What we do when we assume

December 31st, 2007

Posted in Ancestry.com, Genealogy Research | No Comments

You know this joke right? Its a play on the word ‘assume’. You make an ___ out of "u" and "me".

Whether you conciously do it or not, you make assumptions every day of your life–about a variety of topics, people, situations, etc. But when it comes to your family history, assumptions can lead you to a dead end.

Michael John Neill has written a nice article on this subject over at Ancestry.

Which reminds me that my mom was relating that she’s found out new information on an ancestor of ours–he claimed to be born in one state, when in reality he was from another–it was an appearances thing. Just goes to show that unless you were there witnessing the event–you have to take everything with a grain of salt.

Popularity: 61% [?]

Are YOU the black sheep in your family?

December 30th, 2007

Posted in Blogs | No Comments

If so, you’re in good company!

Or are you the lone sane person in a family tree overrun with crazed squirrels?

I found an interesting article at Blog Some Genealogy . Take a look, and then I’ll pose a challenge–find a politician that you’re related to! Personally I am related to George W (and the rest of his family) thru a G-G-G Aunt (or something–I’m not looking at the page right this second) Cora Neff Bush–she married into the Bush family. Plus I’m related to ole T.J himself–so that’s where the red hair comes from!

Of course, we’re all descended from Noah–unless A.B.C had it right when they put water-pirates in that made-for-t.v special a few years back. And on that same note–we’re all descended from Adam–unless you go for the whole alien photocopy thing. So if we go back far enough–and side-step the circular family trees (you know, the ones plagued with the crazed squirrels) I’m sure we’d find lots of familiar names.

Oh, that so reminds me—when my cousin and I were roomies in college we had a friend J.C. J.C was cool in his own way–a bit eccentric, but nothing really worrying. well, nothing that required counseling. But cuz’ had been working on her FH at the time and noticed that J.C’s last name was in a lot of her research.

From the same state that he was from.

And the same county!!

Turns out they were not too distant of cousins!!

Yet more proof that U of C, Provo is a small, small world unto itself!

(and another reason that it was good that the friendship never went any farther!!)

J.C–you know we love you!!

And cuz–you KNOW who I’m referring to and I know you’re laughing your self silly!

Popularity: 56% [?]

Was it Genealogy or Family History?

December 28th, 2007

Posted in General | No Comments

ge·ne·al·o·gy (j n-l -j, -l-, jn -)

n. pl. ge·ne·al·o·gies

1. A record or table of the descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or ancestors; a family tree.

2. Direct descent from an ancestor; lineage or pedigree.

3. The study or investigation of ancestry and family histories.

[Middle English genealogie, from Old French, from Late Latin genelogia, from Greek genelogi : gene, family; see gen- in Indo-European roots + -logi, -logy.]

gene·a·logi·cal (--lj -kl) adj.

gene·a·logi·cal·ly adv.

gene·alo·gist n.

Hmm…that’s a big word. As a kid I always had a hard time saying it. I still have a hard time spelling it! If you feel uncomfortable with that big word but you still want to do the work—try this pronunciation:

fam·i·ly his·to·ry

Yup, they’re the same thing! But seriously, if you want to start working on your personal family history, now is a great time to start! It has never been easier to find information on ancestors. {you know, those people who originally bought that interesting plate that has been handed down for generations} Thanks to the Internet (lets all sing Hallelujah!) you have so much information at your fingertips! Can you feel the power yet?

Still stumped as how to start? Well, lets start with numero uno (as my dad would say). Meaning you!

1. What is your name?

2. What is your birthday

3. Where were you born?

4. Who are your parents?

For some individuals, #’s 3 and 4 could pose problems. That’s when you start exploring your options:

1. Get a copy of your birth certificate

2. Start bribing your parents friend and/or siblings with obscene amounts of money, chocolate, your firstborn—whatever it takes—for information.

*personally I would recommend option #1, although #2 could be much more interesting.

If you’ve flown thru the first 4 steps easy peasy, then find out all that same information for each of your parents and keep going back until you can go no farther—and you’ve run out of people who are alive to get information out of. This process is also called: Compiling a Pedigree Chart—yup, just like if you were a prized racehorse! And of course being the modern internet savvy people that we are—you can easily do a Google search for specific people. Say you found that you have a Gr-Gr-Grandmother named Bridie O’Malley who was born around 1857—just type in that name and the year in and you’d be surprised at how much information you come across. Of course there are lots genealogy/family history companies out there just waiting to help you—so if you have some time, take a tour through a handful of sites—see what you find.

www.genealogylocator.com

www.genealogy.about.com

Popularity: 52% [?]