Posts Tagged ‘research’

Tuesday’s Tip ~ Social Networking for the Family Historian

Posted: August 14, 2012 in Tuesday's Tip
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Title: Deep in Memories
Creative image #: 143176334
License type: Royalty-free
Photographer: Maria Pavlova
Collection: Vetta
Credit: Maria Pavlova

For several years, my interest in genealogy has escalated from being just a hobby to pass the time, into a full fledged passion to learn everything I could about my ancestors lives. Before becoming a city girl and moving to metro Atlanta, I was a barefoot country girl and where I lived if you wanted to have access to the internet, you had two choices, you could have dial up or dial up! There wasn’t any such thing as high speed internet, I’m sure there really was but not where I lived 🙂  So annoying, the wait time! If I were to wait for dial up to connect to the internet for everything that I do today, I would be lost! Who wants to wait for 30 minutes to check their email only to lose their connection and have to wait yet again and again?

Today, I am back in the city, I have my T3 internet bandwidth going full speed ahead! Normally T3 is mainly used by businesses for their high speed capabilities and they offer very fast, data transfer rates. I guess this girl got lucky didn’t she? Having T3 in my apartment, how could I not be ecstatic? Life in the fast lane as they say! So much to do and only so many hours in a day to do it in. 🙂

Everyone seems to be on social networks these days, your everyday person, non-profit organizations, businesses and so on. I for one, am on not just one social networking site, but several! You can find me on LinkedIn for business networking, Twitter for my genealogy interests and followers, Facebook to stay connected with my own family and friends and I love the fact that even though I am so far away from my family we are able to stay connected to one another by sharing our photos, videos and what we are currently doing with one another, so it almost feels like we just seen each other last week. Sort of!

Being so interested in my family history, I decided to create a Facebook page called “Fans Of Genealogy” which is  dedicated to my research findings and connecting with family members and others who are interested in this topic, in a totally different way than just having a Facebook profile for just myself. It’s a place where we can all share our family memories, stories that were passed down from one generation to the next and to share photos of our past ancestors. I am sure everyone has a story they would like to share, and for me, this is the best part of learning about my heritage. What social networking sites do you utilize for your family history research?

Have you created a fan page or group on your ancestors? It’s a great way to not only stay connected but to also document your research and what you found out about your family for your children and grandchildren. One day they might be interested in what you are doing in terms of genealogy and family history. They may one day want to know where they come from, what their ancestors looked like, or even read some of the stories that were passed down oh so many years ago!

It’s time to get crackin! Time to become the genealogy sleuth and discover my past! I’m going from life in the fast lane to life in the past lane!!

Happy Hunting 🙂

 

Thrifty Thursday ~ Genealogy For Free?

Posted: August 9, 2012 in Family
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I Love Trees!
Photo Credit: Kelly Vial via kellyvial.wordpress.com
Taken: June 2012- Punchbowl Cemetery, Honolulu, HI

Is the recession hurting your wallet? Do you only have just enough money to pay your bills, have a roof over your head and put food on the table? Believe me, you are not alone! I have struggled so much myself, being an unemployed housewife, dependent upon my husband to care for me, keep this hungry girl fed and keep all of our bills paid and current. Is it hard? Definitely! The cost of living is through the roof and just the idea of going out to eat makes the wallet cringe in horror.

So how can an unemployed, family historian seek out their ancestors when their budget is already stretched to the max? Being a genealogist is hard work, they deserve to be paid for the work they do just like anyone else. But there are some free resources out there that you can access for little or no money at all.

Here are three web sites I have found that I truly have used and like:

  • FamilySearch.org ~ Look for your ancestors here to start with. You can search by full name or just the surname. Enter all the information you have such as a birth date, death, or marriage. If you know the spouse’s name – even better! It gives you more information to work with later! It doesn’t stop there though, you can search other family trees, view documents, and if you don’t know much about genealogy at first, why not take a FREE class? You can access the “Learn” tab at the top of the web page to learn all you possibly can about this very intriguing subject. But once you get started, you may find that you just want to keep digging to the roots!
  • http://usgenweb.org/ ~ This website is great because not only is it free but is volunteer driven. The volunteers dedicate this site to free online research, which benefits everyone! Whether you consider genealogy just a hobby or you hope to make a connection with family, this site is a great starting point. Every county and state will have different web sites you can go to based on your own research or where you think your family of ancestors may have lived during a certain time period.
  • http://www.accessgenealogy.com/ ~ I like this web site because on the home page it tells me what new data has been added to the site. But you can always search by state, for me it would be the state of Virginia or maybe even Kentucky as that is where the majority of my research has been found. So I click on the state I need, where does it take me? It takes me to a corresponding page with related links, all free of course! I’m talking about lots of records! Cemetery records, slave records, census records, military records and rosters, maps, Civil War records, WW1 and WW2 records, you name it there is probably a link for it.

