Computer Prayer
Blessings on this fine machine,
May its data all be clean.
Let the files stay where they're put,
Away from disk drives keep all soot.
From its screen shall come no whines,
Let in no spikes on power lines.
As oaks were sacred to the Druids,
Let not the keyboard suffer fluids.
Disk full shall be no more than rarity,
The memory shall not miss its parity.
From the modem shall come wonders,
Without line noise making blunders.
May it never catch a virus,
And all its software stay desirous.
Oh let the printer never jam,
And turn my output into spam.
I ask of Eris, noble queen,
Keep Murphy far from this machine.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Genealogy Pox Poem
GENEALOGY POX
INCIDENCE: Though it can strike at any age, this dread disease rarely affects children or young adults, and rarely becomes serious until after middle age.
CONTAGION: The cause and manner of transmission of the Pox are poorly understood. It is generally only mildly contagious, requiring relatively prolonged exposure to one afflicted with it. However, some victims contract the disease after one brief exposure, while others seem to have a natural immunity, and can withstand years of close contact without ever succumbing to it.
SYMPTOMS: Insatiable craving for names, dates and places; patient often has a blank expression and seems deaf to spouse and children; has no taste for productive work of any kind, but will spend long hours feverishly looking through books at libraries and courthouses; may become addicted to the use of microfilm and microfiche readers; may become a compulsive letter- writer or phone-caller; may tend to lie in wait for the mailman, cursing him soundly if he only leaves bills or circulars; frequents strange places such as cemeteries, attics and any place where dusty old books and photographs can be found.
These have always been the classic symptoms. But recently the virus causing this Pox seems to have mutated. The newest symptom is spending hours in front of a computer screen, sending e-mail messages and looking for more and more genealogy websites on the Internet. This can lead to dire consequences, as the victim often forgets to eat or sleep and can become emaciated, disoriented and clinically speaking, totally nuts!
TREATMENT: There is no known cure, and fighting the disease only makes the victim withdraw from contact with those trying to help him. Humoring him, or joining in his obsessive activities seem to be the best ways for loved ones to deal with it. It is progressive, but has never been known to be fatal. The patient should attend genealogy workshops, subscribe to genealogy magazines, and be given a quiet place where he can be alone. If the patient is inattentive to those closest to him, his attention can be gotten, at least for short periods of time, by promising him a new website address, or a new and more powerful computer. But perhaps the surest, and certainly the least expensive way of getting his attention, is to ask a question - ANY question - about his great grandmother!
REMARKS/OBSERVATIONS: The most unusual aspect of this disease has always been that, the sicker the patient gets, the more he enjoys it!
With kind permission from:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~parrottreilly/poems.html
INCIDENCE: Though it can strike at any age, this dread disease rarely affects children or young adults, and rarely becomes serious until after middle age.
CONTAGION: The cause and manner of transmission of the Pox are poorly understood. It is generally only mildly contagious, requiring relatively prolonged exposure to one afflicted with it. However, some victims contract the disease after one brief exposure, while others seem to have a natural immunity, and can withstand years of close contact without ever succumbing to it.
SYMPTOMS: Insatiable craving for names, dates and places; patient often has a blank expression and seems deaf to spouse and children; has no taste for productive work of any kind, but will spend long hours feverishly looking through books at libraries and courthouses; may become addicted to the use of microfilm and microfiche readers; may become a compulsive letter- writer or phone-caller; may tend to lie in wait for the mailman, cursing him soundly if he only leaves bills or circulars; frequents strange places such as cemeteries, attics and any place where dusty old books and photographs can be found.
These have always been the classic symptoms. But recently the virus causing this Pox seems to have mutated. The newest symptom is spending hours in front of a computer screen, sending e-mail messages and looking for more and more genealogy websites on the Internet. This can lead to dire consequences, as the victim often forgets to eat or sleep and can become emaciated, disoriented and clinically speaking, totally nuts!
