I bet the same people who say they don't know how to do family history are the same people who spend hours uploading artwork into Adam and Eve family trees.
If you instead sat down to learn actual research you wouldn't be responsible for making genealogy look childish. There are millions and millions of people to locate and place into family units. Spending even a few minutes on the above example of foolishness is a waste of time. There is no excuse. The end. I have helped literally hundreds if not thousands of people learn about family history in their lifetime. From helping people with online groups seeking help on their brick wall ancestors... to working at the Family History Library as a consultant on-and-off for three years to currently being a volunteer consultant on Friday evenings.
Every week I generally help at least three people on my Fridays alone. When I worked there full time, I could easily help up to a dozen a day. I don't always remember my patrons and those who I help, honestly. It is hard for me to remember all their faces. I have a semi-photographic memory though. Last night I was contacted by a man whose wife was someone I had helped over the years several times. I got her started on her Swedish genealogy. She was able to find hundreds of relatives through my teaching her as well as her diligence and hard work. She lived in Arizona but would sing my praises regularly. I had no idea. In February of this last year, she died of cancer. Her husband came to the Family History Library to thank me and ask me for help continuing in her family tree work. I had no idea I had made such a positive influence on her. He said that she would say all the time about that Bradley Marchant who helped her so often and so well at the Family History Library. I don't always know if I ever influence people positively. My mindset usually tells me that my influence on others is negligible. My at-times lower self image doesn't allow me to think I could actually create positive change in people's lives. I'm only a genealogist. I'm not a heart-surgeon saving lives or a medical missionary saving lives with vaccinations in India or something incredible... I didn't know I had affected her life so much. I literally have helped so many people I couldn't remember them all. And I usually don't ever find out if I have helped anyone so significantly that it impacted their life in a positive way. But I am so grateful that in this case, I was able to help you Mary. It humbles me... At the end of this month, I have the opportunity of teaching a family history class to an LDS Congregation downtown. I have one hour to teach, but I will likely provide numerous documents.
It is odd because despite having taught many classes and individuals over the years... I still get a little nervous because I want to make sure my lessons improve over time. I also want to make sure that my students learn everything I want them to learn. I am thinking about discussing: "What family history is... and what it isn't"---Teaching that family history research is fun and exciting, and not burdensome or annoying... nor is it DOWNLOADING someone else's research, calling it done and wiping your hands of it. Although I would love to discuss ideas of what many do wrong in family history, I think the best task would be to go over the genealogical standards and rules... I might be able to quickly discuss primary sources vs. secondary sources and direct vs. indirect evidence. However, I want to make sure that we get through all the genealogical steps. It is merely an hour. I seriously hope that somehow this could turn into my traveling to different stakes and teaching an 8-week course to hundreds of participants. Over the top? Of course. Would it be amazing to do it? Of course! My nerves are now being mixed with excitement as I talk about it. I only have a couple weeks to really get my lesson together but now I'm pumped. Although I wonder how I will fit it all into an hour? Would 5-6 pages of handouts be extreme? My previous facebook status asking about ways to learn dealt with my planning my business again.
Years ago, I began the process of creating a genealogical research business Your Own Heritage where I would help research family trees for clients. Now, I am thinking of beginning this and then expanding into the education side of things. I have plans to write a book on teaching yourself how to effectively do genealogical research properly. Accompanying this book will be online lessons or podcasts. This is about REAL RESEARCH. Not the kind of information you would get in your Sunday School class or the beginning BYU Class on genealogy which barely skims the surface and doesn't even teach anything but how to log onto familysearch.org... I am looking to hopefully produce some youtube television shows to help promote sales of the book. I am still trying to decide how to go about doing it. Should I have online podcasts available for free as a hook? Then charge for access to online classes which correspond with the book? Should the book come with a subscription to a website where the lessons are available? Should I offer reduced research fees for customers? Will I also do client research on the side? Should the videos be free but you need the book to really understand them? I am still trying to decide how it will all work, honestly. Learning how to successfully research your OWN heritage---your own family tree---is more special to me than simply doing the research for everyone else. So now I ask you all... how should I go about this? Would you take an online course to teach yourself how to really research your own family tree? Many years ago when I was a teenager, I stumbled across a box of old photographs and a few documents pertaining to a particular family. I didn't know them but felt very strongly I should research them... I'd never done genealogical research before.