Happy Hunting!

Family History Fun Times

Posted: August 4, 2012 in activities
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A Plumeria Gathering
Photo Credit: Kelly Vial 2012

I lost my motivation today to research family members, so I decided to write about some fun stuff for genealogists and family historians. I had to get away for the day, as I am sure most of you understand where I am coming from. Sometimes a girl just needs a break, if just to get away from it all and focus on the fun stuff! I’m not saying genealogy isn’t fun, but I just wanted to focus my energies on something a little different today.

There are so many ideas out there for the family historian, don’t you think it’s time to have a game night with your children? Dedicate one day a week, maybe even tonight, to a game night that focuses on your ancestry. You could create a word search puzzle with surnames or events that happened during that time in your ancestors life. Word searches aren’t your cup of tea? How about Ancestor Trivia? I always loved playing Trivial Pursuit with my family and learned so much and gave a lot of wrong answers to be honest. But it was fun! You could create question and answer cards in which each player has a turn asking a question about all the ancestors in your family tree. What better way than to get the children involved and maybe even spur their interest in their family’s history?

Maybe you and your family are more on the creative side, what can you think of that you could do in terms of your own family tree? You could create a collage, paint pictures, or create Christmas bulbs in which to include on your tree this year! Wouldn’t it be nice to include your ancestors of the past into your holiday celebrations? You and your children could paint a family members name and birth date on the ornament, add glitter, bows, or whatever you like to make that ornament special to that particular person. It’s a great way to get the whole family involved and they might even like it 🙂

Here are some other ideas you might like:

  • Scavenger Hunt
  • Create a Time Capsule (but in reverse)
  • Make Picture Magnets
  • Create a Tombstone Rubbing
  • Tour a Cemetery

Here are a couple of good sites I found that may give you some other ideas:

http://amberskyline.com/treasuremaps/

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Family_History_Activities_for_Youth

http://simplekids.net/family-history-activities/

http://www.kidsturncentral.com/links/genealogylinks.htm

 

 

 

 

Lost and Found ~ Photographs of the Past

Posted: August 2, 2012 in article
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The Virginia welcome sign at the Virginia welc...

The Virginia welcome sign at the Virginia welcome center on I-95 employs the state bird, the cardinal, and the state tree and flower, the dogwood. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am a member of several societies relating to genealogy research in the state of Virginia and I just wanted to post this web link for those of you out there that may be looking for lost family photos.

http://oldphotos.homestead.com/lost.html

The owner of the site is actually selling them, some are only $7 each, so take a look as I’d hate to see someone buy your treasured photos!

Another site you may be interested in are some obituaries dated from 1790- 1940!

http://virginiaobits.homestead.com/

Good luck and happy hunting! I hope you find something that relates to your family history search within these links! 🙂

Motivation Monday ~ On The Hunt

Posted: July 29, 2012 in Ancestry, Family, Genealogy, research
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brick wall

brick wall (Photo credit: Muffet)

Most days, I stay motivated by working with other family researchers, who just so happen to be my own family! Family I never knew I had until recently. They have become my rock so to speak. They know what hard work it can be to try and track down our ancestors. The thirst for knowledge we have about our family’s past. The ache of not knowing where one family members’ life may take us. It could be down an old, beaten path or it could be down a road less traveled. So much so that we have to cut our way through and make the path passable. At the end of the day, a genealogist or family historian still has names, dates, agendas, to-do lists, research plans and logs, documents to find, dusty attics to search through– all this and much more goes running through our minds at any given time. Most of the time I suffer from insomnia and find myself wide awake at different hours of the night, or should I say early morning? It seems like my best writing ideas comes to me at 3 a.m.! I guess it’s my quiet time with no interruptions or anything else that would distract my thought process. It’s just me, my cup of coffee which is flavored with my favorite hazelnut creamer, my laptop, and my thoughts!