TREATMENT: There is no known cure, and fighting the disease only makes the victim withdraw from contact with those trying to help him. Humoring him, or joining in his obsessive activities seem to be the best ways for loved ones to deal with it. It is progressive, but has never been known to be fatal. The patient should attend genealogy workshops, subscribe to genealogy magazines, and be given a quiet place where he can be alone. If the patient is inattentive to those closest to him, his attention can be gotten, at least for short periods of time, by promising him a new website address, or a new and more powerful computer. But perhaps the surest, and certainly the least expensive way of getting his attention, is to ask a question - ANY question - about his great grandmother!
REMARKS/OBSERVATIONS: The most unusual aspect of this disease has always been that, the sicker the patient gets, the more he enjoys it!
With kind permission from:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~parrottreilly/poems.html
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Things I have and things I love about my family tree
things I hate about researching my family tree
One adulteress can spoil the batchI don't recall where I read it, but I do remember the sinking feeling I felt: the idea that somewhere, among the hundreds of people who copulated to create the branches of a family tree that ends with you, at least some percentage of the women were unfaithful. Some percentage of that percentage were impregnated by lovers, and some generous percentage of that group lied to their spouses, their family and their priests about the identity of the father. The child remained legally, and in the eyes of the church, a descendant of the husband.This situation occurs more often than you might think. An evolutionary biologist at the University of Manchester estimates that in 10 percent of British births, the mother was sleeping with a man who had "stronger" sperm than her husband. Both impregnated her, but the lover's sperm won out. According to an excellent article published in the New Yorker (26 March 2001), the rate of "false paternity" in the U.S. is estimated to be between two and five percent — "not large, but over ten generations the likelihood that a bloodline suffers from what geneticists refer to as a 'non-paternity event' could approach 50 percent." According to Why is Sex Fun?: The Evolution of Human Sexuality, some genetic testing hints that as many as 30 percent of American, British and Italian babies are secretly illegitimate — in its most recent annual survey (2003) of accredited DNA centers, the American Association of Blood Banks found that 29 percent of 340,798 men tested were not the fathers, as claimed by the mothers. The rule applies even in the animal kingdom, or at least among chimps: A 1997 study that ran DNA paternity tests on baby chimps found that 54 percent had not been fathered by the mother's mate.Once in a while a guy finds out that his kids may not be his, and he goes ballistic. Consider a story I read in This is True, a newsletter of weird-but-true news: "A man in Kinshasa, Zaire, was upset to learn that three of his four children were not his own, and that his wife of 20 years had been unfaithful to him for most of that time. Worse, the neighbors had known for a long time and laughed at him behind his back. Furious, 'Papa G.' sent the wife and three girls to the kids' father's house to live, but then decided that wasn't enough revenge. So he seduced one of the girls, got her pregnant, and married her to become his ex-wife's son-in-law."I shared this with Eddie Mitchell of Genealo-zine, and he related the story of a friend whose mother had left his father to live with her longtime lover. The lover turned out to be the biological father of the friend's brother and sister, who were in their early 20s. So you never know who you really are — just the stories people tell. The veracity of a legal or church record is only as good as someone's word. That said, you must now strike this thought from your head, or you will never find the energy to search through census records in bad light on an crippled microfilm reader.
People aren't where they're supposed to beYou trace your family back to a certain area and time. You dig up census records and search a small village for siblings. They aren't there. Church records list several by your ancestor's name born about the same time. Pitfalls in Genealogical Research (the best genealogy book you'll find for under $8) has some great examples of this, such as the tiny colonial town that was home to three unrelated guys with the same name.
Dates don't matchOne source has 17 January and another has 19 January. It doesn't matter, but if you're dedicated you have to take the time to make a notation and figure out which is right.
Too many statisticsThe emphasis on BMD (birth, marriage, death) isn't what genealogy is about, but sometimes it's all you have. I spend a few hours at a time typing from charts to a computer database and sometimes can't sleep because of the dates swimming in my head.
People don't care about the family history and so ignore youI have cousins and cousins of cousins who I suspect have troves of antique photos and letters in their attic, waiting to be destroyed in a fire. I write asking if I can beg, borrow or steal a glimpse; if they write back, it's often to say, "I looked but couldn't find them." Well, mister, YOU DIDN'T LOOK HARD ENOUGH.
