I became interested in genealogy in 1980. I worked on a maternity ward. Bonnie, a wonderful nurse that I worked with was talking about her genealogical search. I had notebooks that had information about my SCRUGGS family and my husband’s GRAY family. After showing her the information that I already had, she showed me how to start. She introduced me to Everton Publications. I bought family group sheets and several other forms. Back then the computer was not an option for me.
I started by filling out our family group sheets. Then added what I knew about our families, and the information that was in the SCRUGGS and GRAY information done by other family members. Of course, I didn't check the information, and I took it as totally correct.
Bonnie stressed that I needed to source everything and verify other peoples information. I was in such a hurry to procede that I didn't do either. Sourcing seemed unnecessary, because I knew where my information came from and thought I would remember. I thought that the information should be correct as it was very recent information.
Well, you guessed it! I gathered more information and totally forgot to source my information. I had not made sourcing a habit. I realized to late that I couldn’t prove the information that I gathered, and I have over 9,000 names in my genealogy. I don't remember most the sources that I have used.
I am now overwhelmed as to where to start. Sourcing is not any fun, and I would much rather find more ancestors. I think that is the reason, I haven’t done any real genealogy research in about 10 years.
I bet you are wondering what made me decide to get my research going again. I was on CraigsList searching for tickets to country western concert yesterday. I found a ticket advertised for the Midwest Family History Expo, and it was only 5 miles from my home. It made me sick to think I had not been researching our family, and I hadn’t gone to the Expo. I hadn’t known it was happening. I had always wanted to go to the seminars, but never had the money or time to travel. It was too late to go to one class. I read about the classes offered. One mentioned a genealogical blogging class. I Googled, genealogical blogging.
So here I am. Starting a blog and hoping to continue my genealogical search. I am interested in some advice on getting my sources and where to begin. Like I said, I would much rather be finding my ancestors and “cousins”. Please help!
Welcome to the world of bloggers! It was a great Expo. Glad you were there, too.
ReplyDeleteBill ;-)
http://drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com/
Author of "Back to the Homeplace"
and "13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories"
http://www.examiner.com/x-53135-Springfield-Genealogy-Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/x-58285-Ozarks-Cultural-Heritage-Examiner
Gold star for starting a blog, Rebecca! And, yes, it's very exciting finding ancestors...
ReplyDeleteStart doing your sources one at a time, kind of like "how do you eat an elephant?" Answer - one bite at a time! Do it, learn it, and you will be able to help others who are stymied too! Cheers, Celia
surnames: Gillespie, Bunn, Terwilliger, Graves, Buell, Ormsbee etc.etc.etc.
Welcome to the Geneablogging family, we are all here to help! I look forward to reading more of your story.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the world of blogging. I see you have Wade and Greene surnames, are they from New England? It is scary when you first begin, but look around at other blogs to get ideas and then run with it. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI echo what Celia said..."one bite at a time", and what Barbara said..."look around at other blogs". Can't get better advise than that! Good luck, I'm looking forward to future posts!
ReplyDeleteWow, this is amazing. I started this blog last night. Before I 10:30, I have 5 comments and 8 followers. Amazing. I am happy to meet your aquaintance. I am going to explore the blogs of the people who are following me.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the new obsession: geneablogging! :-) Looking forward to hearing more from you!
ReplyDeleteSome of you have two or more blogs. You give me hope that I too, might be able to do this. Your sights are great. Thanks again for your visits and encouragement.
ReplyDeleteBill, I missed the show, because I didn't know about it until too late. That will teach me to play on facebook instead of something useful.
Celia, your eating an elephant analogy was so funny, that is what it feels like, too. It is a huge task. Now where do I start?
Researchingocconnells, appreciate your kind words, not sure how interesting my stories will be, but look forward to hearing from you.
Barbara, my GREEN/GREENE line I only have back to Indiana. I posted information on the GREEN/GREENE line today. I have that David Albert’s father as David A. Green from Indiana. My WADE family goes back to Virginia. Most of the info I have on the WADES is from the CHAPPELL Book.
Lisa, you are so kind I appreciate your encouragement.
Miriam, Your encouragement is greatly appreciated.
Thanks again.
You will have so much fun blogging and it does bring results.
ReplyDeleteThanks Greta, I so appreciate your encouragement.
ReplyDeleteRebecca, one last bit of advice when taking that "one bite at a time," a great resource for sourcing is Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian by Elizabeth Shown Mills. I too have a hard time citing and remembering to cite my sources and this is a big help for me!
ReplyDeleteresearchingoconnells,thanks for the advice I will get the book as soon as I can.
ReplyDeleteRebecca.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to a wonderful group of folk, Genea-bloggers. Its fun.
As to the question of Citing your Sources, All I can say, is one at a time. Do a couple, then take a break.
Please know, that you will find conflicting information. Don't discard that conflicting information by Cite your Sources, good, bad, or indifferent.
Then, you need to Evaluate what you have recorded and choose the one that appears to be most correct.
I suggest that you keep those 'not so good' pieces of information because you may find them again. You will want to remember, {Oh yeah, I saw that before, and have determined that is it bad information).
I am reminded that Thomas Edison had many, many ways that the light bulb didn't work, but one way that it did.
Evidence Explained! is a valuable resource. If it's too expensive, there are a couple of Cheat Sheets that you might look for based on her book.
Good luck and welcome to the group.
Russ
I have to say that using a good genealogy program, like The Master Genealogist, is the right way to get started. A good program will prompt you for a source - you can keep it as simple as you like. Just remember one of the goals of sourcing is so anyone can go back at a later date and review what was recorded; so you can answer the question: Where did I find that...?
ReplyDelete