I have even found myself dreaming of what I needed to do regarding my genealogy research. I recently had a dream of ancestors and antique shops, where I found something from the 1700’s that had their name and date of birth written on it. It was a simple Christmas ornament, but the shop keeper wanted an arm and a leg for it and it was way out of my price range. ($7500 to be exact) What do you think triggered this dream? It had to be the email I sent to this antique shop in Virginia just a few days ago! If I were to interpret the dream, I would say that I am feeling out of touch, feeling that my ancestors are just out of my reach. So close but yet so far! I can dream up some really strange dreams, but this one I actually remembered in vivid detail for some odd reason.

Today, I feel like I need more motivation to keep up with all the block walls that I seem to be running into blindly. If you can just picture this: a woman running along a winding road, the wind blowing through her hair and the sun shining down on her. All of a sudden she collides into a brick and mortar wall, her face slamming right into it, as it just appeared out of nowhere. She’s stunned. She looks around to see if anyone saw her. Oh, how embarrassed she would be! Mortified to say the least 🙂

In my most recent search for my fathers documents, I didn’t know the city or county he was born in until Sunday afternoon. I received an email from my aunt, telling me that my father was born in Wythe County, Crockett, Virginia. He wasn’t born in a hospital, but born at home. Even though all that is good to know, I need concrete evidence so I am able to move further back into my family tree, nourishing those roots with some good old TLC and begin my thorough research on my grandfather. One of my goals is to become a member of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) through one of my patriot family members. But to do this, I need all the documents that I can get my hands on. With any luck, I will accomplish this goal! For those of you who don’t know me personally, I am determined, strong willed and stubborn like my father. I admit I am sometimes too patient but at the same time, I can also have a mean temper. Just ask my husband he’ll tell you what it’s like! 🙂

 

Tuesday’s Tip ~ Genealogy 101

Posted: July 23, 2012 in Family
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Nourishing Your Family Roots
Photo Credit: Kelly Vial via kellyvial.wordpress.com

Are you a “newbie” to the subject of Genealogy? I have been doing my own genealogy research as a hobby for several years now and over the years I have acquired some knowledge from fellow researchers and what works and what doesn’t. I hope to share with you some of that knowledge and help get you on the right path to tracing your own ancestry. It’s time to nurture the roots of your tree!

Some of the Basics

1. Start from the very beginning; use what you know and then proceed into the unknown. Document all your facts as this will be your flesh and bone foundation. It will help your overall strategy and try to also document family traditions, memories and the like. It’s all relative! No pun intended 🙂

2. Take notes! Interview family members, writing down the date, who was interviewed and create a list of questions for them to answer. You can videotape each interview or you can buy a voice recorder for all your communications.

3. Next, you should definitely create a research plan! I won’t say it is mandatory, but it will help you stay more organized; you can enter all the data on the research plan that you know on any particular person in your tree. You should create a research plan for every generation or person and include fields such as: names, birth and death dates, places, and sources where you can probably find the information you don’t have. Don’t forget to cite the source information that you have found also! This is very important as you probably won’t remember where you seen the data last. It could have been NARA (National Archives), FamilySearch, Ancestry, etc.

4. Research logs are also important- keep it accurate and up to date. On a research log you can document what you have searched such as the ancestor’s name, type of record, the date of your search, trips to the library and what was found, online resources and any side notes. Keeping in mind to record your findings for each ancestor and your results is an important part of your research. You will want to note what era your ancestor lived in and so on. You can find sample research logs through Cyndislist.com to help you create your own. It’s important that your fields have enough space in which to write your information in. Small field boxes that are too small will cause you to cram what you can into these areas which in turn, may cause you some confusion.

5. Your research notes should be able to be read and understood by anyone and should also indicate the reason behind your search.

6. Filing Systems are a great way to keep you organized as well. You should order them alphabetically by surname, color coded, then create sub folders that have ancestors and the years searched. If you don’t want to go that far, you can always just file them alphabetically by surname so they are easier to locate in the future.

7. Stay organized and keep your files in order from the start of your search for your family roots. It will save you a ton of time having to go through hundreds of pieces of documentation, notes, logs, plans, calendars, deeds and BMD records that you have accumulated over time. There are many different types of documents that you will accumulate over any given period of time, so keep it organized or you will be forever hunting for it later!