No one labels old photosIt's so sad to visit antique shops and see dozens of 100-year-old photos for sale because no one ever took a few minutes to pencil names on the back. What's sadder is the shoe box of unidentified photos in your closet. You can't throw them out, because you know they're people who belong somewhere in the tree, but it's doubtful you or anyone else will ever know how.
Con artists everywherePitfalls in Genealogical Research describes the crooks who sell people instant family trees and fake coats of arms. That sort of thing gives genealogy a bad name. Tracing your family's history takes energy and time. I had one guy send me a chart that traced his family back to Adam.
Documenting everythingI hate having to document and footnote every date and place. It's a pain but you're supposed to do it. More statistics.
Listening to other people talk about their familiesGenealogists never seem to realize that no one wants to hear about their ancestors. They might want to hear about public records and genealogical detective stories, but only if the library isn't closing in half an hour. If you're going to share stories about your family, make sure they involve crazy aunts or murders or bastard children and leave out the statistics. Also, having an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower is not such a big deal — I have five. The Pilgrims married each other, so you find one, you find a bunch. Having an Ellis Island ancestor, now that's cool.
things I love about researching my family tree
Making new friends the list keeps growing.
It gives me a sense of the people who formed meWe are the product of people who came before. You figure that your parents molded you in many ways, and that your parents were molded by their parents, etc. So there's a part of each ancestor — good and bad — in our values and personalities and genes (but also see the first gripe in the previous list). Although playwright Edward Albee, when asked about why he had never tried to find his birth parents, responded: "I don't want to go to the trouble. I know who I am. Once I figured out who I was, whatever care or interest I may have had in where I came from vanished completely."
It reminds us that we're all family, more or lessWhen you discover and meet a long-lost cousin, you realize you could have passed her on the street or flipped him off at a traffic light and not even realized they were family. Scientists studying genomes have calculated that each of the six billion members of the species could trace back his or her lineage back 7000 generations to a founding population of about 60,000 people. They also know that the DNA of any two living people is 99.9 percent identical. As one scientist explains it, "Our similarities outweigh our differences."
The MormonsWhenever someone attacks the Mormons, I have this urge to defend them. That is, as long as they keep microfilming old records.
The detective workIt can make a person obsessive when he or she has a clue to an ancestor's identity and needs only to find a few hours to check records. My great grandfather, born during the Civil War, was the son of English parents. According to one legal record, they named him Charles Luncolias Rowe. I read in Pitfalls in Genealogical Research that the English sometimes named bastard children Last Name of Actual Father/alias/Last Name of Cheating Mother. Was he actually Lunc alias Rowe? I'm chomping at the bit to figure it out.
The people you write toI attribute my early interest to genealogy — I began when I was 12 — to teenage angst. Some people I wrote to as a kid were helpful beyond words. One woman even looked up my ancestors for me while she was vacationing overseas. I still exchange cards with some distant cousins, even though we've exhausted all leads. In many ways, genealogy is like doing a fanzine: You never meet most of your correspondents face-to-face but feel you know them.
Colonial AmericansUnlike the Poles, Germans and Russians, they recorded their public records in English. I am grateful.
Old photos that have been labeledI could study them for hours. It's weird especially to see your ancestors when they were about the same age as you. You try to imagine the events immediately before and after the photo was taken. It's sad, because you want to know these people who formed you, but they are lost. Genealogy never answered the question I was after as a teen: Who am I? Like everyone else, I'm figuring it out on my own. Each generation works from scratch. Family history makes you realize how transitory life is, which helps explain the Mormon instinct to baptize the past. It's a good instinct but probably futile.
