Around the office I am known for my research abilities. Need a piece of information? Ask MB- she can find it! I tell them all I am the Queen of Google. Actually I am just good at finding search words. Put in enough different search words and you are bound to find the information you are looking for. It is simply a matter of thinking up different search terms…and not giving up.
Since it’s now 344 days until I am sixty I am increasingly curious about my family tree. This last week I decided to do some genealogy research on my maternal grandfather’s family. The oldest information I had was my great grandmother’s name. That is all I typed into the query box. “Ida Jane Ritter Brockway Smith”. What a surprise I was in for. Within seconds I had an absolute plethora of information. Within minutes I had pictures of headstones in the family plot, and even an e-mail address of a second cousin once removed! (Her great grandfather and my grandfather were brothers). What lovely emails we have already exchanged. I remember her mother, aunt, and grandparents from my childhood and teen years. I have learned that her great grandfather changed his name in the early 1900’s when he went into vaudeville.
In less than an hour I traced the family back another 2 generations, on that side and 3 generations on my father’s side! What is more I didn’t spend a penny joining any web sites!
Forty years ago, someone on my grandmother’s side worked on a family tree. I know it took several years and she was able to trace back to the early 1600’s but was not able to find exactly how or when that ancestor came to the states, other than that she believed he came over on the “Jonathon”. I went online and in seconds had the ships manifest with his name listed!
Someone in another branch of the family had already done that research for me- and there is an online article that tells about him, his wife and their son!!! OMG this is soooo spiffy!
If you’ve seen those commercials that tell you to “just start” your search and wondered how difficult it really is- give it a try. If you’re one of those who like to surf the net you’re going to LOVE doing this!
Just in case you’re interested in trying it….both www.genealogy.com and www.ancestry.com offer free trial memberships.
Cousin,
ReplyDeleteIt is beyond my ability to think you are reaching that milestone...I am 6 months shy of 50 myself...I REALLY need to get with you concerning this stuff...I absolutely love genealogies...I cannot help but believe we have some presidents in our line somewhere coming into Massachusetts that early. I have one I know of on my fathers side but really need to have a long chat with you sometimes soon. congrats for surviving this long!
Buster
Wow, why am I not surprised you're related to someone who was on the vaudeville circuit? lol
ReplyDeleteThe genealogies you're doing are great and I can't wait to hear more. Maybe you can even show me how to do it! The problem is, on my dad's side, he doesn't even remember his grandparents names. But, hey, there's always mom's side!