It takes a village to find an ancestor!

If you are researching your ancestors where do you go to find them?
Birth certificate, marriage records, death certificate and funeral records.
Census records, city directories, same old, same old.
All of the above, but then there is something else.......... 

Where they lived. Yes it does take that village to recreate your ancestor's life.

Of course that village could have been New York City where they passed the Statue of Liberty on their voyage to America. It might have been a seashore where they first stepped on the land that would one day become the United States of America in the 1600s or 1700s.

And what about the village that they left behind when the decision was made to leave behind family, friends, and country to travel to a new land. 

Decisions, decisions!!

In other words you need to walk the land your ancestors walked. It will help you understand the different paths your ancestors took. What was the village like that they left? What were they looking for in the new village they were headed for?

First to get a handle on this, look at your own life. Take a few minutes to think about it. What are the uncontrollable events that have influenced your own life. I am not going to give you examples; you know what they are. (Pause)

Now compare those memories of your own life to your ancestor's lives in a different time and place. Consider your emotions. Think about what made you take the path you chose. 

In other words walk a mile in your ancestors' well worn shoes

Genealogy is the never ending story with never ending records!

Genealogical research never gets to a point where you can say,"And they lived happily every after."  That only happens in fairy tales. In the real world life goes on. And on, and on, and  on! And records are created over and over and over. 

Do you really think that our ancestors had us in mind when they created the records we use today to find them? No, of course not. Do you think that that they  ever imagined that we would come looking for them? Did they care? Probably not. They were  too busy trying to stay alive. By staying alive I mean providing a safe place of shelter for themselves and their children. And occasionally in the process, they created records.  

Have you ever wondered if you could have survived in the world of our early ancestors? Could you set out for the unknown with just the possessions that would fit into a covered wagon. Travel through dense forests and mountain terrain? And in the case of northwest Ohio, through the Great Black Swamp. I can honestly say I don't think I would last a day! And I would have created very few records!

One branch of my family tree crossed the Ohio River shortly after the Treaty of Greenville was signed in 1795. At first they lived on the river bank and later moved inland to where the town of Amelia now sits in Clermont County, Ohio.

Within a few years my 3X great grandfather was killed by a falling tree leaving his widow and his young children to survive. As a result land, death, church and guardianship records were created. And a will was recorded.

When you read the history of that area one thing that stands out is the number of people who didn't survive. A birth record could, and many times did, create other records. And once again survival was involved. Many women did not survive childbirth. A death record of some sort was created. The child may have also died creating another record. Eventually most men remarried. Another record! The family would change on the next census with people missing and people added.

When a family moved to a new frontier, land records and tax records were created. The location of census records changed. Children were born and grew up creating school records and eventually marriage records. And the cycle of life's records  moved on. 

Day to day living on the frontier was a matter of survival. The husband left the homestead in search of wild game. Would he return? And when he returned would his family still be there to welcome him home? Wild animals, Indians, weather, highwaymen affected the lives of the early pioneers. And more records were created. 

Since these records were not created by our ancestors as a genealogy research source for their descendants, what was the purpose? Who really cared? The government! The government wasn't nosy. It just needed to count, tax, and represent our ancestors. There are reasons for all those little boxes on the census forms. The fact that these records are great sources of information for genealogists is purely coincidental. Every minute of everyday new records are created.

I have seen this statement many times - "When looking at a record you need to know why the record was created." I suppose that could be true. I prefer to look at an ancestor's life and ask "What records could they have created because of what was happening to them?" Be a detective. Look for the clues. The clues are the records that your ancestor might have created.

 

 

 

New season of Who Do You Think You Are

In a few short minutes the 2016 season of Who Do You Think You Are will air on TLC at 9/8c. Six new celebrities will be introduced to ancestors and skeletons in the family closet. Aisha Tyler will be featured in the first episode. 

So get your bowl of popcorn and your WDYTYA Bingo Card and settle in for an hour of ancestor hunting. Bingo cards can be printed at http://www.geneabloggers.com/bingo-card-tonights-premiere/

Hey, What's All This DNA Stuff About Anyway?!

The Lucas County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society will present a program about DNA and Genealogy on Saturday, September 19, 2015. The group meets at 2pm in the Huntington Room on the first floor of the Toledo/Lucas County Public Library, 325 Michigan St., Toledo, Ohio. Meetings are open to the public.

Don Hengen will answer the question, "What's This DNA Stuff All About?"