One adulteress can spoil the batchI don't recall where I read it, but I do remember the sinking feeling I felt: the idea that somewhere, among the hundreds of people who copulated to create the branches of a family tree that ends with you, at least some percentage of the women were unfaithful. Some percentage of that percentage were impregnated by lovers, and some generous percentage of that group lied to their spouses, their family and their priests about the identity of the father. The child remained legally, and in the eyes of the church, a descendant of the husband.This situation occurs more often than you might think. An evolutionary biologist at the University of Manchester estimates that in 10 percent of British births, the mother was sleeping with a man who had "stronger" sperm than her husband. Both impregnated her, but the lover's sperm won out. According to an excellent article published in the New Yorker (26 March 2001), the rate of "false paternity" in the U.S. is estimated to be between two and five percent — "not large, but over ten generations the likelihood that a bloodline suffers from what geneticists refer to as a 'non-paternity event' could approach 50 percent." According to Why is Sex Fun?: The Evolution of Human Sexuality, some genetic testing hints that as many as 30 percent of American, British and Italian babies are secretly illegitimate — in its most recent annual survey (2003) of accredited DNA centers, the American Association of Blood Banks found that 29 percent of 340,798 men tested were not the fathers, as claimed by the mothers. The rule applies even in the animal kingdom, or at least among chimps: A 1997 study that ran DNA paternity tests on baby chimps found that 54 percent had not been fathered by the mother's mate.Once in a while a guy finds out that his kids may not be his, and he goes ballistic. Consider a story I read in This is True, a newsletter of weird-but-true news: "A man in Kinshasa, Zaire, was upset to learn that three of his four children were not his own, and that his wife of 20 years had been unfaithful to him for most of that time. Worse, the neighbors had known for a long time and laughed at him behind his back. Furious, 'Papa G.' sent the wife and three girls to the kids' father's house to live, but then decided that wasn't enough revenge. So he seduced one of the girls, got her pregnant, and married her to become his ex-wife's son-in-law."I shared this with Eddie Mitchell of Genealo-zine, and he related the story of a friend whose mother had left his father to live with her longtime lover. The lover turned out to be the biological father of the friend's brother and sister, who were in their early 20s. So you never know who you really are — just the stories people tell. The veracity of a legal or church record is only as good as someone's word. That said, you must now strike this thought from your head, or you will never find the energy to search through census records in bad light on an crippled microfilm reader.
People aren't where they're supposed to beYou trace your family back to a certain area and time. You dig up census records and search a small village for siblings. They aren't there. Church records list several by your ancestor's name born about the same time. Pitfalls in Genealogical Research (the best genealogy book you'll find for under $8) has some great examples of this, such as the tiny colonial town that was home to three unrelated guys with the same name.
Dates don't matchOne source has 17 January and another has 19 January. It doesn't matter, but if you're dedicated you have to take the time to make a notation and figure out which is right.
Too many statisticsThe emphasis on BMD (birth, marriage, death) isn't what genealogy is about, but sometimes it's all you have. I spend a few hours at a time typing from charts to a computer database and sometimes can't sleep because of the dates swimming in my head.
People don't care about the family history and so ignore youI have cousins and cousins of cousins who I suspect have troves of antique photos and letters in their attic, waiting to be destroyed in a fire. I write asking if I can beg, borrow or steal a glimpse; if they write back, it's often to say, "I looked but couldn't find them." Well, mister, YOU DIDN'T LOOK HARD ENOUGH.
No one labels old photosIt's so sad to visit antique shops and see dozens of 100-year-old photos for sale because no one ever took a few minutes to pencil names on the back. What's sadder is the shoe box of unidentified photos in your closet. You can't throw them out, because you know they're people who belong somewhere in the tree, but it's doubtful you or anyone else will ever know how.
Con artists everywherePitfalls in Genealogical Research describes the crooks who sell people instant family trees and fake coats of arms. That sort of thing gives genealogy a bad name. Tracing your family's history takes energy and time. I had one guy send me a chart that traced his family back to Adam.
Documenting everythingI hate having to document and footnote every date and place. It's a pain but you're supposed to do it. More statistics.
Listening to other people talk about their familiesGenealogists never seem to realize that no one wants to hear about their ancestors. They might want to hear about public records and genealogical detective stories, but only if the library isn't closing in half an hour. If you're going to share stories about your family, make sure they involve crazy aunts or murders or bastard children and leave out the statistics. Also, having an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower is not such a big deal — I have five. The Pilgrims married each other, so you find one, you find a bunch. Having an Ellis Island ancestor, now that's cool.
things I love about researching my family tree
Making new friends the list keeps growing.
