Bringing life to your ancestor

I often thought that the word Genealogy was a very cold word. It is a science in which a researcher brings names together through documented proof thus establishing family ties. Genealogy does not give the names characteristics or personalities. It does not create a history in which the names existed or explain the pains and reasons behind the footsteps they made for succeeding generations. Genealogy is a fact gathering science. I prefer the name Family Historian. The science of genealogy is kind of like putting together a jigsaw puzzle and I often find myself searching for that lost piece. As I go I organize like pieces together in groups always searching for the one piece that will make them all fit together. Along the way I have discovered that the facinating part of the search is not the names but the History that links the pieces together. A puzzle piece with a personality has much more meaning to me than a piece with only one color.

I have often been asked how do I move the theory of genealogy to the practice of Family Historian. A good genealogist takes the time to become more than just a name gatherer. They become historians of the times, the places, and the movements of the names they are working with. They are constantly looking at neighbors, migration trends, history of the area, epidemics, political movements, and churches that might have affected the movements of the names they are gathering. History Books become relevent parts of their research. Land Records become more than just deeds and titles but stories about real people and real needs. Wars become more than just history but an intregal part of a names life often explaining sudden deaths, migrations, and missing family members. Political movements touched the lives of many names throughout history creating stories that should be written, explained and learned from. Wills often shed light on family relations both good and bad adding detail and life to otherwise simple names.

Genealogy may be a cold name but adding depth and history to it makes it a warm and satisfying experience. I may be a genealogist but above all I strive to be a Family Historian, creating stories with facts and personalities to the names I find. Creating a legacy of hope and honor filled with Pioneer determination for my descendents to read, understand and learn from. There is so much to be learned by adding the history to the names for those who walk after us.

Take the time to look a little deeper add the history to your ancestors. Gather more than just names. Remember they were once people with personalities, hopes and dreams and they each had a story to tell if you will just take the time to find it.

Sharing your knowledge

This week my goal was to see what I could do to help someone else with their genealogy and still sit in a hotel room all week. My options were my computer, the internet and the phone. I discovered that there are lots of ways to help without being gone from home all day long. First I tried indexing records for Family Search. By working about 20 minutes a day I was able to index 200 names in 3 days from the North Carolina 1920 census records. I also discovered that I could contribute to wiki.familysearch by contributing knowledge I had about the cemeteries in Fresno County. That project took about 4 hours as I learned to link each cemetery with an online database contributed by someone else. My new project. Putting together the cemeteries in Wilson County Tennessee, their location and linking them to online databases. Rather than searching in several databases you will be able to go to the wiki, find out the names of the cemeteries in Wilson Co and link to an online database. Pretty good I think. I even found some data that would help me with my own research in the process. By use of my phone I was able to help a friend back home work on her genealogy as she called to ask questions about how to do something. I discovered that a person can contribute to the genealogical field and help someone else from the comfort of a home or even a motel room. The possibilities are endless and the time spent on the projects much more productive than many other things I could find to spend my time on. Making research a little bit easier for someone else is well worth the effort that it takes to spend a little time each day contributing to indexing or the wiki projects and its a great way to learn to use your computer a little better.
I would challenge anyone who has some knowledge about the area they live in to take a few minutes each day and share it with others. Contribute your knowledge to the field of genealogy. You never know when your contributions will be just the clue needed by someone else to break down their brick wall. Above all have fun and enjoy the work you accomplish