September brought another fine gathering of our Genealogy Networking Group. We started out by sharing brick walls and breakthroughs. One of the biggest brick walls we all face is "jumping the pond" and researching our immigrant ancestors in their home country. The tried but true rule is, in almost every case, you need to know…
At our last Genealogy Networking Group meeting, we did a lot of sharing. Never Too Late. We always share brick walls or breakthroughs. One of our members found information in a book printed in 1929 that completely changed the research that she's been doing since 1984. Remember you can look for books at Internet Archive,…
Back in January I set a genealogy goal for myself: see what I can find out about my ancestor Verner Hedin who served in World War I. As I mentioned in a recent genealogy newsletter, "Procrastination" is my middle name. Exhibit A: Here we are at the end of July and I have done nothing…
I do not claim to be an expert in the application of DNA analysis to genealogy research, which is why I always turn to the experts when questions come up. (See previous post on genetic genealogy resources.) More than once I have been approached by someone who asks, "My brother (or sister) and I both…
Genealogy networking nights are always a good time, because even when I plan something, I never know what’s going to come up. This month I asked people to share stories of weddings and marriages. I thought we might get some good tales of interesting wedding customs or wedding mishaps. Instead, we wandered into the topic…
Last week I celebrated 30 years working at Cook Memorial Public Library. Wow, where did the time go? I spent some time thinking about all the changes that have taken place in those years, one of which was my becoming interested in genealogy and taking responsibility for the genealogy collection and programs at the library—alongside…
Sometimes we think we're all alone in our genealogy research, patiently combing through records and searching databases. But it really does take a village to do genealogy, and untold nameless genealogists have given countless hours of their time and expertise to make your research easier. If you would like to "pay it forward" to the…
Although it's a few days past January 1, it's not too late to make some genealogy resolutions. Do you want to "up your game" and work a little harder on your research this year? Maybe you'd rather focus on a project with an end result, such as a story about an ancestor or a photo…
At first I wanted to read this book because it's by Tom Hanks and he's one of my favorite actors. But I kept putting it off because it's short stories and I really don't read short stories. I try to be open-minded but short stories ask a lot of me. emotionally and psychologically. I invest…
This Thanksgiving, after everyone has caught up on the latest family doings, why not turn the conversation around to family history? If you will be dining with older family members, now is the time to ask them about their lives. Have a few open-ended questions ready to start the conversation and be ready to listen.…