It gives me a sense of the people who formed meWe are the product of people who came before. You figure that your parents molded you in many ways, and that your parents were molded by their parents, etc. So there's a part of each ancestor — good and bad — in our values and personalities and genes (but also see the first gripe in the previous list). Although playwright Edward Albee, when asked about why he had never tried to find his birth parents, responded: "I don't want to go to the trouble. I know who I am. Once I figured out who I was, whatever care or interest I may have had in where I came from vanished completely."
It reminds us that we're all family, more or lessWhen you discover and meet a long-lost cousin, you realize you could have passed her on the street or flipped him off at a traffic light and not even realized they were family. Scientists studying genomes have calculated that each of the six billion members of the species could trace back his or her lineage back 7000 generations to a founding population of about 60,000 people. They also know that the DNA of any two living people is 99.9 percent identical. As one scientist explains it, "Our similarities outweigh our differences."
The MormonsWhenever someone attacks the Mormons, I have this urge to defend them. That is, as long as they keep microfilming old records.
The detective workIt can make a person obsessive when he or she has a clue to an ancestor's identity and needs only to find a few hours to check records. My great grandfather, born during the Civil War, was the son of English parents. According to one legal record, they named him Charles Luncolias Rowe. I read in Pitfalls in Genealogical Research that the English sometimes named bastard children Last Name of Actual Father/alias/Last Name of Cheating Mother. Was he actually Lunc alias Rowe? I'm chomping at the bit to figure it out.
The people you write toI attribute my early interest to genealogy — I began when I was 12 — to teenage angst. Some people I wrote to as a kid were helpful beyond words. One woman even looked up my ancestors for me while she was vacationing overseas. I still exchange cards with some distant cousins, even though we've exhausted all leads. In many ways, genealogy is like doing a fanzine: You never meet most of your correspondents face-to-face but feel you know them.
Colonial AmericansUnlike the Poles, Germans and Russians, they recorded their public records in English. I am grateful.
Old photos that have been labeledI could study them for hours. It's weird especially to see your ancestors when they were about the same age as you. You try to imagine the events immediately before and after the photo was taken. It's sad, because you want to know these people who formed you, but they are lost. Genealogy never answered the question I was after as a teen: Who am I? Like everyone else, I'm figuring it out on my own. Each generation works from scratch. Family history makes you realize how transitory life is, which helps explain the Mormon instinct to baptize the past. It's a good instinct but probably futile.
Friday, October 10, 2008
GENEALOGY WARNING!! Very contagious to mature adults. NO KNOWN CURE
SYMPTOMS: Mumbles to self. Makes secret calls at night. Hides phone bill from spouse. Has strange far away look in eyes. Has strong compulsions to write letters. Always includes a check in these letters. Swears at mailman when he leaves no mail. Continual complaints for names, dates, and places. Patient has blank expression, sometimes deaf to spouse and children. Has no taste for work of any kind, except feverishly looking through records at libraries and courthouses. Has compulsions to frequently visit strange places, such as cemeteries, ruins, and remote desolate country areas.
TREATMENT:
Medication is useless. Disease is not fatal, but gets progressively worse. Patient should be given a quiet corner of the house where he or she can be left alone. Patient should subscribe to as many societies, newsgroups, surname lists, and genealogical magazines as possible.
REMARKS: The unusual nature of this disease is... The sicker one gets, the more he or she enjoys it.
Author unknown
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~parrottreilly/poems.html
SYMPTOMS: Mumbles to self. Makes secret calls at night. Hides phone bill from spouse. Has strange far away look in eyes. Has strong compulsions to write letters. Always includes a check in these letters. Swears at mailman when he leaves no mail. Continual complaints for names, dates, and places. Patient has blank expression, sometimes deaf to spouse and children. Has no taste for work of any kind, except feverishly looking through records at libraries and courthouses. Has compulsions to frequently visit strange places, such as cemeteries, ruins, and remote desolate country areas.
TREATMENT:
Medication is useless. Disease is not fatal, but gets progressively worse. Patient should be given a quiet corner of the house where he or she can be left alone. Patient should subscribe to as many societies, newsgroups, surname lists, and genealogical magazines as possible.
REMARKS: The unusual nature of this disease is... The sicker one gets, the more he or she enjoys it.
Author unknown
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~parrottreilly/poems.html
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Something to make your day...
