Sometimes as genealogy researchers it is easy to get stuck in a rut and not move past those old familiar sites we always use to find our hidden ancestors. Google Books should become one of those familiar spots. Each family has their favorite stories about their ancestors. Ours came from the Story of William Boyles. First he was an Indian Chief his daughter an Indian because she had high cheek bones and knew about herbs and the Land. Then he was a very peace loving man who died of pneumonia at a young age while hiding in the Hills in Grayson County. The story passed down by family members was that he was a peace loving man who didn’t want to join the Confederate Army and fight in the War so he was hiding from Troops seeking to force him into enlistment. It was a good story and one that had been shared by the family for over a hundred years. Then the family researchers started looking for traces of William the Indian Chief and William the peaceful man. We found that William was not Indian but had come to Texas as part of the Peter’s Colony. It appears that he may have come by way of Illinois and the next look will be at his father and The Black Hawk Wars in Illinois, but what about William the peace loving man who didn't want to fight in a war. Google books led to a gold mine of History on William. In Google Books I found several listings on William Boyles in Texas. Some books I was able to read in their entirety and others referenced books I could find in Libraries and still others had some snippets from Magazine Articles. Among the snippets I found reference to a book called, Tainted Breeze: The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas, by Richard B. McCaslin in which William Boyles was listed. Family Tradition once again was replaced with fact. He probably did die while hiding in the hills around Grayson County Texas. Maybe from pneumonia or maybe from the complications of gun wounds inflicted by Confederate vigilantes seeking those men who had sworn to kill them and their families.
William Boyles may have been anything but peaceful. He apparently believed in a Cause, supported the Union in an area where that wasn’t popular and was willing to recruit others in supporting his cause, sharing secret handshakes and passwords and encouraging men to attend meetings bent towards the destruction of the Confederate Causes in and near Gainesville Texas. Although William Boyles may have escaped the work of the Confederate Vigilantes, a mock trial and the hanging of at least 42 men it appears he might have been wounded in attempting a rescue of his friends and companions. Among the men he recruited and who were hung was at least one brother in law and possibly a second who swore that his brother in law William Boyles had recruited him. If not for Google Books this information might never have been found. Once the book had been discovered I was able to purchase it at Amazon.com and a new piece of history was added to our family line.
I have since used Google Books to find even more information on my family. I would recommend Google Books to everyone doing research on their family. Combining Google Book with Card Catalogs of various Libraries and JStor I have been able to solve many puzzles and add interesting history to even more. Google Books is source to add to the familiar, the tried, and the most used web sites when doing research. Books still have gold mines them and I found mine through Google Books.
About Me
- Kat's Mountain Genealogy
- I am a genealogy enthusiast with over 40 years of experience in assisting others complete their family trees. I love helping others complete their own personal ancestory. I specialize in Research and Data Entry with an emphasis on Southern Research. I am vailable for Lectures on numerous topics and am always open to creating a class on a new Subject. I am a Member of the DAR, the DUP and Acting Vice President of the SCGA
12/31/09
Finishing the unfinished or where to I go from here in the coming year.
It seems that setting goals in my home is like a Salmon trying to swim upstream. With 9 children, 14 grandchildren and 3 more expected this year, plus a son getting married I often feel like I am doing just that; swimming upstream. So as I set down to make goals for the coming year I am sure that there will be days when life will get in the way and not everything will get done. But like all goals during the year I will have to stop, reevaluate, change and possibly delete a few of the goals made in an optimistic moment.
I used to wonder what an out of work mother would do with her time. I had visions of all the time in the world to do genealogy, hang out with my husband and wonder around my very large very empty home. I’m glad I was wrong. Dan isn’t retired and still works out of town a lot hence no husband to wander around the house with but there are always grandchildren and activities to fill my time and house. So as I set goals for the coming year I have to not only included my goals in genealogy but my goals with my family as well.
Like most genealogists my To Do List is never ending, technology never stands still, and the work is never finished. However setting goals and making lists always helps so my list of need to do’s for the coming year needs to go something like this.,
1. Spend time with my grandchildren and family.
2. Learn how to use the new computer I got for Christmas which will make my work easier and faster.
3. Organize my work so that it can go with me whenever I travel with Dan. That way my days in the motel room while he works will be days of great accomplishment.
4. Indexing 300 names a month for family search.
5. Create at least 3 new lectures.
6. Create my own web page to share my research on.
7. Continue to organize and clean up my earliest work with clear and proper documentation.
8. Continue improving my lectures and classes and expanding my audiences.
9. Spending at least 5 hours a week helping someone else accomplish their genealogical goals.
10. Continue my own education by attending at least 3 seminars, speaking at least two others and finishing the NGS home study course.
Sounds easy enough on paper however there is a lot of work involved in these few lines. My first job will be to print these goals when I get home from Utah, put them in a prominent place on my desk and begin the work. Each week I will try to spend a few minutes evaluating my progress and make a mental note or maybe even an occasional note as to my progress.
I hope that all who read this will take the time to make their own mental to do lists. Remember that Genealogy is a never ending task. There is always something new to learn and we can all grow and develop our talents in this area.
I used to wonder what an out of work mother would do with her time. I had visions of all the time in the world to do genealogy, hang out with my husband and wonder around my very large very empty home. I’m glad I was wrong. Dan isn’t retired and still works out of town a lot hence no husband to wander around the house with but there are always grandchildren and activities to fill my time and house. So as I set goals for the coming year I have to not only included my goals in genealogy but my goals with my family as well.
Like most genealogists my To Do List is never ending, technology never stands still, and the work is never finished. However setting goals and making lists always helps so my list of need to do’s for the coming year needs to go something like this.,
1. Spend time with my grandchildren and family.
2. Learn how to use the new computer I got for Christmas which will make my work easier and faster.
3. Organize my work so that it can go with me whenever I travel with Dan. That way my days in the motel room while he works will be days of great accomplishment.
4. Indexing 300 names a month for family search.
5. Create at least 3 new lectures.
6. Create my own web page to share my research on.
7. Continue to organize and clean up my earliest work with clear and proper documentation.
8. Continue improving my lectures and classes and expanding my audiences.
9. Spending at least 5 hours a week helping someone else accomplish their genealogical goals.
10. Continue my own education by attending at least 3 seminars, speaking at least two others and finishing the NGS home study course.
Sounds easy enough on paper however there is a lot of work involved in these few lines. My first job will be to print these goals when I get home from Utah, put them in a prominent place on my desk and begin the work. Each week I will try to spend a few minutes evaluating my progress and make a mental note or maybe even an occasional note as to my progress.
I hope that all who read this will take the time to make their own mental to do lists. Remember that Genealogy is a never ending task. There is always something new to learn and we can all grow and develop our talents in this area.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)