Prologue

Genealogy is the study of your ancestors - Who they were; Where they lived; What they did; When they were in a given location. The history of your family and its members. [my definitions]

Why? Who cares? Well, at some point in your life, you are going to want to know. That's the best I can say.

There are stories about various ancestors of mine that I have heard that my family's or my own fallible memories don't recall completely, correct, or are remembered mixed with other stories we/I heard growing up. How can I tell my kids the stories correctly if I don't record them and/or write them down? And what about that story where we are actually related to Buffalo Bill Cody in some way? (How?) or a Queen's husband? (How?) Are we really or was it just a story?

I find it also piques your interest in History in general. I want to know more about "local" history, especially where I know that family lived, than I ever did.

• "When did that county come into being, and what was it before it became that county?"
• "That town was named this back then, and is now named that. Why was it changed?"
• "Is that town really a town, or a church with the area around it named for the church?"
• "Who in my family were 'settlers' in that state, and who moved in after it was settled?"

It can become an obsession! So much so, that many genealogy programs actually include options for reminders, and some suggest, maybe facetiously, that you program at least one reminder nightly to GO TO BED.

back to top

---

Introduction and Notes

I don't claim to be a great or even good genealogist. I'm not -- yet.

1. I didn't start in earnest until about March, 2003.
2. Most of my searches to date (August, 2006) have been on the internet.
   1. I have only been to an actual library for research a couple of times.
   2. I have only been to an actual county clerk's office for research a couple of times.
3. In other words, most of my "proof" comes from the internet.

That is not to say that the "proof"s I have found are not valid sources for societies like the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution), SAR (Sons of the American Revolution), et al; They are. It's just that most of the "proof" you will find on the internet is more of a "clue" or "secondary source" (see below).

If you are serious, I believe you will find, as I have, that while there is a LOT of information available on the 'net, there are a lot of "holes", too. For example, Ancestry.com has all the images of the US Census records online, and [now, all of them] have "searchable" all-name indexes, meaning you can enter a name in an online form, press the Search button, and it will give you all the information it has on that name, and if it has it, even a link to the actual image of the page on which that name occurs. However, the time periods you will find most difficult is between 1790 and 1850 (Census records were "Head of household" only, with counts, only, of other members of the household within certain age ranges), and 1880 and 1900, where there are no "all name" indexes for the census records. (There was a fire and most of the 1890 Census records were destroyed.) There are also numerous examples of misspellings, by enumerators (those who took the census) and indexers (those who enter the names into the index database), and many of the enumerators had worse handwriting than I do! In some cases, if you have an idea of where your ancestor lived, you will have to physically (ok, "clickably") "browse" the pages of those areas to find (or not find) them. BUT, that's only if you ONLY use Ancestry.com data. There are other sites that have searchable indexes to the census records, and can tell you where, at least to the County level, you can find your relation. (Again, the same spelling and transcription problems exist.)

Many genealogical sites have "message boards", where you can find other people trying to find relatives. Remember, for the most part, information gleaned from these boards should be considered as "clues" or "secondary sources", and should only be used to help you find the "primary sources". However, if you have hit a "brick wall", they may be a good source of information about where to look.

There are plenty of sites on the internet with family genealogy information. Most genealogists, recreational and otherwise, are genuinely friendly people and open to giving and trading information. But, be aware that when you are viewing the information online, unless the actual images of the actual records are attached, you will need to access primary sources to get your own proof.

Also, remember that the published genealogist has put a lot of "blood, sweat and tears", as well as time and effort into finding the information that they do have. If they are wrong, they want to know it. HOWEVER, they don't want to/need to hear "my grandfather told my dad that his grandfather's grandfather was [whomever] and you don't have that name, so you are WRONG!" Prove what was said, remembering that a LOT of kids were named for presidents and other names in the news at a given time (eg: "George Washington [Whatever]", "Isaac Newton [Whatever]", etc.) and that there are a lot of people out there with the same last name (no matter how unique it is!) Maybe you are in a different "line" of that family than the one you are attempting to correct. Maybe you ARE related, but through a brother or uncle further back who named his son the same as that person's GGGGGF (4*Great-Grandfather or Great-great-great-great Grandfather). Be as diplomatic as possible, and remember the Golden Rule!

