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Get to know your ancestors records and you will get to know a little more about yourself. After all they are an integral part of who you are.
Not knowing your STORY is like listening to a sountrack from a movie that you haven't seen. You can enjoy the music but you can't fully appreciate what the music is trying to tell you without knowing the story line. And the story line is you AND your ancestors. Picture yourself looking through a scratchy old microfilm. You've been at it for what seems like hours, or is it weeks? Feeling very dispondent - a common ailment among genealogists - and there amidst the scrawl of a thousand names..... your name, well your great grandfather's actually. There he is, Harold Crum in all his glory! Dates, places, the lot. You are ecstatic. You are hooked!
Not a Solo Journey Your ancestry records are not just yours alone. There may be 5, 10 or 50 other people around the world researching YOUR family. And some of those may be just like you - taking their first faltering steps into the (as yet) great unknown. You may never meet them personally but KNOW that they are standing right beside you. There is a special comradrie amongst genealogists. A willingness to share, enlighten and uplift that exists, to my knowledge, in no other hobby. Total strangers will bend over backwards to assist you.Even those researching entirely different family trees willingly offer guidance. Don't feel that you have to do this all by yourself.
They Were Real People
Now it's one thing to know names, ages and embarrassing birth marks but these were real people - flesh and bones. They weren't just scribble on a piece of paper. Try and really get to know the people you research.
Actually an embarrassing birth mark is probably an exciting piece of information! So work on it. Jot their names and all that of course but endeavour to look beyond. Old photos and family photos are great. You can learn heaps just from a photo. For instance great great Aunty Flora may be sitting at a desk holding a pen. What hand is she using? See what I mean? You would never find that information in a dry old parish record. Ask questions of relatives - living of course. Be considerate and, most importantly, diplomatic. Journal writing is another great exercise. Write the bits and pieces down as you find them out. Details from letters, newspaper articles, wills. Before long you'll know more about Aunty Flora than her own mother! One Step At a Time Take a look at this handy guide on How To Write Down Names On Genealogical Charts before proceeding any further, and print it out as well. Access these other pages from here:
Copyright © 2006 Wayne Thomas |
Clue #3 - Don't treat your ancestors as statistics. Get to know them as people. Your research into ancestry records will then become a 'labour of love' instead of just a 'labour'.