by Pa Rock
Grave Robber
I majored in history as a college undergraduate student and have always enjoyed digging into the past. Back in the 1980's I turned that natural interest in history inward and began exploring the history of how I, as an individual, came to be. The official name of this type of history is "genealogy," and I was determined to learn as much about my family history as possible.
Back then, well before the time when everyone had their own personal computers, much of the actual work of collecting information was done through letters - the old fashioned kind that required stamps - telephone calls, interviews with family members, and expensive trips to far-flung courthouses and other repositories of public records. Things like birth, death, and marriage certificates - items which could "prove" relationships were often hard to locate, and when they were found applications and fees were usually necessary in order to secure copies. Copies of small town newspapers were likely to only be available at those newspapers offices, and if researchers could gain permission to search back copies, that usually involved hours spent poring over microfilm or microfiche readers.
Genealogy back in the day was a helluva lot of work - and expense!
My interest in the subject grew, as time permitted, and I eventually found myself penning a newspaper genealogy column, Rootbound in the Hills, that ran over five years and was, at one time or another, featured in seventeen (mostly small) newspapers on a weekly basis. During that time I also had articles published in several national historical and genealogical publications - including Everton's Genealogical Helper, which at that time was the flagship publication of genealogical research.
Then, due to family issues and job changes, I set my passion for genealogy aside for a couple of decades. Most of my materials and collections were boxed up and put in storage, and some, unfortunately, were lost. But as my career began sliding toward retirement a few years back, I started digging through those boxes, as time permitted, and laying the foundation for some serious genealogical research during my golden years - the time when most people seem to finally get around to digging for their roots.
Around ten years ago I joined Ancestry.com and moved much of my research to their web site. At that time I was still working and not really able to justify, at least to myself, the expense of remaining on Ancestry and not giving it maximum attention. (Ancestry.com was, and is, an expensive site.) So, after two years and nearly six hundred dollars in membership fees, I cancelled my membership.
(Recognizing it for the cash cow it was, I did consider buying stock in Ancestry.com briefly, but the founders soon recognized its almost unlimited profit potential and took the company private.)
My first genealogical project in retirement was to enter all of those old Rootbound in the Hills into my computer (hours and hours of typing and proofreading), and then indexing the entire mess. Hopefully, I will eventually get all of that material published and available to family researchers.
The next project was working on my own genealogy and getting it into an organized format so that the material will mean something to my grandchildren. A couple of months ago I began researching companies that had newspaper collections available for research on the internet. After looking at the collections of several, I chose to join the advanced collection at newspapers.com which included several of my local papers in its collection. I dedicated over a month to finding and "clipping" a couple of hundred articles related to my family, some going back nearly a hundred years.
(One of my first finds at newspapers.com was a front page article about my father coming home after being wounded in World War II. Almost that entire front page was covered with international stories about the war - and there was my dad at the top of the page bringing the reality of the war home to his friends and relatives.)
Newspapers.com is owned by Ancestry.com - and, yes, there is a separate fee to join. Fold3, an internet repository of military records, is also another separate-fee branch of Ancestry.com. Those folks understand the concept of maximizing profits!
Finally, a week ago, I was able to set aside all of my biases against the unmitigated corporate greed of Ancestry.com and re-enroll in the service. I did that after a long talk with one of their telephone operators who assured me that I would have full access to my family tree if I quit the program in the future - but would no long be able to access their research materials, She also gave me a special AARP rate which would only be good for the first year, and she gave me some suggestions on how to get membership specials after the first year.
The first week with my new membership has gone great. Ancestry.com is remarkably easy to use, and every item that I incorporate into my tree footnotes itself, making my work come off as a very professional effort. All of the articles that I "clipped" from newspapers.com have transferred seamlessly to the appropriate individuals on my tree, making what was once little more than "toe-tag" entries into vignette-laden personal histories.
(One caution with using Ancestry.com lies with their famous "hints." Many of the hints involve historical records which serve as proof of relationships or activities of ancestors. Other "hints" use information on family trees of other members. Those member tree hints may or may not be correct - and researchers should be highly skeptical when it comes to appropriating someone else's work. My rule is if I can't prove it on my own, it's not going onto the tree,)
I have set a goal of getting all of the material that I have amassed over the years sorted and documented by the end of the summer. In September I will celebrate that accomplishment by going on a research trip to the Mormon Library in Salt Lake City - a lifelong dream. By then I will have a better grasp on what I know - and which questions still need answers.
As the spring and summer slip by, know that if Pa Rock isn't mowing, chances are he is robbing graves with Ancestry.com!
Grave Robber
I majored in history as a college undergraduate student and have always enjoyed digging into the past. Back in the 1980's I turned that natural interest in history inward and began exploring the history of how I, as an individual, came to be. The official name of this type of history is "genealogy," and I was determined to learn as much about my family history as possible.
