Beginning Again
The New Year is a time to begin all over again in our genealogical research. I don’t mean to toss out all that you have done for all those years. Instead, this is the time to revisit that research. Do you realize that in the past twelve months, there have been tens of thousands of new records surfaced to aide your research? Nearly every day in our office, we find new information in some of the strangest of places. The information might just be the one piece of the puzzle you need. We have authors contact us all the time about new materials they have researched and want out there. My wife and I were visiting one of her aunts right before she died this fall. She gave me a box of obituaries she had collected on the family for as long as she could remember. Since I have been doing a newsletter on each of the eighteen children in her family, many of these obits were of those children and their children. In each of the obituaries, there were little tid-bits of information that I had not known. I’ve only been in this family for forty-five years and the youngest of the eighteen are in their eighties, but I am always learning new things and hearing new stories. I had never asked her about the obituaries, because I did not know that she had collected them.
Everyone that does genealogical research is always looking for a new piece to their puzzle. Here at the first of a new year, it is time to look over what we have done and check to see if there is a piece that we might find somewhere that will help fill in the full puzzle.
If you are working on your membership into one of the patriotic societies, this is very critical. Each step of the way has to have documentation of the fact. For example, we all know that you were born, but can you prove your birth? Do you have a birth certificate showing your parents? Many who are adopted will sometimes have difficulty with this first step, but there are records out there to help. Do you have a marriage certificate for your parents? Grandparents? Great-grandparents? You have to have documentation at each step of the way with birth, death, marriage certificates or some other indication that proves the relationship. We all know that many times, birth certificates are not given until early twentieth century so there are other ways that we have to go about proof of the relationship. Remember that from the 1880 Census up, the relationship of those listed are given to the head of the household. Then, there are wills that give a relationship or you might have school records. Even in some cases, the deed records will show the necessary relationship. Don’t forget things like newspapers and their obituaries or even Bible records. This latter one is sometimes cast in doubt because it is family that is recording the information. Most Societies prefer that your references come from sources not related to the family.
Now is the time to back over your files and see where there is a missing link in the relationship of your direct line. If you are researching the entire family, you may have many missing links in their relationship. Sometimes, this process will take a few hours and sometimes it will take days, but the results are well worth the time spent. Make sure that all of your data is documented to the source as well as the information. Any kind of note that will allow someone in the future to go back into the original records and find the same information that you have presented.
In the process of going back over your data, make sure that you have backed this up on the computer. In the mean time, identify all of those photos you have acquired. At this point, go over those dozens/hundreds of photographs that you have in your collection that are NOT identified. You can compare these now with some that you know and have identified and you might be surprised as to how many others you can now identify. Your work will live long after you and it is very important that later generations can come to the source of your work and back track each step and not just accept it as the final answer. Remember that along the way, there is one individual that will give some trouble. How many William Williams are there in your family or how many times has Jehu been spelled John in other records, especially when someone transcribes a court record? This latter one is the main source of difficulty in my research.
It is a new year, now make your research NEW and fresh again by cleaning up some of those trouble spots. We all need a fresh start. Don’t make this a “resolution” as we all know that these are all broken by the first of February. Make it a real “goal” instead.
Happy Hunting!!