You know? I believe that after reviewing just some of my links for categorization and comments, I have come to the conclusion that this "genealogy thing" may just take off! Have fun!

back to top

---

How Did I Get into Genealogy?

My maternal great-aunt, Wilma McCune Mintier, did the genealogy of her family, up to our generation. While it's possible she did the genealogy as an excuse to travel the globe (which she did), I think she also wanted to leave something for her family (which she also did!). She could (and would!) talk to everyone, and it seemed that everyone she struck up conversations with were related to her/us in some way, or at the very least, knew about people that were.

For example: She was once on a ferry in Europe (I believe... I will correct this when I transcribe her genealogy book, if I find it's wrong), and she struck up a conversation with a black woman (we are white). She found that the woman's last name was the same as hers! Somehow or other, somewhere back in time, we are related in some way.

Apparently, I started thinking more seriously about it when my ex-wife's father told his stories of being a Tail-Gunner on a B-17, being shot down on the first or second mission, surviving four days in the water on a raft, only to be taken prisoner by the Germans as soon as they landed on a beach, and being on the forced "Death March" across Germany (not the Bataan Death March that everyone knows about) in the worst winter weather. I wish I had done, myself, what I tried to get my ex to do -- get a recorder and tape his stories for our kids. Now it's too late. (I have found some sites with information containing the facts and others' stories about these items. While "facts" and "others' stories" are great, it still would have been nice to have them "in his own words".)

Time rolled on. The kids got older, my wife and I got divorced, I changed jobs, and I didn't really have time to think about genealogy.

My brother announced he was going to do it, but his job and kids took a lot of time. He got a lot of the current information together, though. Early in 2003 my position was "eliminated" during a corporate restructuring, and I found extra time on my hands while I was looking for work. Then, as my parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary was coming, my sister put out a call for stories about them to create a "Memory Book". I thought, "maybe I can find out about Dad's family, since Aunt Bill did Mom's," and I started surfing the genealogical sites, asking Dad and my paternal grandmother about what they knew, got what my brother, great-aunt, and other relatives had put together, and started "proving" what I was told. Every time I found a name I KNEW was related to us, it gave me a thrill, and helped me not to think about how difficult it was to be to find a programming position comparable to the one I had.

I don't just use other peoples' pedigrees, either. I want to KNOW that my information is correct, and want to be able to "show my work". I did this instinctively, and have since found that this is the way it's SUPPOSED to be done! "Real Genealogists" call the information I call "proof" "Primary" and "Secondary Sources". These are (on-line) census images, proving the family unit and where they were. They are also certified marriage, death and birth certificates, military records, land records, etc. In other words, if the government or church (or newspaper) records have the person's name in them in a location you can prove (census records, and many of these records have address information in them) you have proved their existence in the location. I also found my family's name (Mom's side, anyway) in numerous newspaper article images online. I guess that means I subscribe to the "do it right or don't do it" code, huh? Must be the "logical" programmer in me!

There are numerous "Secondary Sources" (those that don't necessarily "tie" a person to a family or place or ...) such as the online indexes, other peoples' pedigrees, etc. These provide "clues" of where to find the "ties" mentioned above. And, while some are a great help, some can actually hinder the process, pointing to places and people that aren't related in any way. Remember those family stories about those to whom we are supposedly related? I have not found and "proof" of that, yet. I don't know that I ever will, but, who knows? I may find other famous people to whom we are related!

back to top

---

My Opinions about "Family"

Some people subscribe to the theory that the only part of your family you really need to research is your "bloodline"; That there's no need to find out who your great grandfathers' siblings were, their wives, their children, etc. If your ancestor was adopted, there's no need to find out about the adoptive parents. If your ancestors were the adoptive parents, there's no need to find out about the adopted kids.

