Day 2, Thursday: Educate us on something you know alot about or are good at. Take any approach you'd like (serious and educational or funny and sarcastic)
Family History.
I kept thinking this is too awkward, I don't know what to talk about...I'll just tell everyone how I do my hair. But I keep thinking about Family History...so you all get to learn a little about it.
I've been doing genealogy since I was in elementary school. I used to go look at census records with my mom when I was "off track". I'm such a nerd. I always feel out of place because I am like 30 years younger than anyone else at the family history library. But I'm good at it. Seriously. I can't do it all the time. Only when I feel impressed to do it. And when I do...I find people. And it is so rewarding. So if there is someone out there who possibly reads my blog, and is interested, this is for you.
Doing family history is easier than EVER before. The internet is an amazing tool. You're supposed to start with your family members and gathering information about people they knew. Then you just build. And that's awesome, but well. I would ask yourself this: Who is coming to your mind? Look for that person.
Go to www.familysearch.org It's the LDS churches family history site, and its a great place to start. They just re-did the whole thing and I'm not super familiar with the new format, but its easy enough to figure out.
Click the Search tab and start typing in the information that you know. (I'm trying to do a screen shot and it won't work in Blogger, so I guess you will just have to figure it out)
I would look for Margaret Cronin, I know she lived in England, and that she was born around 1860 (so I would put in a few years before and after 1858-1862). I know her mothers name was Ellen. So I put that in and search. Then you start looking at the search results and see if anything lines up. Now I already know (I've found it before), the 5th item down is her, on the 1881 Census because Daniel is my relative, and the Mom is Ellen, and there isn't another combination of those of those to be found on that census and the ages line up with what I already know. But mostly, and honestly, my searches are led by the Spirit, and common sense. If it seems logical (ages dates location and family members line up), and I feel good. If it feels right, like this is the person I'm looking for, then I save the information. Hopefully I can verify that is really is the person I'm looking for.
You can filter your results to try and find something more specific. I'm trying to find out if Margaret got married...You see she drops off the grid at after 1891...I don't know if she married or if she died. And for some reason I can't help thinking she got married. But I can't find her. I can't find it. So you can look for Marriages in England, or Marriages in a certain year. Sometimes it dead ends. It is super frustrating, because you don't know how to find someone. But sometimes (and these are the very best times) what you're looking for just shows up. Its like magic. And you just know that the record you found is for the person in your family tree. Mostly likely, that person WANTS to be found and they want their temple work done. (So you best get on going with it) FamilySearch has all the means to help you get that done, if you're interested.
Give it a try, you might like it. And I'm happy to help, or give pointers...even if you doubt my skills with what I just explained (because I don't edit....I've got to figure out what my 2 year old is getting into right now).
oh, and listen to your heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment