Certified Genealogists Part2

Many people do genealogical research simply because they love it.  They don't consider hiring a professional genealogist because that would take the fun of the hunt from them.  Sometimes a professional genealogist can help determine which family line to follow if you are at a complete impasse.  

 

Then there was the case of Wellington Burt.  He passed away in 1919, but his will stipulated that his assets be held in trust until 21 years after his LAST surviving grandchild passed away.  Professional genealogists were hired to follow the lines and see which of the 30 people who filed for the inheritance were truly his descendants.  Genealogists discovered that only 12 of the 30 people were allowed part of the inheritance.  There are three great-grandchildren, seven great-great grandchildren, and two great-great-great grandchildren.  Only the grandchildren who were born after Welling Burt passed away and all his great grandchildren were eligible for the inheritance.  The largest payout was to the three great-grandchildren at approximately $14.5 million dollars and the smallest shares went to the two great-great-great grandchildren at approximately $2.5 million.  Genealogists had to determine where each individual fit into the family tree to determine their share of the inheritance.

Genealogical Networking

We hear a lot these days about networking, but genealogical networking? Yes! Besides the usual genealogy libraries and family search centers available for help, there are several other resources available for genealogical networking.  There are many genealogy blogs such as this one and Olive Tree Genealogy Blog by Lorine Schulze.

 

Added to these Blogs are websites such as the up and coming ArtisticAncestry.com and Ancestry.com, but there are endless facebook and twitter groups dedicated to genealogy and available for help and advice. 

 

Cities have organizations and historical societies that are usually willing to send information to you even from a distance.  You don't have to do it by yourself.  The more people you get to know the more fun it can be!

The Name Thesaurus

We've all seen it.  Census record after census record we find our ancestor, but the name is always slightly different.  We know it's the same man because his wife has the same name, he lives in the same house, and even has the proper age in regards to the decade of the census, BUT the census worker or the transcriber or even our ancestor himself got creative with the name spelling.

There is a fantastic website by Image Partners that checks for all possible spellings of last names in a Name Thesaurus.  It might miss a few choices, but there are many less possibilities than with other websites to look up surnames.  It's atwww.namethesaurus.com/Thesaurus/search.aspx.

Certified Genealogists

There is a growing field in technical schools and universities to receive in genealogical studies.  This degree/diploma simply states that you have completed a set of classes geared toward genealogy.  This is not the same thing as being a board certified genealogist.  

A board certified genealogist must first fill out an application, complete a portfolio that shows their work and abilities that they turn in with their final application, and pay a yearly maintenance fee.  Even though a formal education is not mandatory with the quality of standards rising, many find the formal training of a university helpful.

Native American Heritage

The Battle of Little Bighorn, The Trail of Tears, The Wounded Knee Massacre.  These remind us of what the Native Americans went through while trying to maintain their way of life in a North America during the influx of people from around the world that believed in Manifest Destiny... that one day the country would stretch across the entire continent.  Eventually it did stretch from ocean to ocean, but such change does not happen with grace and dignity. 

The "Indians" were considered "savages", even those from peaceful tribes.  As time went by these "savages" were given land and promises, but when it suited those in power, it was taken away again.  As a result of negotiations the Government and the Five Civilized Tribes came together in agreement; in return for recognizing Federal laws and abolishing the tribal governments, each person was given a land settlement.  The members who met the eligibility requirements are listed on the Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory or more commonly called the Dawes Roll.

Copies of the Dawes Roll can be viewed at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City or in local Family History Centers, and National and Regional Archive Centers. You can also access the Dawes Roll at the National Archives website (http://www.archives.gov/research/native-americans/dawes/intro.html) if you wish to view just the digitized version. Happy Hunting!

British Militia Records Released

Do you have a British Ancestor who might have served in the militia between 1806 and 1915?  The British National Archives have released new records created by the War Office during those years.  This information is in regards to both officers and regular soldiers and has been scanned in and transcribed for the first time ever! 

 

These records will not be your standard name and location records.  The British War Office included information about eye color, distinguishing marks, and physical descriptions.  Some of the later records even include photographs!  Check it out now at www.findmypast.co.uk/search/army-service-records/militia.

Non-family genealogy

Tracing ancestors is not the only kind of genealogy there is.  You can also trace the genealogy of the town.  Starting with it's roots as a cow town and changing into a town for coal mining and ending up as a tourist destination or ghost town, the history of a town can be immense. 

 

Look and see if any of the town's newspapers survived in a county library or if there is a county historical society that might have kept old journals and photos of the town in its prime.  The life of a town changes just like the lives of people, and it's just as important to keep that information alive as we document the lives of our families.

Copyrighting and Genealogy

We all know that copyright means to literally have the "right to copy" and that an author or their publishing company are the only ones allowed to reproduce a work without previous consent.  FACTS are always going to be legal to reproduce in your own work, because it cannot be copyrighted, but you want to make sure you only get the facts and not opinion.  A person can uncover and publish new facts, but they cannot copyright those facts. 

 

The manner of presenting facts CAN be copyrighted though; so be careful of how you choose to incorporate information found in other sources and be sure to include the source as a footnote.  This is even more important if you are blogging about family history or hoping to write a biographical book.

