we've already been, leading to wasted effort as we follow the same trail again and again. Besides that, keeping a log allows us to see the progress we make, accumulating our accomplishments bit by bit, like marking a child's growth on the inside of a closet door.

TIME IS UP. This entry took me about 10 minutes. What can YOU do in that time?

Remember, it doesn't take a lot of time. It just takes a little time used well. As it says in Alma 37:6 "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances does confound the wise."

Lesson 7 - ON Target : Setting Genealogy Goals

In today's family history class we returned to the idea of goal setting.

We talked about some of the suggestions for genealogy goal setting that professional genealogist Jennifer Holik-Urban has posted online which can be found HERE.

In some ways it seems logical to have specific outlines for what we hope to accomplish. After all, most worthwhile activities require some forethought and planning, perhaps the creation of something like the ...M-O-A-L (Mother of All Lists) check list that Quintin Phillips uses when planning a white water rafting trip.

However, one of the points we discussed was the difference between establishing specific goals and living in patterns that lead us toward what we want to achieve.

I might have a GOAL to completely document all the principle players of my pedigree sheet for 10 generations. However, it is the pattern of continually seeking, learning, organizing, sharing that is what really matters. Whether I wind up with the information on every single person I planned to or not, that pattern will enrich my life and will help me accomplish a great deal.

This is more than just a matter of semantics. Goals are destination focused. Patterns are all about the process, the journey along the way. It is my hope to establish patterns that will guide me toward developing increased research skills and help me build relationships with others (extended family, fellow researchers, etc). Whether or not I get full documentation for all those generations....who knows? Sure, I aim to try. But I will consider myself to have SUCCEEDED when I have so completely ingrained the pattern of regularly engaging in research, networking and organizing records that it becomes as natural to me as brushing my teeth before I go to bed at night. If I can manage that, I have no doubt that tremendous breakthroughs will come my way despite having a few lines that today seem pretty much stuck.

Nevertheless - Ms. Holik-Urban has some great ideas and resources for genealogy goal setting that I find very valuable to help me in my process of building patterns into my life:

1) EDUCATION Goals- There are a variety of resources for workshops, classes, webinars and other learning opportunities to pick up new skills or sharpen expertise in doing family history research.

Whether someone is interested in formal certificate programs such as those offered by BYU or the National Genealogical Society or a more casual approach such as setting aside a certain time to read books and journals, follow genealogy blogs, etc it just makes sense to commit one's self to learning all they can to be a more effective researcher.

2) RESEARCH Goals - Clearly there is a difference between "working on my family history" in a general way and trying to identify which ship John Burlington emigrated to America on and then to obtain a passenger list to seek the names of the three children I know died along the way. There is a time for casual meandering through records to get a feel for a family and a time for making specific lists of what information I am looking for so I can build a strategy for finding it. This is where specific research goals can really help. Ancestry.com has some good guidelines for how to go about that.

3. ORGANIZATION Goals - This is where I really need to focus over the next six months. Because I recently moved, all my family history records got stuffed into boxes and I have yet to set up an adequate filing system that meets my needs within the space and resources I have to work with. There are a lot of different ways to approach this. One that is important to me is to digitize all my records. Because I work full time and do some adjunct teaching at a community college on the side, I do not have a lot of discretionary time. Still, like eating an elephant, I can take on this mammoth job "one bite at a time" by committing to spend 20 minutes or an hour every weekend scanning the next stack of documents and photographs. I just need to DO IT.

4. WRITING Goals - One of the reasons I feel so close to some of my ancestors is because some of them took the time to write about their lives. For a few others, there have been fascinating histories written by down downstream relations who researched their lives. The Armchair Genealogist Blog is a terrific resource for tips on writing personal or family histories.

I've very much enjoyed working on writing OTHER people's histories. My own I've been more reluctant to take on, for a number of reasons. However, even if I never get around to writing an "official" history of my life, I console myself with the knowledge that my grandkids can always take a peek at my views and values, as well as some of the key events of my days by reading my various blogs:

Mind Muffins(2006-2012)

Life by Design (2007-2009)

Apprentice Human (2006)

5. NETWORKING Goals - In this modern age of Facebook and Twitter some people forget about the good old fashioned form of networking - writing letters or going to visit. I have met many WONDERFUL people over the years who I found through seeking family records. Some were "shirt tail relatives" and others were not related at all. However, the things I learned from people like Bess Britton in Van Buren County, MI or Cindy Allen in Salem OR are treasures I will never forget. I believe that as we share the spirit of Elijah with others who have an interest in family research, all our lives will be richly blessed.

So there you have it - that's a summary of the goal categories that Jennifer Holick-Urban shared in her work. Some may fit you well for your life while others you may choose to skip over for now. That's fine. The thing is, for too many people, the task of taking on a family history project can seem so big and complicated that they just get overwhelmed and do nothing.

When it comes to genealogy, like many other areas of my life, I try to remember the words of Edward Everett Hale who said: " I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something I can do."

Remember, the best, and only way to eat an elephant has always been one bite at a time.

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