This is a program for those who have already had their testing done, as well as those who know nothing at all about the subject. This will be an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with this new aspect of family research. For years genealogy was a slow tedious process of writing letters, traveling miles to courthouses that hopefully had not had a fire, and searching miles of microfilm in search of an ancestor record. And let's not forget all those cemeteries. Then the computer was born and everything changed.

Well, not everything. You still need to visit courthouses, libraries, cemeteries . . . . but you can also search for your ancestors online in the middle of the night. (If those 4x great grandparents only knew what you are doing right now. No candlelight? No quill pen? You are staring at this screen where words magically appear! and you're waiting for something called "a pizza" to be delivered.) Yes, things have most definitely changed.

And now they have changed even more. DNA has arrived. If you want to find out how this has changed the way we do family research, be sure to attend this meeting on the third Saturday of September. 

All levels of experience are welcome at the chapter's meetings - Beginners, Intermediate, Experienced.

Help Wanted! Someone who knows how to build a website. Lots of experience necessary!

Holy Cow, what happened?

Many genealogy groups out there are struggling to keep up. It seems like so many people today want all the info about their ancestors to be in an online database that can be logged into in the middle of the night. They are not interested in connecting with fellow genealogists.

People who love family history and are in my age group are so lucky because we have seen the best of both worlds as far as research is concerned. We know how to do hands-on research at a courthouse, library or archival facility. We are experts at rewinding microfilm and sometimes unwinding it. We also know the value of getting together on a Saturday afternoon and comparing notes with fellow members of a genealogical society. Maybe even finding a cousin if we are lucky. And we are now becoming more and more skilled at finding our ancestors online.

I know I have stressed this many times. And that is because it is important! But things have changed so much in the last couple of years. I was amazed to discover at a recent seminar that now the Blog is the foundation of the chapter's publicity. A blog combined with a website and a presence on Facebook is a very valuable tool for a genealogy society. 

It sounds so simple. All you need is a website, a blog and a Facebook page. Unfortunately it costs money to build a professional looking website. You need a team of writers that can contribute to your blog. Facebook - pretty simple!

So what do you do? I guess you make lemonade out of lemons. You need members to be able to afford a quality website. You need a website to attract members. It is a never ending circle.

You are trying to build a bridge to the 21st century and all you have is a covered wagon. 

How do you build the website that you so desperately need?

Why is it so expensive to find your family?

You Can't Prune Your Family Tree!

So, Ben Affleck hid an ancestor! Well, I guess with all the celebrity genealogists on TV over the last few years it was bound to happen. It was inevitable. And now a dark cloud has been cast over the world of family research. Oh dear, how will we every recover?

What's that you say? It's no biggie?

 Of course it is. It is all over cable news for crying out loud. It was leaked by a whistle-blower. Yes, genealogy now has its very own whistle-blower. It's a biggie. We have been exposed. We hide ancestors. And apparently it is against the law.

Give me a break!!! 

I have to admit that I had second thoughts about commenting on this. I was a little afraid of the feedback I might get. And then I realized that this happens all the time. For many reasons. Grow up people.Can you say "skeletons in the closet" boys and girls? 

So Ben has an ancestor who was a slave owner and he wants to hide it. That is his choice. He will eventually get used to it. I know that may sound callous but it is true. The first time you find out that a member of your family owned slaves it really sets you back. And you try to close that book or ignore that record. But most of us don't get outed by some whistle blower on cable TV. We adjust to the fact. We learn to accept it. And to be honest, it is nobody's business. 

So Ben apologized. Why? It is not necessary. You can't change the past. You can't rearrange your ancestors. They are who they are. You can't go into the probate court record books and erase everything.   
 

On the other hand you can't add "favorable ancestors" to your family tree either. This is the opposite of what Ben has been charged with. For example, let's say you want to be descended from a president, movie star, or famous cowboy.

Perhaps it is a rumor in your family that your ancestors arrived in America on the Mayflower. In this case, you do everything you can do to find an ancestor who proves this. And you will stop at nothing to hang some unrelated Plymouth, Massachusetts, resident on your family tree. Of course, you also ignore everyone in the family that moved from New York to San Francisco in a Mayflower Moving Van. 

I think this practice of finding famous ancestors in order to enhance your family tree has now faded away. I like to think that we are more concerned with finding the people who shaped our lives.  

The truth is you can't prune your family tree. You can't deadhead those little flowers that spring up on the branches. They are all a part of who you are. 

Accept the people who make up your family tree. Get to know them. It's possible. All you have to do is fill in the "dash".