Research French-Canadian and Acadian Ancestors

Often because of the excellent record keeping of the Roman Catholic Church in Canadian and the efforts to preserve records, all you need to research in Quebec and the Maritime Provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Isle) would be the names of a married couple and the approximate date of that marriage.  The marriage records were filed under woman's married names making it easier to trace the family.

Many people adopted a "dit name" or a secondary nickname as a surname to distinguish their branch of the family from another.  Those nicknames will be filed with the marriage license with the word "dit" at the beginning.  For example, if the family name was LaLande, but the nickname for a particular branch of the family was Bideau it would show up in the records as LaLande dit Bideau.

Historical Re-enactments

There is a growing number of people who enjoy historical re-enactments.  It used to be mainly Civil War or Renaissance Re-enactments, but today many people will dress in the garb from early 1800s to early 1900s to give tours of historic homes or even fashion shows. 

  

I have even heard of those who dress as Gold Miners and fur trappers and re-enact life on a claim.  In a world where education and business rule the world, and success is measured in 70 hour work weeks, it's a relief to step into a simpler time with simpler people.

  

The mission statement for the Historical Reenactment Society begins with, "The goal of the Historical Reenactment Society is to bring history to life in order to educate ourselves and others, inspire an appreciation of past events and lifestyles from a modern perspective, and most of all dress up in crazy costumes and have fun!"  Through reenactments we not only have some fun but for just a moment maybe we can imagine life in another era.

Geo-tagging Pictures

The new smart phones can use the GPS feature to tag the exact longitude and latitude of where a picture was taken.  Can you imagine how valuable that information would be for a future genealogist.  It would make it possible to determine if that mountain backdrop was the Grand Tetons or the Occhr Mountains. 

 

Geo-tagging pictures will give hints into how we lived as well as our lives for our descendants.  I know the technology today will make it easier on future generations but only if we use it in our research!

Free Online Courses

Do you need a little extra help with learning genealogy techniques?  Familysearch.org has many completely free online courses with PDF handouts available to print.  Go to www.familysearch.org/learn  or click on the tab that says "learn."  This will bring up a list of tutorials that are as short as 5 minutes or as long as an hour. 

Family Search.org cover everything from Beginning Genealogy to Dutch sight words to Cemetery Art.  These tutorials are a wonderful aid for new genealogists or even genealogists who want to hone their skills. I am amazed all the time by how much I have forgotten I even knew!

Cluster Genealogy Part 2

Cluster genealogy is an in-depth research method.  Instead of researching one individual you research everyone associated with him/her.  Instead of just a spouse and children, cluster genealogy would include neighbors, friends mentioned in letters, perhaps even a witness in a land dispute.

It wasn't uncommon for whole family groups (uncles, aunts, cousins) to all move together, so a neighbor could easily be a relative.  Knowing relatives and neighbors who may have moved with your relative would make it easier to identify him in a new location.

Happy Independence Day

235 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence (www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/) our country is still considred a very young country.  We've had our trial and tribulations; our country has endured Civil War, World Wars, Terrorism, a Great Depression,and cultural changes.                                                                              

Our country isn' perfect,but we have gon from 13 colonies fighting oe of the super powers to becoming the super power of the world fighting to preserve freedoms around the wold through education and commerce.  

With truth and righteousness as their guide our founding fathers worked to provide us with a constitution (nd strength of Spirit) that has spanned our continent and spread across the world pulling countries out of the dark ages of human degradation.  We work to provide help and salvation to numeral countries during their times of horror and hardship,tsunamis and earthquakes, not just as a country,but through donations and volunteerim we reach out as a people.                                                                                                          

We have banded together n times of sorrows and hardships supporting one another and vowing to stand for liberty and truth no matter where we are.  The image of our flag has always lifted us up, from the Rosenthal picture of the flag raising on Iwo Jima, to the flag hanging from the remains of the twin towers, even tothe flags that flew from the deolished homes after the F5 tornado that swept through Joplin,Missouri.                  

We are the Unied States of America and the world is a much better place because of the truths we hold dear.  Wars and Presidents will come and go, but this people will continue to stand for truth and the American Way, to overcome the ignorance of our own countrymen and prevail in our fight against evil.  We are Americans and we will stand proudly shoulder to shoulder with all her defenders!                                    

Cluster genealogy research-2

Cluster genealogy is an in-depth research method.  Instead of researching one individual you research everyone associated with him/her.  Instead of just a spouse and children, cluster genealogy would include neighbors, friends mentioned in letters, perhaps even a witness in a land dispute. 

It wasn't uncommon for whole family groups (uncles, aunts, cousins) to all move together so a neighbor could easily be a relative.  Knowing relatives and neighbors who may have moved with your relative would make it easier to identify him in a new location.

Paths of History

There are some historical trails with which we are all familiar, such as the Chisholm Trail, the Mormon Pioneer Trail, and the Oregon Trail.  It is amazing to think that people could look at a vast unbroken prairie and follow it to a common location. 

The Native American trails helped the Colonists go between one community to another and quickly widened into true roads taking carts and wagons full of goods to sell and trade between the towns. 

The Mormon Pioneer Trail Followed the Oregon Trail for a short distance and broke away to follow its own path to the Salt Lake Valley.  Braddock's Trail was initially begun by George Washington then was later broadened by Gen. Braddock and became the first "superhighway" used for settling the Alleghenies, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other points to the west.