Looking Forward, Looking Back
I can hardly believe that it's time for yet another year end review of my family history research. Where does the time go?
My biggest challenges continue to be time and distance. I struggle to find a balance between doing all I want to do with my research and maintaining this woefully neglected blog with work and my other real life obligations. I also continue to work around the fact that for now, I am miles away from the areas I want to research and can't run out to the local history room of the New City Library with a question, take a leisurely stroll through the cemetery or drive by an old family home. I continue to learn how to be a different kind of researcher.
I spent time this year learning about my Schuler family and how they made it from France to New Orleans to New York. I obtained death certificates and made other connections using newspapers (English and French!) and probate records. My great-great grandfather Harry's sister, Leona is the only Schuler who stayed in New Orleans. I learned a great deal about her this year and she continues to be one of my most intriguing ancestors. A goal for 2018 or 2019 would be to visit New Orleans and see what else I can uncover.
After more than ten years of searching, I found the 1901 marriage certificate for my Finnish great-grandparents. This document, despite being hard to read was full of information I have longed for- their parents names and hometowns in Finland. For me, a major brick wall is down!
I also focused on my Cassidy family. A brief two years ago, I barely knew they existed! George Cassidy, my three times great grandfather lived his whole life in about a five block radius of Manhattan. Prince Street, Crosby Street, Mulberry Street. How I wish I knew of his existence when I visited the Tenement Museum. Census records list his occupation as Soda Manufacturer and his death certificate states "New Yorker for life." I love him and I am so curious to learn more. Could my love of soda be inherited?
This year I was able to obtain his death certificate and discover where he was buried- Calvary Cemetery, Woodside, NY. I found evidence of his two marriages and the births and a few untimely deaths of his children, including my great great grandmother, Elizabeth Cassidy Schuler. In the NY Herald I found the notice inviting friends and family to his funeral held on December 31, 1876, ironically 141 years ago today.
This year I began attending meetings of the Florida Genealogical Society- Tampa. They have interesting speakers and friendly members. I made time to visit the genealogy floor of the Germany Library. I was impressed with the width and depth of their collection for the Northeast and their helpful staff. It's a distance to travel for me, but worth the trip.
FGS hosts a wonderful seminar each October at the Robert W. Saunders Library and I have been lucky to attend every year since I moved here. This year's speaker was David Rencher of Family Search who was both knowledgeable and entertaining. Lisa Louise Cooke was the speaker at the Pinellas Genealogy Society held at the somewhat easier to find, Largo Library. Cooke talked about using more familiar websites like youtube in your research and gave me ideas for incorporating social media. I was inspired by this to use October is Family History Month for a daily post on my Instagram feed. This was fun and I will do it or something similar again.
This past November I spent the weekend in Orlando to attend the Central Florida Genealogy Society's Family History Conference. This day long event was full of high quality classes and instructors and featured Christa Cowan of Ancestry.com and youtube's the Barefoot Genealogist. It was exciting and fun and I learned a great deal.
Closer to home I have begun recently to photograph graves for the FindaGrave website. Being far from the places I want to research, I understand how much this could mean to another researcher. I started with a few photos at the nearby Meadowlawn Cemetery. Since this is where my own father is interred I know it well. Uploading photos to the site, I stumbled across another local cemetery and went off in search of it to fulfill its few photo requests.
West Elfers Cemetery is tiny and tucked into a hill off a busy road and basically hidden in plain site. I was stunned to see this beautiful place, full of historic markers in such disrepair. A large tree branch fell across 6 or 7 graves. The ones I could read were those of World War I veterans. Garbage was strewn about. I walked the entire cemetery and couldn't locate the three graves I was looking for. Many markers are crumbling and unreadable. One of my goals for 2018 is to contact Pasco County Public Works to hopefully get that branch removed and perhaps find a scout troop that will help me with clean up.
I have also been able to strengthen my skills by helping others. I have learned a great deal about Italian and New Jersey research by compiling the family tree of a relative and I have been able to facilitate genealogy programs at my library. I also got to dabble with West Virginia records and helped a library patron find her ancestor's ad in the Boston Pilot! This ad was chock full of names, places and dates, and so exciting to find! I hope to hold more genealogy programs at the library.
I am grateful for the work of organizations like Reclaim the Records, who fought to obtain the release of the New York State Death Index and many other records researchers and historians rely on. Also on the activism front, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society's efforts brought to my attention the need for letter writing to prevent New York City agencies from changing the dates vital records would be released. As a member, I jumped at the chance to express to these agencies and public officials how important the timely release of these documents is to me and other researchers.
I benefit from my NY G & B membership even though I am too far to be a very active member. Their webinars, publications and new website are top notch. I am looking forward to January's webinar week.
My biggest goal for 2018 is to attend the NY G & B's NY Family History Conference in September. Fortunately for me its being held in my old stomping grounds of Tarrytown, NY- close to the train and the Westchester Airport! I am busy planning up some research trips I can tack on to these few days in New York! On the top of my list is a walk through the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery to hunt for some ancestors! And maybe even making time to visit with some living relatives.
I am hoping to keep researching and learning all I can about these characters from all sides of my family tree. The hardest part for me will be keeping with the deadline, but I am planning ahead and promise to do my best with this goal.