Sorting Saturday ~ Genealogy Detective

Posted: July 20, 2012 in Ancestry, family tree, Genealogy, research
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detective

detective (Photo credit: olarte.ollie)

If you like mysteries, then you are probably a good genealogy detective. Just like police detectives or investigators, genealogists and family historians alike must find the clues in their research to be able to move forward with what they have found. When sorting through my different documents and research findings, I admit I am guilty of just jumping the gun and “Googling” to my hearts content. In truth, there is nothing wrong with using search engines to find something, ANYTHING on your ancestors. But it probably won’t yield the results you are seeking. You may have reworded your keyword search several times over, but the search engines still give you the same web pages, with a little variation thrown into the mix. In cases like this, maybe it’s time for a different direction as far as your research is concerned. What do you do next?

Have you thought about creating a research plan? I have many different times, but have yet to put this into action. After listening to a genealogy webinar hosted by Legacy Family Tree, I have decided to change my research tactics! I have completed research on this topic but just now, think it’s time to share what I have learned. You may ask, “What is a research plan anyway? Why should I use one?” A research plan is the backbone of a genealogists research. It will help you find out what you do and do not know about your ancestors and may also help you break through that brick wall you have found yourself up against. You need a plan of action; this is the purpose of the research plan!

Well, for starters, creating a plan such as this can be critical to your research. Would you go into a library unprepared? Looking around for a book that just may look interesting enough to check out, is just a waste of your time. Go in there prepared and knowledgeable as to what you are seeking. How do you gather your information? Personally, I start with what I know. Right now I am in the process of creating my own research plan form using Excel software. The forms I have seen on the different web pages, I don’t really care for. The field boxes are too small to write the data inside without making a mistake reading it in the future. I want to be able to recall my sources, dates, the type of research that was completed and so on. So I am creating my own! Too much work? Not at all. It will keep me organized and I can always refer back to the plan.

There are many different sites where you can download free forms such as a family group sheet, a research log, pedigree charts, or a research plan; whatever form you think may help you in your overall research, forms are a great resource tool to get acclimated to using on a regular basis. I like http://www.cyndislist.com/free-stuff/printable-charts-and-forms/ personally. This site has direct URL’s that take you to the right form based on your own needs without having to waste time searching for the right one.

If you are like me, you do a lot of online research. I live over 4000 miles away from where my ancestors were known to have settled, so I depend mainly on the Internet for my findings. I have gone to my nearby library but have only walked out with genealogy books and a book that will help me learn the Japanese language. There wasn’t very many research books related to my family search, mainly Hawaiian heritage and the like. They did have huge filing cabinets of old newspapers which I thought was interesting, but doesn’t help me find my Cornett family roots. So I am pretty thankful to have internet access!

Keep in mind that if you are searching through internet search engines, that Google, Bing, Mocavo and others, will yield a variety of differing results. Not all search engines will be the same or give you the same results. Experiment with different search engines and compare the results! Just an idea 🙂

There is quite a bit of data accessible online and it can be overwhelming to a beginning genealogist. One of the sites I go to regularly is https://familysearch.org/. They are always updating the site with new records and documents, so I go there to see what may be new to my own searches on my ancestry. Thank you to the volunteers for adding and helping make these documents available for viewing! Since using a research plan involves thoughtful planning, I hope my plan works for me as well as I think it will.

If you decide to create your own research plan, ask yourself a few questions.

1. What do I already know about my ancestor? Write it down.

2. Can I narrow down the search in any way? Maybe it’s a death date or burial location.

3. Did a family member move away during a specific time frame?

4. Did my ancestor die in one place but happen to be buried in another location or state altogether?

TOOLS

Ancestry’s Wiki or Red Book

Family History Library Catalog

Local history books of the area you are researching

Manuscript Searches

Literature Research

Heritage Quest Online

Search old newspapers

Family Search Wiki

I can’t wait to get started on this new method style of researching my ancestry. Good luck!

 

Thankful Thursday ~ The Fun of Genealogy

Posted: July 18, 2012 in Thankful Thursday
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Energizer Bunny

Energizer Bunny (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have been researching my family’s history for several years now, off and on. The past few months, I have been going at it non-stop. I couldn’t just stop researching after all the work I was putting into my blog on a daily basis. My readers want something new, something that will also help them in their own research. They want fresh articles with substance. So I kept going and going like the Energizer bunny!

