Pennsylvania - The Prep Begins

As I am sure many of you noted, I mentioned that our research trip this year changed from Kentucky to Pennsylvania. As the countdown for this trip is in process I'll be blogging at times about my prep and how it is progressing.

In my opinion the best prep you can do for a trip is to research before you go. That's right, you don't need to go back and read the sentance again. I said, "research before you go!".

No, I am not crazy, but I do believe that a good foundation is important when you are taking a research trip. I think just going in blind is a big mistake.

SO a few early steps that I think are esential.

1. Decide which lines you want to focus on
2. Determine what you have & what it is you want
3. Locate "repositories" located in area that can provide resources for research
4. Put together research notebook(s)

A few notes of explanation. #1 & #2 are pretty self explanatory. #3 - I went on line and found two historical & genealogical societies that have holdings that I feel would work very well with the lines I've decided to focus on for this trip.

I am going to Lancaster & Berks County, Pennsylvania - so I've gone into my data base and found my DIRECT lines in those two counties. I have four surnames of interest to me. I've taken those four surnames and did "research notebooks" on them. A descendancy book for four generations - from that families oldest person in that county down for four generations.

I've bound them together and now I can start my pre-trip research.

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Comment - I'd love to hear from you!

We'll continue this tomorrow.

Happy Researching!

Karen