Little did I know that spending that $6 for a stack of old photographs from the 1940's and 1950's would change my life. I became a dedicated researcher from then on with the help of a lot of studying, research mistakes (and the following corrections---I consider myself on a constant learning curve!) and the help of a friend of my mother's, Anita, who taught me the beginning steps. I still remember years ago she told me that she initially helped me because she thought it was some sort of cute fad and I'd die down with my intensity about it. Many years later, I work as a professional genealogist, metadata specialist working to publish genealogical documents, as well as an occasional lecturer... Once upon a time, I was even employed in genealogical research for a television program! So much has been changed by that one transaction of $6. A year ago, I learned that the photographs were likely thrown away (and then sold publicly) due to the abuse of the woman in the photographs by not only her then-deceased husband but her children as well. Her sons left her in the cold, didn't feed her, take care of her, etc. She was sent to a nursing home. Today I had the thought to look for the sons online... Last month, their youngest son died. His obituary mentioned his mother and brother were also deceased. The obituary from last month reveals no living children. His brother's obituary from 2011 shows no surviving relatives at all. It almost looks like his brother might have died either in jail or just with no surviving family but his basically estranged brother. His mother was also dead, which I wasn't aware of. Only a few step-children survived the brother from last month. It doesn't even look like he was currently married so they'd be his EX-step children. The people in the photographs do not have many surviving relatives. I currently have no one to leave the photographs to, so they'll remain in an album with a copy of the family tree I pieced together as a kid. I will likely scan them and attach them to the familysearch online tree program in case some sort of distant cousin finds them... You see... the family is now dead for many generations. The woman, Elaine, in the photograph was an only child. Her father had half-siblings only, but none of them seem interested in the family tree. (I contacted a family member years ago.) And in all the only family trees, her father is omitted as the only ones researching the family are concerned with his step-father's family and care little for his mother. Elaine's paternal grandmother was ALSO an only child but did have first cousins born int he 1870's and 1880's. So that is a bit of a leap for anyone looking for relatives. Her paternal grandfather is still unknown as her father was illegitimate. Only a name is listed with no identifying information on the birth record. Sad. Another dead-end line. Elaine's mother had brothers and sisters, but none had surviving relatives. Her mother's parents were either from Germany or the children of German immigrants to Philadelphia in the 1840's and 1850's. So very few descendants, if any, of these noble Germans. Elaine's husband Raymond did have brothers and sisters but for the most part, very few descendants from that side of the father. Raymond's mother was born turn-of-the-century and I've yet to find any connections to living relatives for her NYC Irish roots. His father had an extensive family but I've yet to find anyone researching them. Did the line "daughter out?" by eliminating all those of the same surname through marriages of daughters? Basically, the family is dead for many generations. Doesn't it show how important it is to document your currently living family? Doesn't it show how important it is to branch out and locate all of your cousins and extended family? Maybe you have some cousins whose descendants have also died out---leaving their belongings to gather in the dust before being chucked into a bin. People ask me what I am a lot. I think we, as humans, want to put people into boxes. And then amongst genealogists, it is even stronger. If I take my 16 great great grandparents and divide my genealogical makeup percentage of 100% into 16 groups, that is each of them giving me 6.25% of my DNA. So I took my great great grandparents and figured out what each was into different categories. For the sake of this experiment, I am placing New England into its own category. Why? Because New Englanders are a mix of German, Irish, English, Swiss and Dutch roots for hundreds of years. After analyzing my 2nd great grandparents I can say this: 53.12% British 18.75% New England 