I don't. I believe that your ancestors were (just as YOU are) shaped by everything that was happening in the family.

• Estrangement? Why? Was it a misunderstanding? Who decided they didn't want anything to do with the other, and again, why?

  These answers may not be forthcoming, but you might be able to find out if you follow those lines forward to a living relative.
  

• Adoption? Why? Did the parents both die? Did the father die, the mother remarry and the step-father raise the child?

  This is true in my family. Since this happened when the adopted child was five years old, the step-father raised him, and therefore, the way HE was raised -- and his parents, and their parents, ad infinitum -- is important in that it gives us clues as to why he:

  1. accepted a woman with a child;
  2. adopted that child as his own;
  3. raised that child as he did.

There are many other examples, not necessarily in my family, such as the children of one man raised by a brother, even though the brother is still alive in a different county; the "old maid" cousin who was actually married as a teen when her fiancée was sent off to war where he died, and she had a child that was raised by her parents as their own; the GGGU (great-great-great-uncle) who ran with the Dalton Gang, leaving his mother buried booty -- Ok... I slipped off the subject, but you get the idea.

back to top

---

Let's Be Careful Out There

(This section is a slightly modified version of that found on my Job-Search page.)

Something about which all online genealogists should be aware: There are plenty of internet "trolling" 'bots (robots - think automatic scanners), searching for email addresses (and, in some cases, other identifiable information), out there in Internet-land.

If you are worried about your privacy, there are ways to protect it. One suggestion that I took to heart was to use a "throw away" email name/account for my genealogy searches and memberships -- I created a special "email" for my job searches the same way -- using a free Hotmail address. Other places to get free email addresses abound, one of the better-known being Yahoo. While it gives me another email account with which to deal, it is much easier to "turn off" than my main email account, which is left alone for more personal emails.

Also, if you are really worried about your own privacy, and you intend to publish your findings in any way, remember that you should never give out any living persons' specific information. US Privacy laws protect information for 70 or so years, hence only Census information up to 1930 is available online or elsewhere. Be careful about giving out yours or anyone else's address (email or other), place of employment, phone number, or for that matter, any other information. Even relatives have been known to be sued for breach of privacy!

Also, if you put your family tree into your own webpage, it might be prudent to use a script (I used a JavaScript) to "build" the mailto link. It's still "clickable" for those that actually visit the site, but the trollers can't find it. Some people "disguise" their email links with the words "nospam" or other contrivances embedded in the email address. This makes it more difficult (and therefore, less likely to be used) for visitors, but it is a viable alternative.

NOTE: Rootsweb and others either use a forwarding service, creating temporary email address "on-the-fly" linked to your own address, or they create an image of your address. Neither are "clickable", so the images have to be typed in; And some of these email addresses can be quite cryptic and long!

back to top

---

by Bill Sanders © August 29, 2006 - email:
Originally published on OFPv1 as the intro to the Genealogy Links page.

Return to OFPv2/Owner - Articles & Letters Home or OFPv2/Owner - Family Tree
 

Send email to Bill Sanders ()
with questions or comments about this page or site.

This site, all text and graphics (unless otherwise noted) on it
were designed, developed and published by Bill Sanders of Orange Frog Productions.
It and it's CSS was validated and complies with both the: CSS and HTML 4.01 validators from W3C.
NOTE: All CSS validates except the "New Window Buttons" which include some invalid code (ie: hacks),
added PicoSearch Tables, and warnings for using transparent backgrounds when color foregrounds defined.
Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 by Bill Sanders / Full site last modified: October 21, 2006
Any reproduction, printing, or selling of this content is prohibited without express written consent from William D. Sanders.