Category: Inspiration

Writing and Research Goals Coming Together

So excited that my personal goals are overlapping with priorities for the DuPage County Genealogical Society and an active WikiTree Challenge.

I’ve set a personal annual goal of writing and submitting at least one genealogy article a year. Luckily my local society’s bi-annual magazine welcomes content, so I have a natural outlook for the article.

Unfortunately, my latest idea had been slow in coming together. Each time I thought I had a manageable focused topic, it would blow up and need more work.

Recently I came across a WikiTree Challenge that would be an easy way to support the WikiTree community, contribute to the DuPage County Genealogical Society, and meet my personal goal.

The US Black Heritage group started an 1880 Project to create profiles in WikiTree for every Black American that was enumerated in the 1880 Census. I decided to help with the project and focus on creating or checking profiles of Black Americans who were enumerated in DuPage County. I would then write up profiles highlighting the 1880 households and submit those profiles to The Review, DCGS’s magazine.

This article will bring recognition to those Black Americans and support the research efforts of their descendants.

Resources:
USBH 1880 Project post in G2G: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1698629/can-you-help-the-usbh-1880-census-project
DuPage County Genealogical Society: https://www.dcgs.org/

2019 Goal Achieved

For the past 3 years, I’ve been using my version of 52 Ancestors to keep my from being overwhelmed and to make noticable progress. After 12 years of genealogy research, converting gedcoms from different platforms, and early indiscriminate adding of hints, my source citations had been a mess.

Previously when I had a free moment, I would use random.org to generate a number that I could match to an ancestor’s ahnentafel  number.

Continue reading 2019 Goal Achieved

2018 Goal Achieved

It was a productive year. My favorite goal this year was my version of 52 Ancestors. I was inspired by Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”

I needed a systematic way to work through my gedcom file. I have been working from the same file since I started building the tree in 2003. After moving between several genealogy file management systems, my sources were junky, incomplete, or non-existent on earlier added profiles. Locations were not uniform. And, somehow the notes had duplicated multiple times. I didn’t know where to start. When I looked at the full file, I was overwhelmed. Continue reading 2018 Goal Achieved

#wednesdaywisdom with NARA’s Virtual Genealogy Fair

Today’s a great day to access genealogy instructional videos through NARA’s virtual genealogy fair.

Visit https://www.archives.gov/calendar/genealogy-fair to view the agenda or go straight to their YouTube channel to watch the current session live. https://www.youtube.com/user/usnationalarchives

If you can’t join the sessions live, the recordings to this year’s sessions will be available through the YouTube channel.

If you can’t get enough information, check out the recordings from previous five years of Virtual Genealogy Fairs.

#genfair2018 #genealogy #WenesdayWisdom

Holiday Conversations

The holidays are a great time to catch up with family. You can share the research you’ve done and listen to the family stories that put the research in context.

Scan and share old photos.
You can show how family members and the holiday celebration has changed over the years. You can share photos of family members that everyone hasn’t seen in years.

This year I scanned slides my father had gotten from his father. Since my parents never had a slide projector, we never saw these images growing up. I used an adapter that we had for our older Epson scanner. Continue reading Holiday Conversations

Take a Break

Stepping away from the details of work can give you a new perspective.
Yesterday, that moment of joy was watching the eclipse with family. My husband and I are lucky enough that he has family in southern Illinois, an area that experienced totality. Just the event itself inspired and awed me. Experiencing it with several generations made it even more special. We ate moon pies and sun chips. We had our official glasses, but made pinhole cameras from a shoebox and sheets of paper (used separately). We also expanded the light show with a colander and a mirror (also used separately). Continue reading Take a Break

Ancestors Live On Through Our Stories

Inspiration comes from the strangest places.

Over the weekend, I was reading a mystery book that had nothing to do with genealogy. I then read the line, “People live on in the stories we tell about them.”(1)

I stopped. And, thought, “This was it. This is the reason I do genealogy.”

Our Ancestors live through our stories. Family stories are selective and many times don’t tell the full story. Genealogical research helps us build the true stories of our ancestors and find those ancestors that are missing.

Through collecting and analyzing information we can remember all our ancestors, from the famous to the farmers.

(1) Cleland, Jane K. 2016. Glow of Death. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press. p 43

#ThursdayThoughts #AncestorStories