Something to make your day
Thought you'd enjoy this as much as I did. My cousin sent them to me..... Would you believe...these are copies of actual correspondence received by the Family History Department?
Our 2nd great grandfather was found dead crossing the plains in the library. He was married 3 times in the endowment house and has 21children.
For running down the Wheelers, I will send $3.00 more.
He and his daughter are listed as not being born.
I would like to find out if I have any living relatives or dead relatives or ancestors in my family.
Will you send me a list of all the Dripps in your library?
My Grandfather died at the age of 3.
We are sending you 5 children in a separate envelope.
Documentation: Family Bible in possession of Aunt Merle until the tornado hit Topeka, Kansas, now only the Good Lord know where it is . . .
The wife of #22 could not be found. Somebody suggested that she might have been stillborn. What do you think?
I am mailing you my aunt and uncle and 3 of their children.
Enclosed please find my Grandmother. I have worked on her for 30 years without success. Now see what you can do.
I have a hard time finding myself in London. If I were there I was very small and cannot be found.
This family had 7 nephews that I am unable to find. If you know who they are please add them to the list.
We lost our Grandmother, will you please send us a copy?
Will you please send me the name of my first wife? I have forgotten her name.
A 14-year-old boy wrote: "I do not want you to do my research for me. Will you please send me all of the material on the Welch line, in the US, England and Scotland countries? I will do the research.
Further research will be necessary to eliminate one of the parents.
Thought you'd enjoy this as much as I did. My cousin sent them to me..... Would you believe...these are copies of actual correspondence received by the Family History Department?
Our 2nd great grandfather was found dead crossing the plains in the library. He was married 3 times in the endowment house and has 21children.
For running down the Wheelers, I will send $3.00 more.
He and his daughter are listed as not being born.
I would like to find out if I have any living relatives or dead relatives or ancestors in my family.
Will you send me a list of all the Dripps in your library?
My Grandfather died at the age of 3.
We are sending you 5 children in a separate envelope.
Documentation: Family Bible in possession of Aunt Merle until the tornado hit Topeka, Kansas, now only the Good Lord know where it is . . .
The wife of #22 could not be found. Somebody suggested that she might have been stillborn. What do you think?
I am mailing you my aunt and uncle and 3 of their children.
Enclosed please find my Grandmother. I have worked on her for 30 years without success. Now see what you can do.
I have a hard time finding myself in London. If I were there I was very small and cannot be found.
This family had 7 nephews that I am unable to find. If you know who they are please add them to the list.
We lost our Grandmother, will you please send us a copy?
Will you please send me the name of my first wife? I have forgotten her name.
A 14-year-old boy wrote: "I do not want you to do my research for me. Will you please send me all of the material on the Welch line, in the US, England and Scotland countries? I will do the research.
Further research will be necessary to eliminate one of the parents.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Dear Ancestor
Dear Ancestor
Your tombstone stands among the rest; Neglected and alone The name and date are chiseled out On polished, marbled stone. It reaches out to all who care It is too late to mourn. You did not know that I exist You died and I was born. Yet each of us are cells of you In flesh, in blood, in bone. Our blood contracts and beats a pulse Entirely not our own. Dear Ancestor, the place you filled So many years ago Spreads out among the ones you left Who would have loved you so. I wonder if you lived and loved, I wonder if you knew That someday I would find this spot, And come to visit you.
Your tombstone stands among the rest; Neglected and alone The name and date are chiseled out On polished, marbled stone. It reaches out to all who care It is too late to mourn. You did not know that I exist You died and I was born. Yet each of us are cells of you In flesh, in blood, in bone. Our blood contracts and beats a pulse Entirely not our own. Dear Ancestor, the place you filled So many years ago Spreads out among the ones you left Who would have loved you so. I wonder if you lived and loved, I wonder if you knew That someday I would find this spot, And come to visit you.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
5 Golden Rules of Genealogy
It's a fact of life. Trees can't live without light, water, air, and food. While fancy fertilizers and high-tech bug killers are nice, all trees really need to survive are the basics and a little TLC.
As with real trees, all your family tree really needs to grow and flourish is a little of your time (or a lot if you're as addicted as I am!) and some attention to the basics. Digitized census records, DNA tests, and merge-matching software are wonderful inventions, but applying these five essential rules to your family tree research will go a much longer way to achieving genealogy success.
