Relics: Genealogy, family stories, history & other curiosities.

  On April 21, 1887 Minnie Jones was born in Sandy Fields, NY.  She was my maternal great grandmother and the desire to learn more about her and her life has led me to my life's work, genealogy and family history.   I never met Minnie, she died before I was born.  I was lucky to hear many great stories from my aunts, my cousins and my mother.  I was luckier still that the cousin who had many of her photos stored in the attic, shared them with me.   Minnie has what I imagine would be a very hard life. She was born to a single mother, widowed before age 50 and raised her family through the depression and world war. Her home town, Sandy Fields and its neighboring towns full of family and friends were washed away to make room for Harriman State Park. Yet, every photo I find of Minnie, she is smiling her wide, happy grin.   Finding documented evidence of Minnie's life has been a genealogical challenge! But what I have found has been revealing, in every census, Minnie lives with her

 A new podcast is available today!  What's Your Story? A mid-western Case Study https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMwBenFNNIs For this podcast Lois and I researched our tech expert and producer, Nicole's family.  I was great to work some different records and stretch my research skills.  I have no mid-western ancestors and found Iowa records fascinating!  

Lois and I published our newest podcast this week! It's our 11th and the first of 2022.  We wanted to offer some tips and emphasize some concepts that were less methodological and more common sense based and we had a great time brainstorming our list.   Don't stress, use common sense!  Frequently check your research for reasonable leaks in logic.    Check dates- is mom old enough to have given birth to all of the children? Maybe she is their step-mother.  Names- be sure to keep everyone straight and be careful with family naming patterns.  Don't jump to conclusions! Spelling is fluid Handwriting is subjective Your ancestors name was not changed at Ellis Island, may be the biggest myth in genealogy.  DNA is not genealogy. It is only one piece of the puzzle. One tool in the genealogy toolbox.   Don't believe everything you read and not everything is online. A good researcher, like a good detective mines documents for clues and develops a hypothesis to support what is true

Happy 2022!   While the new year seems to be off to a bit of a shaky start, with Covid numbers once again rising across the country, I am determined to be optimistic and of course cautious.   Yes, I am sad and frustrated that the virus and my inability to travel has been a challenge to my research. But I don't feel like I have right to complain too much.  My friends and family have remained healthy and we are all vaxed and boosted to keep each other safe. My library co-workers have remained vigilant while dealing with the public while we still work in very close quarters.  Since life has continued this year to present us with lemons, I have chosen to make lemonade.  I may not have been able to travel and accomplish some long anticipated on the ground research, I have research, studied and continued to learn.   The opportunity to participate in classes and webinars is abundant! While I do occasionally feel the "zoom fatigue" many have talked about, I participate when I can