There are lots of bits of information we "know" that we simply haven't processed. That was brought home to me yesterday when I received a real letter soliciting my assistance in creating our family tree. Until then, it had never truly occured to me that I am my oldest living relative.
Lately I've been become curious about my ancestors. Is it a function of aging? Every family has its own creation myths; hagiography believed by the teller is most always disdained by the listener and so it is in my family. Unrelated to (since I didn't know it was coming) the family tree search, earlier this month I began an ongoing email conversation with an man living in my grandfather's Irish village who may very well be kin. The village would be unrecognizable to my granddad, but some pieces of old tales are beginning to fit. I'm startled by how little I "know".
Two years ago I wrote about searching for my grandparents graves. It was a great start for the "Tree" project. I'll likely have to visit the Mormons to locate my earlier American family members; their Irish and German ancestors are safely tucked in the churchyards of the villages they lived and died in. I can't help but feel I'm recreating a wheel.
Toad
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A visit to Salt Lake would be just the ticket, or you could take advantage of their resources online if you like. You do have to drop a token in their membership coin slot from time to time, but oh the riches that lie within Ancestry.com. Talk about "flow," you can lose hours once you've been bitten by the search/find bug. [One may purchase a World membership to search outside USA, or a USA search only.] Funny thing is, I'll buy a short term membership thinking I'm just going to check out a few new revelations and then be done, but in short order I'm pulled back into the marvelous world of the past, and can't quite let it go!
-Flo
Being sucked into the world of geneology is one of my greatest fears. I can see it happening far too easily
Even though both my mother and father have traced their family lines way back, I'm STILL tempted by Ancestry.com. Do tell us what you find? If the experience is fun?
Oh do not fear being sucked in! Anything that produces "flow" [the scientists now know this for a fact] is good for the long life of the cranium.
Jump! and here's to your health and long life!
-Flo
In my heart of hearts I believe that someone in the family did this 50 years ago. Sadly, it likely no longer exists so I'm off.
My sister is hooked on Ancestry and from what I've seen, it's fun stuff.
I suspect all roads will lead to tiny English & Irish towns at some point.....possibly German, too, who knows?
That's very cool! Can't wait to see your results. :) - KT
There are a few places to get your search feet wet prior to subscribing to Ancestry.
However, many of them dial straight back to MormonGenealogyCentral, Ancestry [but only if you want to view actual documents like marriage license applications, SSA applications, census pages, etc].
Getting familiar with putting info into search fields can be VERY tiresome. You do not want to get tired before you've even started. So, try this free seaarch site just for the exercise -- put something already KNOWN into their search fields, like maybe an aunt, a parent, an uncle. Reason being, if a basic search comes up empty on a general site like this, then it signals a need for you to refine your input. So learn to refine your input.
https://familysearch.org/search
I have spent the last hour dumbfounded. Many thanks
"Dumbfounded" is good for the brain! Somehow those old documents and census forms and official applications with actual signatures make me emotional, can't quite say why.
The 1940 US census has now been coded and released for searchers like us. My parents married in 1939, so I pulled the 1940 census and there they were in their newlywed apartment, it even gave the amount of their rent! A census form is wonderful, packed with information. Like if you get stuck on where soandso was born [a important clue in finding people], a census provides birth place for each person listed.
-Flo
The immigration forms are driving me to rereading 19th century Euro history. Relatives I thought immigrated from X came from Y. When was the German religious exodus?, little thing slike that. I'm being tugged ever deeper
Wishing you farewell and safe travels on your journey.
ps Keep one window open at all times dedicated only to google [in which I just found this after one simple query]:
"The History of the German Immigration to America"
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~brobst/chronicles/chap2.htm
-F
Not long ago, during a period of calm, I checked out my family tree. I descend from Mormon pioneers, so it was quite easy. It might be a bit more work for you, but you'll probably have some fun.
Kathleen
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