Genealogy is a very interesting topic to me and even doing all the research and hitting brick walls along the way, I still find myself trying to break through. There is one brick wall that still eludes me, but do you think I am quitting and giving up on this one person, who happens to have disappeared off the face of the Earth after he was born? Not a CHANCE! If anything, it makes me want to search even more. There is bound to be something that I haven’t found on him; somewhere the evidence is hiding out just waiting for me to find it.

I have discovered that my family on my father’s side emigrated from Scotland, going back several hundred years, but I still have to prove everything with the correct documentation. So how do you find the information you’re seeking?

Genealogical Resources

For myself, I started writing a Blog to keep track of my research findings, and I think it has helped immensely. It keeps things in order and it’s easier to go back to a particular article that I wrote just in case I need to refer back to it for some reason, or if I forgot a name or a date of importance. Keep in mind though, that you really should cite the source of information and give credit to the person or entity in which you have gained this information from. They probably put a lot of man hours into the research and published it on the web for others to read over. You wouldn’t want your work stolen and used by someone, now would you? Some may not consider it stealing, but it is. It’s a theft of words. The words or ideas belong to someone else, they are not yours. So definitely make note of your documented sources, especially if you plan on publishing it for all to see.

Awhile back, I had utilized Google’s Archive where I just researched and scanned old newspapers looking for a lead into my family’s past. A photo, an article, or even the obituary section would give me a lead to work with. It is a great resource that I don’t believe will be around much longer; there was a news article awhile back which claimed that Google was getting rid of the Archive on its’ own web site. What a pity! Here is the link to the article in which I am speaking of, just in case any of my readers are interested in reading further.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/05/google-shuts-down-newspaper-archive-project/239239/

Genealogy Links

I have personally used other resources to aid in my family search; sites such as:

http://www.ancestry.com/– this site actually helped me find a few cousins that are researching the same surnames that I was. Check it out and see where your family roots take you. I like this site for the documents that can be viewed, the photos members have posted and the family trees that you can create for your own family. Granted, you will have to do the research yourself as all trees may contain mistakes. They could have copied this from the web just assuming the data is true. Assumptions don’t count. You can also view other public member trees to see if they may have some information that is similar to your own. I found War Draft records from World War II, Census records of family members, SSDI (Social Security Death Index), voters lists, BMD records (Birth, Marriage, and Death), old photos and plenty of leads to other members of my family, but I have to make sure that what is listed is actually true and factual information. It is a long process, and even better when you can accumulate documentation to back up your findings. (Which by the way I am still working on.)

http://www.findagrave.com/– This site has helped me many times! Users and volunteers post photographs of actual cemeteries and headstones. The information is displayed as a form of memorial, if you will. I actually found a relative this way by requesting a photo of a particular headstone in a cemetery in Virginia. My relative actually went to the grave site and searched for the headstone in a family cemetery. She then took pictures and sent them to me in an email. Such a treasure and I am forever grateful to her. Since I live in Hawaii, it’s not like I can just take a weekend off to travel on the mainland and do this myself, so I am really thankful that she was willing to go to such lengths for someone she didn’t even know, personally.

Here are a few other web sites that may help you in your family search:

http://www.archives.com/

http://cyndislist.com/

https://familysearch.org/

http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/

http://refdesk.com/factgene.html (I really like this site- there are over 70 additional resources that lead you to other links)

http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ (I used this site once I found that my family may have emigrated from Edinburgh and was potential members of a Highland Clan)

I wish you all the luck in finding your family roots; it can be an adventure and also lead you to family members you may have never known existed! Take your time and don’t expect to complete your research overnight. It won’t happen just like that.

Wednesday’s Child ~ Olive Melvine Cornett

Posted: July 17, 2012 in Family
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Olive Melvine Cornett is today’s “Wednesday’s Child”. Olive Melvine was my 3rd great grand aunt through my 4th great grandparents, David Cornett and Phebe “Feby” Sutherland. Olive was only 2 years of age when she died. Olive was born on June 12, 1844 and died February 6, 1847. She is buried at Central Cemetery in Flat Ridge, Grayson County, Virginia.

I wish I knew the cause of her death but that’s for another post entirely! Wish me luck as I research her in more depth. Hoping to find something on her, but since she died so young, there is a probability that I won’t find anything at all. Keeping it positive!

Timeline of Events Which Took Place in Olive Melvine Cornett’s Birth Year (1844)

Charles Dickens published a short story called “The Chimes”.

In 1844, Harriet Tubman married John Tubman, who was a free African American, while she could still be sold and separated from her husband.

