It’s Time to Get Started. You Can Do This

 

Hello Farmgirl Sisters!

I mentioned in my first blog post that I had been given a box of genealogical keepsakes by my Grandmother Roberta many years ago. One of the items in that box was a letter from her mother’s cousin, Beulah. In December of 1932, Beulah had written to Roberta’s mother, Bessie that she had been doing her own research into their family history and had discovered a fascinating story about a great grandfather, several generations back. She found out that he fought in the Revolutionary War and was a bona-fide knight from England. She included a handwritten chart of the family tree as she thought it to be. An English knight? In our family? How cool was that?! I was still very early into my genealogical adventures and immediately set off trying to find anything I could about this great knight who fought for American independence.

I found out that records for Revolutionary War soldiers could be requested from the National Archives. Remember this is the pre-internet time, so I wrote a letter with all the information I had gathered from Beulah’s notes. Several weeks later, I received an envelope containing photostatic copies of the great grandfather’s military record. Some of it was very hard to read, but I could see that he was from North Carolina and fought in several battles. I didn’t see anything referencing him being a knight or being from England, but didn’t think too much about that at the time. I was just so happy to have his service record that proved my roots in America went back at least to the Revolutionary War. Or did it? The fact is that all I had was some paperwork that said a man named John Duckworth fought in the Revolutionary War and received a pension. I had absolutely nothing that connected me to him. Beulah’s notes contained some good references to follow up on, but no documentation proving any kind of relationship. Without documentation, it was just a really interesting story.

Where does genealogy begin? Where does it start? Genealogy starts with YOU. This might lead you to think something like, “…but I know all about me. Why would I research myself?”

Yes, you do know all about yourself. You know when and where you were born, where you went to school, marriage information and other similar facts. Do have all the paperwork verifying your facts in hand? While helping other people research their family trees, one of the big surprises to me was how many of them did not have their own life documents readily available, much less those of their parents and grandparents. Papers get lost, misplaced, accidentally discarded. It happens. I’ve had to replace my own birth certificate twice. Family trees must have documentation, including yours.

Millions of people have hit the online genealogy websites to build their family trees. That’s not a bad thing at all, but I wouldn’t encourage anyone just getting started to do that yet. Those sites are very much a double-edged sword, something I will talk about later on down this blog road. Start very simply instead.

A tablet or loose-leaf paper, pens/pencils, a package of file pockets or plain folders and maybe an inexpensive file box to keep it all in is all you really need to begin gathering some basic information. Start with yourself and make a file for your documents.  If you have a copy of your birth certificate handy, make a spare copy for your genealogical file. If you’re married, same thing with your marriage license. What are some of your favorite photographs from your childhood? Do you have them or can you get them? Do you still have some of your old school report cards? Were you ever featured in the local newspaper? How about your high school graduation photo and diploma? What was your first job? I think you get the idea. Gathering a little bit of information and documentation for yourself is building the foundation for your family tree. It doesn’t have to be all inclusive. You’ll be able to add to it as time goes by if you want to. But at the very least, you need to have good copies of your vital record documents.

This genealogical mission, should you choose to accept it, will not be something quickly done. It will be a long, time-consuming, sometimes frustrating endeavor with the potential for great and exciting discoveries that will delight and amaze you and your family. It’s definitely worth the time to work each generation, beginning with yourself, one at a time, gathering as much documentation as possible.

If you read my last blog entry, you saw John Duckworth’s name on that list of patriot ancestors. I was able to build that paper trail between John and me. Beulah’s notes were big help, even though some of the information was inaccurate. By doing my own research, I was able to fill in the blanks she had and update her information. John wasn’t a knight. He wasn’t even from England. He was born in the colonies, as was his father and his father before that.

The title of my next post will be “Researching Parents and Grandparents”

Until then, Love, Live and Laugh Each Day to the Fullest!

 

Stacy, Farmgirl Sister #7112