Rule #1: Do Not Assume I know you've all heard this one, but it bears repeating. "Set in stone" is an expression that just doesn't apply to genealogy! Do not assume that the dates listed on a tombstone are the correct ones. Do not assume that your surname was always spelled the way it is today. Do not assume that household members listed in a census are actually brothers, sisters, or other relatives (unless the census actually states the relationship and, sometimes, not even then). Do not assume something as fact just because it has been published in a book or on the Internet. More: Do the Ancestors Hanging From Your Family Tree Really Belong There?
Rule #2: Do Your Own Research Following up on Rule One, secondary sources such as published family histories, indexes, and compilations are an easy way to expand your family tree quickly (the fancy fertilizer approach), but are also highly susceptible to mistakes and assumptions (as second-hand information usually is) that can quickly send your family tree growing in the wrong direction. While it is perfectly fine to use these types of sources to find clues to your family, you should always go back and take the time to verify second-hand sources with your own research in original documents. It only takes one incorrect assumption or fact to have you researching the wrong ancestors! More: Five Steps to Verifying Online Genealogy Sources
Rule #3: Treat Brothers & Sisters as Equals Many genealogists, especially beginners, are only interested in tracing their direct line -- grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. While there is nothing wrong with this approach, there is a good reason it is called a family tree, not an ancestor tree. The further back your research takes you, the more important it becomes to research your ancestor's brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles. Commonly referred to as collateral ancestors or collateral lines, these family members may provide the clues that your direct ancestor somehow managed not to leave behind. While your great-grandmother may have been born before births were recorded in the state where she lived, her younger sister may have been born just late enough to have that birth certificate with the parents' names you've been looking for. Or when you learn that your great-great grandfather was born in America, and his parents never chose to become citizens, the naturalization record of the eldest child who was born in Poland may provide the only link to the family's ancestral town. Many choose not to follow this sibling rule because of all the extra work involved, but I can guarantee that by doing so you'll find your research stuck somewhere. More: Researching Collateral Lines
Rule #4: One Source Doesn't Equal Proof It seems pretty simple. You find a death certificate for your grandfather which lists not only his date of death and place of burial, but also his place of birth and his parents' names. Time to enter the information into your family tree and then move on to tracking down Great-grandpa, right? Nope, sorry. One source just isn't enough to constitute proof, especially when it is a secondary source -- as death certificates are for the date of birth and other information which do not relate directly to the death. I searched for my great, great-grandmother for years under the maiden name MARIN because that is what my grandmother remembered. Then, wasted some more time with the maiden name MOORE (pun intended), because that is what I found listed on the death certificate. Both wrong, of course. The actual name was close enough (MEARES), but close doesn't count in genealogy any more than it does in multiple choice.
Before arriving at a conclusion in your genealogy research, you must first conduct a reasonably exhaustive search for all pertinent information. Logically, this means trying to find several different sources for the same information, to give you the best chance at arriving at a well-researched, substantiated conclusion. More: Evidence or Proof? How to Prove Family Tree Connections
Rule #5: Share the Wealth Family trees are meant for sharing. Unfortunately, however, you'll probably find that most of your relatives could care less about the jumbled (to them) collection of facts, notes, and sources that constitute your genealogy database. If you weave all of those names and dates into a story, however, you may find they are interested despite themselves. And "interested" means you'll probably find them more receptive to sharing what they know. Take some time out from your research today to get some of your information into published form, whether it is creating a CD of collected family photos, a family cookbook of collected recipes, or a written history of the family. Even something as simple as framing a copy of Great-granddad's family in the 1930 census is a form of publishing - and makes a great conversation piece too! It's okay if your genealogy isn't "finished." Believe me - it never will be. Just include what you know, taking the time to carefully document your sources. Don't be afraid to use "weasel words" such as probably, possibly, and maybe for information you aren't sure about. As long as you're careful to explain what is fact and what is still guesswork, your family tree will grow for the sharing. More: Writing & Publishing Your Family History
As with real trees, all your family tree really needs to grow and flourish is a little of your time (or a lot if you're as addicted as I am!) and some attention to the basics. Digitized census records, DNA tests, and merge-matching software are wonderful inventions, but applying these five essential rules to your family tree research will go a much longer way to achieving genealogy success.