Our 11th President was elected, James K. Polk, in November 1844

 

Olive Melvine Cornett (June 12, 1844- February 6, 1847)
Buried at Central Cemetery in Flat Ridge, VA
**Photo Credit: Clinton G.

Sorting Saturday ~ Organizing Genealogy Records

Posted: July 13, 2012 in accuracy, Ancestry, ancestry library, archive
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file cabinets

file cabinets (Photo credit: redjar)

When I started researching my family’s genealogy more than 10 years ago, I never thought I would have all this documentation to sort through and organize. I have kept everything and I do mean everything! I really need to continue organizing, if truth be told. Granted, my filing cabinet is more organized than my photos are. When I moved from the mainland to Hawaii, I had so much stuff to pack and ship. To save space, I ended up having to put all those photos into boxes and having to take those photos out of old albums.  My photos were in storage for about a year and a half and I have just now begun to sort through all those photographs! Right now I am in the process of organizing and scanning them all into the ShoeBox app I installed on my iPhone. So far, I have created several different “shoe box albums”; this is definitely a work in progress! The bane of my existence is clutter!

Digital Files~

When documents are found or sent to me, I scan them so that I have a digital copy along with a hard copy. Since photos are already being digitized and uploaded to two different locations, I know they won’t be lost to me if something were to ever happen. My photographs are very important to me along with the important papers I have collected over time on my family. Since being hard at work creating digital copies of all my files, Hawaii has 3 different storms coming that are out in Pacific waters. One being a hurricane and another a tropical storm, so it’s crucial that I get these documents and photos organized and into digital format. Just in case! On my laptop, I have created an Ancestry folder, with sub folders included as to what sort of document, who the document belongs to and so on. I found that it is easiest for me to group the documents and images by creating file folder names for couples that I am researching. For example, I have a folder created for my father and paternal grandparents where I include everything that I have on them and put them in their respective folders. So much easier!

Saving emails related to my research is another task that I have accomplished. Not only do I keep a folder inside my email client, but I also have a hard copy of all emails sent to and from me from other family and researchers alike. I probably don’t have to do this but it’s OCD thing with me to save any correspondence that I have sent or received.

Some may want to keep everything research related on their laptop but it’s also a good idea to have a hard copy just in case your laptop crashes or your motherboard goes out. If that happens, consider your work lost forever!

File Folders~

Creating file folders according to surname is an ideal way to keep you organized too. You can buy a filing cabinet, file folders, hanging file folders and labels to tab each folder with the surnames you may be investigating. This is what I have done. It keeps everything in it’s proper place and it’s much easier to find if you ever have the need to refer back to someone in particular. I have folders on Cornett and Sutherland family members because that is who I am researching currently, but I also have Email correspondence folders, folders labeled with snail mail that were received by my family, family letters and documents. Then I also have created folders based on researchers too. When I was researching my Sutherland family from Scotland, I kept the documentation and letters, research packets, etc. So that’s one thumbs up for me! At least my file folders are somewhat organized and in their proper location. The only thing I think I would like to change is adding colored coded labels to help me find things better. Maybe label them all by surname and location.

When you have all your genealogy clutter organized, you will have an awesome filing system that is well organized and systematic.

A Word (Or More) To The Wise:

Keep your files and all the hard work you have done thus far up to date. If you are all finished with the tenuous task of getting every document, letter, email or whatever your document is in an organized state, please don’t ruin all that hard work by tossing a newly found document or a BMD record into just any file for safekeeping! You are already organized so why would you mess up your files and have to repeat the process all over again? Keep it straight; you will have less headaches trying to find what you are searching for. Who wants to spend time trying to locate one document that you thought you placed in the correct folder when all along it’s location is unknown and not in the place it should be. I definitely don’t want to search each individual folder for just one particular document!

Creating A Genealogy Blog

Posted: June 28, 2012 in Family
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WordPress

WordPress (Photo credit: Adriano Gasparri)

Are you serious about recording your family history, promoting your blog and giving a gift of research to future generations? If you are serious, why are you creating it? Is it more a personal feat to record the history of your family, to know them as they were back in the day? Maybe it’s a creative outlet for your writing skills. I created my genealogy blog initially to keep track of all the research that I have done thus far. Now, writing my blog has become more of a personal endeavor. It’s no longer just names and dates of my family and past ancestry from maybe three or four hundred years ago, it’s more about learning about their history and the lifestyles they have led over the years. There are so many different reasons I choose to continue writing, but the main one is creating something that I hope one day will tell my children where they come from, in a genealogical sense.