Back then, well before the time when everyone had their own personal computers, much of the actual work of collecting information was done through letters - the old fashioned kind that required stamps - telephone calls, interviews with family members, and expensive trips to far-flung courthouses and other repositories of public records. Things like birth, death, and marriage certificates - items which could "prove" relationships were often hard to locate, and when they were found applications and fees were usually necessary in order to secure copies. Copies of small town newspapers were likely to only be available at those newspapers offices, and if researchers could gain permission to search back copies, that usually involved hours spent poring over microfilm or microfiche readers.
Genealogy back in the day was a helluva lot of work - and expense!
My interest in the subject grew, as time permitted, and I eventually found myself penning a newspaper genealogy column, Rootbound in the Hills, that ran over five years and was, at one time or another, featured in seventeen (mostly small) newspapers on a weekly basis. During that time I also had articles published in several national historical and genealogical publications - including Everton's Genealogical Helper, which at that time was the flagship publication of genealogical research.
Then, due to family issues and job changes, I set my passion for genealogy aside for a couple of decades. Most of my materials and collections were boxed up and put in storage, and some, unfortunately, were lost. But as my career began sliding toward retirement a few years back, I started digging through those boxes, as time permitted, and laying the foundation for some serious genealogical research during my golden years - the time when most people seem to finally get around to digging for their roots.
Around ten years ago I joined Ancestry.com and moved much of my research to their web site. At that time I was still working and not really able to justify, at least to myself, the expense of remaining on Ancestry and not giving it maximum attention. (Ancestry.com was, and is, an expensive site.) So, after two years and nearly six hundred dollars in membership fees, I cancelled my membership.
(Recognizing it for the cash cow it was, I did consider buying stock in Ancestry.com briefly, but the founders soon recognized its almost unlimited profit potential and took the company private.)
My first genealogical project in retirement was to enter all of those old Rootbound in the Hills into my computer (hours and hours of typing and proofreading), and then indexing the entire mess. Hopefully, I will eventually get all of that material published and available to family researchers.
The next project was working on my own genealogy and getting it into an organized format so that the material will mean something to my grandchildren. A couple of months ago I began researching companies that had newspaper collections available for research on the internet. After looking at the collections of several, I chose to join the advanced collection at newspapers.com which included several of my local papers in its collection. I dedicated over a month to finding and "clipping" a couple of hundred articles related to my family, some going back nearly a hundred years.
(One of my first finds at newspapers.com was a front page article about my father coming home after being wounded in World War II. Almost that entire front page was covered with international stories about the war - and there was my dad at the top of the page bringing the reality of the war home to his friends and relatives.)
Newspapers.com is owned by Ancestry.com - and, yes, there is a separate fee to join. Fold3, an internet repository of military records, is also another separate-fee branch of Ancestry.com. Those folks understand the concept of maximizing profits!
Finally, a week ago, I was able to set aside all of my biases against the unmitigated corporate greed of Ancestry.com and re-enroll in the service. I did that after a long talk with one of their telephone operators who assured me that I would have full access to my family tree if I quit the program in the future - but would no long be able to access their research materials, She also gave me a special AARP rate which would only be good for the first year, and she gave me some suggestions on how to get membership specials after the first year.
The first week with my new membership has gone great. Ancestry.com is remarkably easy to use, and every item that I incorporate into my tree footnotes itself, making my work come off as a very professional effort. All of the articles that I "clipped" from newspapers.com have transferred seamlessly to the appropriate individuals on my tree, making what was once little more than "toe-tag" entries into vignette-laden personal histories.
(One caution with using Ancestry.com lies with their famous "hints." Many of the hints involve historical records which serve as proof of relationships or activities of ancestors. Other "hints" use information on family trees of other members. Those member tree hints may or may not be correct - and researchers should be highly skeptical when it comes to appropriating someone else's work. My rule is if I can't prove it on my own, it's not going onto the tree,)
I have set a goal of getting all of the material that I have amassed over the years sorted and documented by the end of the summer. In September I will celebrate that accomplishment by going on a research trip to the Mormon Library in Salt Lake City - a lifelong dream. By then I will have a better grasp on what I know - and which questions still need answers.
As the spring and summer slip by, know that if Pa Rock isn't mowing, chances are he is robbing graves with Ancestry.com!
1 comment:
I got lost once in Salt Lake City because they have two parallel streets named Temple. North Temple is one block north of South Temple. Aside from that it is a nice city where they roll the sidewalks up around at night. As I recall my flight came in a little late around 10:15 p.m. and the car rental had already closed, even though they knew passengers on the incoming flight had car reservations with them! The state capitol is near that library so you should have much to do.
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