Rule #1: Do Not Assume I know you've all heard this one, but it bears repeating. "Set in stone" is an expression that just doesn't apply to genealogy! Do not assume that the dates listed on a tombstone are the correct ones. Do not assume that your surname was always spelled the way it is today. Do not assume that household members listed in a census are actually brothers, sisters, or other relatives (unless the census actually states the relationship and, sometimes, not even then). Do not assume something as fact just because it has been published in a book or on the Internet. More: Do the Ancestors Hanging From Your Family Tree Really Belong There?
Rule #2: Do Your Own Research Following up on Rule One, secondary sources such as published family histories, indexes, and compilations are an easy way to expand your family tree quickly (the fancy fertilizer approach), but are also highly susceptible to mistakes and assumptions (as second-hand information usually is) that can quickly send your family tree growing in the wrong direction. While it is perfectly fine to use these types of sources to find clues to your family, you should always go back and take the time to verify second-hand sources with your own research in original documents. It only takes one incorrect assumption or fact to have you researching the wrong ancestors! More: Five Steps to Verifying Online Genealogy Sources
Rule #3: Treat Brothers & Sisters as Equals Many genealogists, especially beginners, are only interested in tracing their direct line -- grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. While there is nothing wrong with this approach, there is a good reason it is called a family tree, not an ancestor tree. The further back your research takes you, the more important it becomes to research your ancestor's brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles. Commonly referred to as collateral ancestors or collateral lines, these family members may provide the clues that your direct ancestor somehow managed not to leave behind. While your great-grandmother may have been born before births were recorded in the state where she lived, her younger sister may have been born just late enough to have that birth certificate with the parents' names you've been looking for. Or when you learn that your great-great grandfather was born in America, and his parents never chose to become citizens, the naturalization record of the eldest child who was born in Poland may provide the only link to the family's ancestral town. Many choose not to follow this sibling rule because of all the extra work involved, but I can guarantee that by doing so you'll find your research stuck somewhere. More: Researching Collateral Lines
Rule #4: One Source Doesn't Equal Proof It seems pretty simple. You find a death certificate for your grandfather which lists not only his date of death and place of burial, but also his place of birth and his parents' names. Time to enter the information into your family tree and then move on to tracking down Great-grandpa, right? Nope, sorry. One source just isn't enough to constitute proof, especially when it is a secondary source -- as death certificates are for the date of birth and other information which do not relate directly to the death. I searched for my great, great-grandmother for years under the maiden name MARIN because that is what my grandmother remembered. Then, wasted some more time with the maiden name MOORE (pun intended), because that is what I found listed on the death certificate. Both wrong, of course. The actual name was close enough (MEARES), but close doesn't count in genealogy any more than it does in multiple choice.
Before arriving at a conclusion in your genealogy research, you must first conduct a reasonably exhaustive search for all pertinent information. Logically, this means trying to find several different sources for the same information, to give you the best chance at arriving at a well-researched, substantiated conclusion. More: Evidence or Proof? How to Prove Family Tree Connections
Rule #5: Share the Wealth Family trees are meant for sharing. Unfortunately, however, you'll probably find that most of your relatives could care less about the jumbled (to them) collection of facts, notes, and sources that constitute your genealogy database. If you weave all of those names and dates into a story, however, you may find they are interested despite themselves. And "interested" means you'll probably find them more receptive to sharing what they know. Take some time out from your research today to get some of your information into published form, whether it is creating a CD of collected family photos, a family cookbook of collected recipes, or a written history of the family. Even something as simple as framing a copy of Great-granddad's family in the 1930 census is a form of publishing - and makes a great conversation piece too! It's okay if your genealogy isn't "finished." Believe me - it never will be. Just include what you know, taking the time to carefully document your sources. Don't be afraid to use "weasel words" such as probably, possibly, and maybe for information you aren't sure about. As long as you're careful to explain what is fact and what is still guesswork, your family tree will grow for the sharing. More: Writing & Publishing Your Family History
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