Since I love to write, I always seem to be finding myself writing articles and completing more research to accommodate this passion I have for both writing, genealogy, and just the love of the hunt! There are a couple web sites that offer a blogging service, but since having Blogger over the past year, I now like to use WordPress. I seem to have more viewers and more feedback on the articles I have posted. Before you make a decision on which service you would choose, try watching some videos on YouTube, read some reviews and comparisons on the blog of your choice. Do you already have a blog? Tell me which one you use and why you like it. Feedback most welcome!

Adventure Into Your Ancestry

Posted: June 23, 2012 in Ancestry, Uncategorized
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Tree - leaf canopy

Tree – leaf canopy (Photo credit: blmiers2)

A little over a year ago, I became intensely involved with finding out who my family really was, what natural or historical events may have shaped their lives, and even with any amount of luck, I would be able to put a face to those names and dates! When researching I found out a few things, the most important thing being that just because you see it on the internet or in print form doesn’t necessarily make it a fact! I started out with the basic version of Ancestry.com and from here I searched for my Cornett family just to see what information was hiding out inside this site. Granted, there are photos and documents such as BMD records, public and private member trees, stories that members have shared in their trees, census records, immigration and emigration records and so on. What got me into trouble with my tree was linking my current tree to someone else’s data that they had in theirs. Big mistake! HUGE! Not only was there some incorrect data as far as the person’s name but some dates were incorrect too. By the time I realized the error in my ways, I had at least a thousand family members in my descendants’ tree and I had no clue that maybe someone could have made an error. I uploaded a GEDCOM file, which wasn’t created by me, but someone else in the family line and in this file there were tons of errors. This created the biggest family tree on Ancestry that I become sort of lost. Who were these people?

Some of the errors I was at fault for, by presuming these facts to be true in nature, I came to realize that the “research” I thought I was doing, really wasn’t anything but sloppy research on my part. So what do I do now? Delete everything and start over with what I do know as fact! I started with my father, who passed away in 2001, and contacted the mausoleum to obtain his death certificate. Okay, so I’m getting on the right track now; I’m documenting every little piece of information or document I can get my hands on and being that I am his next of kin, I was able to obtain a copy. There was so much more information on this little piece of paper than I had originally thought there would be. I found out the exact time of his death, the facility where he was pronounced dead, his social security number, who his parents were (of course this I already knew), I also found out that he died from congestive heart failure. So having these types of documents further feeds my passion for wanting to know more.

I have talked to family about my passion for genealogy, and they have offered to help me in any way they can, if it is at all possible. I really appreciate all they have done thus far. What next steps do I take? Well, for me, I started to write a blog, originally with BlogSpot, but after a year using the site, I feel that WordPress is offering so much more as far as my writing, which I love to do, and also my desire to connect with others that share my interest in family history. So, with that said, since talking to older family members about what I was doing, I was really overlooking the younger generation. Why not involve them too? Get them interested in who their family really was, what trials and tribulations they may have gone through to get us where we are today. I consider my contributions to this research as a glance into our past. Passing our family legacy onto the younger members of the family. I truly wish I had been this interested 20 years ago!

Researching my families past, who they were, where they lived, who died from what ailment, or even how many children they had, gives me a better idea of what their lives were like. I know some think that what is in the past should stay in the past, but I find this to be a very fulfilling adventure! I like to dig; I like to investigate further so I can paint a picture of who my family was all those years ago. Family stories passed down from generation to generation says that we, the Cornett family, were descended from King Canute, but I haven’t been able to track back that far to say whether this is actually true or not. Yes, we might be, but then again maybe we really aren’t. Another story is that a family member married into the Hatfield family, you know the Hatfield’s and the McCoy’s? The History Channel recently aired their family story and the families well known for their feuding counterparts. I know a member of our family married a Mary Hatfield who was born in 1777, but is it the same one from this notorious family? Or another Mary Hatfield belonging to a different Hatfield generation? Could there be any relation? I hope to one day find out!

This is why I think researching your family’s ancestry is such an adventure! We won’t ever know if we are part of families such as this, unless we investigate and dig deep into our roots. After all, the roots are what keep a family tree standing! I wish you all the luck in finding your past and hearing about your findings as well!

