Archive for the ‘data’ Category

Sorting Saturday ~ The Sloppy Genealogist

Posted: August 18, 2012 in archive, data, documents
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USS Missouri (Ship Desk)
Photo Credit: Kelly Vial via kellyvial.wordpress.com
Copyright © 2011, Kelly Vial

As a genealogist and family history researcher, you would think I’d be a little more organized! I am overwhelmed with emails of new information and document attachments! Now, what is the best way for me to sort through these? I think I need another filing cabinet! A filing cabinet just for my genealogy research! When I started my research I didn’t really need but just a little space in the back of my filing cabinet. Since I really didn’t have much as far as documents, except for the packets of information that I received from a family member oh so many years ago! Now it looks like my research is going to have to take up residence in another location 🙂

My handy, dandy printer just decided that it needs new ink cartridges! So what’s a girl to do with her digital documents when she can’t print them out right away? No CD’s either! What has my office world come to? Looks like I’m running out of everything, doesn’t it? I guess I need to make a trip to Costco and Office Max!

So I guess since I’m out of ink and I have no CD/DVD’s to make a genealogy back up disc, that I will have to resort to Evernote and then export all my documents into my Family Tree Maker 2012 software. There is so much that needs to be done! Did I mention how much I hate clutter? I can’t stand it when my computer files are all out of whack and not in their proper folders! Yes I did do that! It’s all my fault, just being lazy I guess!

MY TO-DO LIST

Re-stock my office supplies (make a list)

Organize my hierarchy mess of file folders on my laptop

Scan more photos (Oh so tedious; I think I have over 2000!)

Organize my file folders in my real world office (which happens to be my bedroom currently, in this tiny apartment)

Organize my file folders in my email account (Ugh..that should be tons of fun!)

Create a filing system that works wonders! (Is there a program out there for that?)

When I said organization is key in another blog post, I really meant it! It would have saved me so much time if I had accomplished everything like I was telling you how to be more organized! Ha! You remember that saying your mom may have told you at least once in your life? “Do as I say and not as I do!” That’s the way I at this moment! Here I am  writing about organization tips and not even doing it myself! All I can say is I’ll try to do better and not be such a sloppy genealogist 🙂

Cornett Family Genealogy Books

Posted: May 14, 2012 in books, Canute, cornett, Cornutt, data, descendants, family crest, Genealogy, Google, Happy Mother's Day, historical society, Internet, surname
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As I am scouring the internet for factual data, I just decided to Google my grandmother’s name, Lucia Cornett. (Happy Mother’s Day grams!)  I came across her online obituary and I can’t believe almost two years has passed since she became one of God’s perfect angels. I am saddened by her loss but at the same time I know I will one day meet her again. For those of you who know me personally, you know that I was a small child when my parents divorced and I moved away from the Cornett side of my family. This is where I want to apologize for not staying in close contact with my family. Yes, I was only 6 years old but still feel like maybe I could have at least wrote letters to my grandma or something? Who knows what could have been if I had. But on the bright side of the situation, I have made contact with my Cornett family on Facebook! We stay in touch, communicate, share photos and our life events as they are happening or will happen in the near future. For this, I am thankful.


Sorry for rambling, so back to the internet search! Searching Google I found another name that was familiar due to past research I have done in the past. Archelus Cornutt. It’s discouraging as surnames have changed in their spellings over the centuries. Apparently there is a book out there somewhere called, Descendants of Archelus Cornutt: The Son of James Cornutt, 1743-1956 written by Hannah Alice Cornett Magee. I then “Googled” the books title and author and came across the Amazon web page- I must say I had no luck in finding the book because it is no longer in print. But doing more research on this matter, I found out that the book may be located at the Laurel County Historical Society in Kentucky. So now I am on the search for this book and hopefully I will have some luck tracking it down. I wonder if any of my Cornett relatives have a copy? It would be nice if I could even find an e-book for my Kindle regarding this particular book. By the way, I found out about this book by reading the Cornett Family Forums on Ancestry.com. I will share the link below if anyone is interested in this particular family lineage.


Links:
Laurel County, Kentucky Historical Society


Ancestry Cornett Surname Forum


Image Source: Cornett Family Crest

Family Stories That May Be Lost Forever

Posted: July 13, 2011 in data, discovering family, facts, Family, family stories, heirlooms, knowledge, share information
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Thank you Ancestry.com! I have made contact with family members I didn’t even know existed. By researching the Cornett/ Sutherland heritage on the web site, I have connected with others who are researching the same family as I am and what do you know? They’re actually family. This is very exciting! The branches of my tree have become so tangled and intertwined, but in such a good way. What a great way to share data gathered through web sites such as Ancestry, and being able to share that knowledge with your own family, is priceless.

Image Source: Family Stories
Photo Credit: Andrew Bret Wallis



I was just talking to my oldest son, John, who was recently asking about our ancestry. He has become somewhat curious about who his relations were back in the “old days”. I was so excited that he even asked, that I think I may have bored him with my rantings of our family tree and what I had found so far. When I was his age, I “tuned out” my family when I heard the stories of ancestors past. Now I’m kicking myself for not paying attention! I went into my own little world of music and television so I didn’t have to listen to boring stories that related to history of people I never even knew. Today, I really wished I had recorded their stories in some way. Now that the older generations in my family have passed on to a better place, there is no way I can get that history, or even the stories back. The stories seem to have died with them. 



Family stories casually chatted about at the dinner table, or told again and again at family gatherings can parallel great epics or notable short stories. The memorable stories of our lives and of others in our family take on special importance because they are true, even if everyone tells different versions of the same event. These tales are family heirlooms held in the heart not in the hand.


So knowing that I lost those memories forever, how do I continue my research into a quest for family stories that relate to my family? Any suggestions?