Happy New Year! May this be a great year for you and your family history research!
My biggest challenges continue to be time and distance. I struggle to find a balance between doing all I want to do with my research and maintaining this woefully neglected blog with work and my other real life obligations. I also continue to work around the fact that for now, I am miles away from the areas I want to research and can't run out to the local history room of the New City Library with a question, take a leisurely stroll through the cemetery or drive by an old family home. I continue to learn how to be a different kind of researcher.
I spent time this year learning about my Schuler family and how they made it from France to New Orleans to New York. I obtained death certificates and made other connections using newspapers (English and French!) and probate records. My great-great grandfather Harry's sister, Leona is the only Schuler who stayed in New Orleans. I learned a great deal about her this year and she continues to be one of my most intriguing ancestors. A goal for 2018 or 2019 would be to visit New Orleans and see what else I can uncover.
After more than ten years of searching, I found the 1901 marriage certificate for my Finnish great-grandparents. This document, despite being hard to read was full of information I have longed for- their parents names and hometowns in Finland. For me, a major brick wall is down!
I also focused on my Cassidy family. A brief two years ago, I barely knew they existed! George Cassidy, my three times great grandfather lived his whole life in about a five block radius of Manhattan. Prince Street, Crosby Street, Mulberry Street. How I wish I knew of his existence when I visited the Tenement Museum. Census records list his occupation as Soda Manufacturer and his death certificate states "New Yorker for life." I love him and I am so curious to learn more. Could my love of soda be inherited?
This year I was able to obtain his death certificate and discover where he was buried- Calvary Cemetery, Woodside, NY. I found evidence of his two marriages and the births and a few untimely deaths of his children, including my great great grandmother, Elizabeth Cassidy Schuler. In the NY Herald I found the notice inviting friends and family to his funeral held on December 31, 1876, ironically 141 years ago today.
This year I began attending meetings of the Florida Genealogical Society- Tampa. They have interesting speakers and friendly members. I made time to visit the genealogy floor of the Germany Library. I was impressed with the width and depth of their collection for the Northeast and their helpful staff. It's a distance to travel for me, but worth the trip.
FGS hosts a wonderful seminar each October at the Robert W. Saunders Library and I have been lucky to attend every year since I moved here. This year's speaker was David Rencher of Family Search who was both knowledgeable and entertaining. Lisa Louise Cooke was the speaker at the Pinellas Genealogy Society held at the somewhat easier to find, Largo Library. Cooke talked about using more familiar websites like youtube in your research and gave me ideas for incorporating social media. I was inspired by this to use October is Family History Month for a daily post on my Instagram feed. This was fun and I will do it or something similar again.
This past November I spent the weekend in Orlando to attend the Central Florida Genealogy Society's Family History Conference. This day long event was full of high quality classes and instructors and featured Christa Cowan of Ancestry.com and youtube's the Barefoot Genealogist. It was exciting and fun and I learned a great deal.
Closer to home I have begun recently to photograph graves for the FindaGrave website. Being far from the places I want to research, I understand how much this could mean to another researcher. I started with a few photos at the nearby Meadowlawn Cemetery. Since this is where my own father is interred I know it well. Uploading photos to the site, I stumbled across another local cemetery and went off in search of it to fulfill its few photo requests.
West Elfers Cemetery is tiny and tucked into a hill off a busy road and basically hidden in plain site. I was stunned to see this beautiful place, full of historic markers in such disrepair. A large tree branch fell across 6 or 7 graves. The ones I could read were those of World War I veterans. Garbage was strewn about. I walked the entire cemetery and couldn't locate the three graves I was looking for. Many markers are crumbling and unreadable. One of my goals for 2018 is to contact Pasco County Public Works to hopefully get that branch removed and perhaps find a scout troop that will help me with clean up.
I have also been able to strengthen my skills by helping others. I have learned a great deal about Italian and New Jersey research by compiling the family tree of a relative and I have been able to facilitate genealogy programs at my library. I also got to dabble with West Virginia records and helped a library patron find her ancestor's ad in the Boston Pilot! This ad was chock full of names, places and dates, and so exciting to find! I hope to hold more genealogy programs at the library.
I am grateful for the work of organizations like Reclaim the Records, who fought to obtain the release of the New York State Death Index and many other records researchers and historians rely on. Also on the activism front, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society's efforts brought to my attention the need for letter writing to prevent New York City agencies from changing the dates vital records would be released. As a member, I jumped at the chance to express to these agencies and public officials how important the timely release of these documents is to me and other researchers.
I benefit from my NY G & B membership even though I am too far to be a very active member. Their webinars, publications and new website are top notch. I am looking forward to January's webinar week.
My biggest goal for 2018 is to attend the NY G & B's NY Family History Conference in September. Fortunately for me its being held in my old stomping grounds of Tarrytown, NY- close to the train and the Westchester Airport! I am busy planning up some research trips I can tack on to these few days in New York! On the top of my list is a walk through the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery to hunt for some ancestors! And maybe even making time to visit with some living relatives.
I am hoping to keep researching and learning all I can about these characters from all sides of my family tree. The hardest part for me will be keeping with the deadline, but I am planning ahead and promise to do my best with this goal.
Happy New Year! May this be a great year for you and your family history research!
Comments
Post a Comment