Treasure Chest Thursday ~ James H. Curnutt Petition

Posted: June 20, 2012 in Ancestry
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Treasure chest and moss terrarium

Treasure chest and moss terrarium (Photo credit: elias_daniel)

As I open my little treasure box today, what do you think I will find? Let’s open it up and see what treasure awaits me! As the lid opens on the old, wooden box, it creaks open eerily, I look inside and am astonished by what lays before me. My hazel eyes are as big and round as the golden doubloons inside and worth more to me than I ever imagined. I am in awe of the beauty that lays before me. More than the doubloons worth, more than the shiny baubles winking at me with its’ rainbow prism of colors. I see something. But wait. Do I dare? Tempting me to touch, but I don’t. Instead I delicately pick up an old, printed document. Carefully looking at the text and just skimming the pages.. Why it looks like the petition I was seeking not so long ago! I am still on the hunt for the judge’s final decision, but this is a great start!


Many thanks to fellow researcher, Doris, for all the legwork and emails sent to connect the Cornett family with this document. 













Happy Aloha Friday!

Posted: August 12, 2011 in Aloha Friday, Edinburgh, Scotland, share information
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Aloha Everyone!


I have been neglecting my blog as of late; so much going on here in the islands that I haven’t been making time to do much research. I search here and there but haven’t spent the man hours on researching as I have in past months. I have had requests of displaying the Cornett family tree on my blog, but since it is so extensive, it would have to be sectioned off into different postings! 


Sad to say, I’m still trying to locate information on Alexander Sutherland and have been in contact with researchers in the Edinburgh area of Scotland but it looks like he just disappeared into thin air. Who was this man? Why can I not find him anywhere? He has become such a mystery, that he makes me so much more curious and the need to find him is driving me crazy! Have you come across a brick wall that just won’t budge?


Any ideas to share?



Tips For Surname Research

Posted: July 4, 2011 in 4th of July, accuracy, Census, dates, documentation, Family, locations, names, surnames. database
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research

research (Photo credit: suttonhoo)

When researching surnames in your family ancestry, here is some good advice.


(1) Get documentation beginning with your parents and work your way backwards. Be absolutely sure of the first three generations, which are easily documented, before going back farther.

(2) Treat all siblings equally, along with their spouses. Don’t just gather information about your direct ancestors.

(3) Get accurate locations for every event in their lives, including township, county, state or province, etc. and always give that information when posting queries.

(4) Find every possible family member in every possible census and make a timeline showing where they lived and when.

(5) Post a query to any forum or board giving full names, dates and locations for each generation, including all siblings and their spouses. This will help out in the long run, so researchers or volunteers know what to search for.

(6) Use any information found online or posted in response to your query as a *clue* and always go back to primary sources. Don’t believe everything you see online. Never add unsourced information (online family trees are NOT sources) to your database until you have sourced the info.


Surname Database ~ Search For Yours Today!
 

Hoping everyone has a safe and Happy 4th of July!

Introduction

Posted: June 4, 2011 in book, Climbing the Right Ladder by John Eldon Cornett, Cornett Family Genealogy, introduction, the beginning, very first blog post
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Every Cathedral Should Have Stained Glass

Every Cathedral Should Have Stained Glass (Photo credit: widdowquinn)

Having always been interested in history, I decided to start blogging about my family- my father was a Cornett. Maybe I should have majored in History instead of Marketing! Currently, I am focused on my fathers side of my family tree, and I am surprised at what I have found out in just a few days of researching. The Cornett side is very extensive but so very interesting at the same time. I found that once I get started, I cannot stop.Many years ago, I was given a copy of our genealogy that looks as if it was typed out, and included a few images; I’m sure many other family members were given this also. I have yet to acquire a book that was written by John Eldon Cornett, entitled, “Climbing The Right Ladder”. In this book, from my understanding, is a book about the origins of the Cornett family. One day I hope to purchase this book as it is a part of my family history. If it weren’t for the Internet, I wouldn’t have come as far as I have in my research! I want to share an image I found on a website called findagrave.com. I know it sounds kind of horrid, but I am glad to have found it, if only for the image of David Cornett and Phebe “Feby” Sutherland, who are my third great grandparents!
In conclusion, I would like to say that if there are family members out there who may be doing the same search as I am, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I am most willing to share my findings with you and maybe collaborate with you on any research you may have, that I may be missing.