Proving Myself

With the exception of my mother’s more recent German ancestry, most of my lines of descent are rooted in 17th century America. Since my people have been here from the beginning of America as we know it today, I have a decent number of ancestors who fought for our independence in the Revolutionary War. Because of this, I have toyed with the idea of trying to join Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). After all, I don’t get out much, and despite my agoraphobia, I like the idea of being involved in my community.

When Friends Become Family

A couple of weeks back, I became bored with my genealogical research. So, I decided I would research the family of my two closest friends, who happen to be sisters. After a couple of hours, I had made it back to the late 18th century on their Porter line. Stuart Porter married Phidelia Williams, who was the daughter of Daniel Williams and Lavina Hovey.

Hovey?

Experimenting With Spreadsheets

Come along as I attempt to create a functional spreadsheet to parse a large number of Smiths. The end product is probably not the finished product as this is just an experiment. Your feedback is welcome!

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Smith?

The following post looks more like a rough draft than a finished piece; however, I am leaving it as-is in the hope that it emphasizes the importance of being cautious with transcriptions! If there is an image available, look at it! I wasted time researching three irrelevant people for this post because, in my haste, I trusted a transcription.

I’d wager that it’s inevitable. Sooner or later in our genealogical research, we will come across the dreaded surname “Smith.” I have stumbled upon one of the offenders, myself—Samuel Smith…of Connecticut, just to narrow it down. With 20 years of genealogy experience under my belt, this should be no problem, right? 👀

Lessons Learned: Alternative Possibilities

In my last post, I discussed the importance of stepping away from your research when you encounter a brick wall, as well the importance of changing your perspective once you have decided to revisit the problem. Perhaps this post is pretty much just a reiteration of the latter statement, but its significance bears repeating. When you become absolutely fixated on the details of your problem, you are not seeing the whole picture. Viewing your issue through such a limited scope also means you become blind to alternative possibilities.

Lessons Learned: Search the Periphery

Sooner or later in our genealogical research, each of us will find ourselves up against the dreaded brick wall. That is unfortunately the nature of our hobby. And the further back we go, those brick walls will eventually become insurmountable. However, don’t throw in the towel too easily. Oftentimes, the stumbling block is us. We become so focused on our problem that we can’t see the forest for the trees. That’s when it’s time to step back for a while. When we return, it is best if we shift our perspective a bit.

Lessons Learned: DNA Testing Companies

I am not the best person to go to for information about genetic genealogy. In fact, I skirted through 17 years of schooling without ever having taken a formal biology course because I was afraid of having to dissect some poor critter. Because of this, this blog post will be relatively short. I did, however, want to touch on it because DNA testing is a great way to connect with distant cousins who may be researching some of the same ancestors, and maybe even break through a brick wall.

Lessons Learned: Miscellaneous Websites

I’ve already written a blog about the best free website for genealogical research. Today I’m going to list some other free websites that I love to use (or some that others love to use). I hope you will find them just as useful.

[Update: I have decided to update this post as I discover new websites, so check back once in a while!]

Lessons Learned: More (Mostly) Free Resources

Libraries

One of the best genealogical resources may be right in your own backyard: your public library. Your local library is a great place to check out a book on how to get started on your family history; however, public libraries offer so much more than books and other media. They often host community workshops on various subjects (including genealogy), children’s programs, and many are now offering a library of things. They also are a genealogist’s friend. At your local library you may find:

Lessons Learned: FamilySearch

Last time I talked about subscription-based genealogy sites, so now let’s turn our attention to the free resources that are available. And there are a lot of them. Today I’m going to focus on FamilySearch, which is offered for free by the Mormon church. 

Think what you will of Mormons and their baptisms of the dead, but their investment in family history is also a win for the rest of us. This site is an incredible, absolutely free resource. You only need to sign up for an account. Did I mention it’s completely free?

I’m going to focus on my three favorite features of FamilySearch, and they can all be accessed under “Search” at the top of the page: Records, Books & Catalog, and Research Wiki.