12.5% Swedish 7.81% German 3.12% Irish 3.12% Scottish 1.56% Swiss Now, this could go into more detail if I analyzed say... 5th great grandparents. But this gives a very rough idea of my genetic makeup. When asked, I say "My family is English, Swedish, Scottish, Irish, German, Swiss"... Very White Anglo Saxon Protestant sort of mix. When people ask me how I will raise Kabaale, I told them I would raise him with the same genetic makeup as my own family but we would ADD Ugandan heritage as well. So I will say after the adoption that my family is English, Swedish, Scottish, Irish, German, Swiss and Ugandan. I will have 0% Ugandan blood in me, but Kabaale will have 100% Ugandan blood in him. And you know what? Having him here will be 100% awesome regardless of blood! http://www.gofundme.com/69w1hk I grew up knowing that one of my ancestors was a fireman who died while trying to save a girl. Today I found a cool history online which stated: "Firemen of the joint Old Fire Office and Bath Sun Fire Office brigade led by Abraham Marchant "keeper of the fire engines" were quickly on the scene and attempted to rescue the servant from her room in the attic, using a borrowed ladder. The ladder broke and Abraham Marchant fell to his death from the attic window. The fire was eventually extinguished at 3:00am on Sunday 9 July through "the great exertions of the persons present". Mr. Dimond's premises were extensively damaged. Abraham Marchant, who lived at 9 Peter Street, was a carpenter by trade. He left a widow and eight children, "seven of whom were entirely dependent on their father's labour for their support." Mrs. Marchant was pregnant with their ninth child. A subscription list was opened immediately to help the family, with the Upper and Lower Assembly Rooms, all the Banks, Libraries, and principal inns being advertised as places where subscriptions might be received. Heading the list of subscribers were: The proprietors of the Bath Sun Fire Office £100 The proprietors of the Old Fire Office £50 Mr. Dimond £20 A sympathiser contributed "the making of the necessary clothing for the widow and family, and the loan of necessary articles for the funeral." So successful was the appeal that the promoters announced that the list would close on the following Monday, 24 July 1815. Writing of Abraham Marchant, the Bath Journal said "A more industrious, honest and humble character than the deceased could not exist." There was an entrance to a mall in Bath named after the family, essentially in honor of Abraham Marchant's sacrifice. The sign has been torn down and the area is now known as the "New Marchant's Passage" but I believe it is residential now. I need to visit Bath sometime! I hope that I can be seen as a similar man of character. I started doing family history research when I was a teenager. I think it is a mix of my OCD and my father's logic which I inherited that has helped me become a great researcher. (I take very little in the form of complimenting myself on anything serious, but i do think I'm a good genealogist!) I think that family history makes sense. There's logic to it. And it his solving a mystery. I started after finding a stack of old photographs in a rummage sale. They were mostly labeled and were from the 1930's and 1940's to the 1990's. (Some were older.) I wondered "Who are these people? Why would someone throw them away?" I told my mom who told me to ask the ward Family History Consultant, Anita, how I should begin. I think Anita thought I was a little insane at the time but she humored me, likely thinking I would give it up after a few weeks. However, I took hold of it and kept going at it. Years later I graduated with a degree in Family History from Brigham Young University emphasizing in British Isles and Scandinavia. (Yes, people, I DO British! Even though everyone knows me as the Swedish research guy!) Later on, and I will explain more of this later, I found out why the photographs likely showed up at the rummage sale. The pictures are of a married couple, Raymond and Elaine. It turns out that Elaine's family was abusive towards her and she ended up being sent to live in a hospital due to the abuse and neglect her children put towards her. I would imagine that her children got rid of her belongings when she left, including the photographs. I love doing family history and I love teaching how to research. I am working on a how-to manual on research methodology and how to teach yourself to be a successful genealogist. More to come! |
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June 2015
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