Family Traditions-What are yours?

What sort of information is important to collect on our ancestors?  There are the obvious items such as birth/death certificates, obituaries, marriage certificates, baptismal records, etc.  But did you know that collecting family traditions might be important too?  

We've all heard an elderly family member say, "We are descended from... Danish nobility, a notorious criminal, an Indian Princess."  It's really a fill in the blank situation.  Or do you have a family tradition of looking for the pickle on the Christmas tree?  Don't dismiss your family traditions out of hand.  You may not be descended from Danish nobility, but perhaps a member of Danish nobility stayed in a inn run by your ancestors or an ancestor might have known a notorious criminal in their childhood. 

Many times family legends are loosely based in some fact.  And holiday traditions such as looking for the pickle on the Christmas tree come from ancestor's home lands.  Looking for the pickle on the tree is a tradition even today in most German households.  Just remember that the "fun" parts of our history makes the hard work worthwhile.

GM

Sonrise; A God Given Gift

There are many ways to celebrate Easter; boiled eggs covered in dye and stickers may be one of them but for us here at Artistic Ancestry it is a time to celebrate the rise of our Resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ.

Genealogy, or family history, is tied into the Savior's love for us in our minds because when we link all our families together and follow them back generation after generation they will all eventually lead back to our beginnings.

Many people mistakenly think January first is the day for renewing our resolves to be and do better, but in my humble opinion that day should be reserved for Easter and I hope you will resolve to work harder to pull your families together into one continuous thread back to the beginnings of time, or at least as far back as people kept records!

So, Happy Easter! Whether you are a Christian or not strengthen your resolve to build a family foundation of genealogy that will give your children and their children the knowledge that they belong to something bigger than themselves. Bigger, Brighter and Blessed.

A Genealogist's Prayer

Lord, help me dig into the past
And sift the sands of time
That I might find the roots that made
This family tree of mine.

Lord, help me trace the ancient roads
On which my fathers trod,
And led them through so many lands
To find our present sod.

Lord, help me find an ancient book
Or dusty manuscript,
That's safely hidden now away
In some forgotten crypt.

Lord, let it bridge the gap that haunts
My soul when I can't find,
The missing link between some name
That ends the same as mine.

Author Anonymous

How did your ancestors survive? Grub soup?

With all the opportunities we have in life, a lot of what our ancestors did to survive is lost on us.  Most of us have never had to hunt just to eat nor have we had to work hard to make sure we had grains and fruits and vegetables stored enough for the winter.  But there has been an increase of Young Adults, who may not want to live that lifestyle again, but they do want to know the skills their ancestors had.  

In Bayou Country, many members of the younger generation learning how to feed their families by going hunting for alligators and frogs.  More and more young adults are growing gardens and learning how to can what isn't immediately eaten.  Learning the life skills our ancestors held will give us a greater understanding of who they were.

Was I adopted? Was cousin Alice? Grandpa George?

In today's cultures, adoption is talked of openly, but in genealogy, it can create a little havoc.  Many people kept mum about adopting a baby or putting their child up for adoption.  Seldom did the paperwork qualify that it was an adoption. The language of adoption was very vague.  Many charitable organizations were set up to take care of orphaned children or children whose parents could no longer take care of them.  There records give a lot of family information.  

Many times children were taken in by whatever family was available after the death of their parents from disease or accident. If the children were young enough they might never know they were adopted, or who their birth parents were or came from.

If you are interested there is a wonderful compilation of wagon train diaries and journals at http://www.over-land.com/diaries.html and this site also has links to courses on understanding the 18 &19 century language and handwriting, which could come in very handy when reading from old journals and family bibles.

Researching a modern day adoption can be much more difficult.  There are many parties involved you need to consider and it is possible the birth mother has no wish of being located plus the adoptive parents may feel slighted by the desire to find the birth parents.  So step gently when you begin this type of research!

GM & CB

Is there a Black Sheep in your family?

People love stories about the "Black Sheep" in their family histories.  It's always fun to come across a ruffian or outlaw because if makes for an exciting story to tell about your ancestors.  But occasionally it's difficult to find the relatives who were "Black Sheep."  

Nobody wanted to admit their son, daughter, brother, father, etc. was a criminal or in an asylum.  But now, don't dismay!  The website www.blacksheepancestors.com is to the rescue.  It has got court records, execution records, and insane asylum records ready to be searched for United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and International.


Take a look and see if your family name is listed...you never know!