To Play Or Not To Play

I've gotten two of my four trips done, I've made my lists, checked them twice, the trips are done, now on to the input.  Two more to finish the prep for.  But, I've got a problem.

Being a die hard researcher, I love nothing more than digging around in new resources - especially anything having to do with the civil war!  I mean, how can you NOT want to go play in a new database or two (or five or six or ten)?  What kid doesn't love a new playground?

With the introduction of multiple new databases over at FamilySearch I'm finding it really difficult to stay on track with my trip planning.  Its like going to a buffet and trying to decide what to eat first!

What's a girl to do...  think I'm taking a day off planning and I'm going to go play over at FamilySearch . 

Happy Researching!
 Karen

With This Ring I Thee Wed...



Over the past two months I've been really focused on several projects.  One project at a time drives me nuts so I always seem to have several on the back burner.  The primary focus of this current project is marriage records. 

I've been amazed at the amount of marriage information I've been finding on line. Between Ancestry & Family Search I've been able to find literally hundreds of marriage dates & other marriage related details that I previously did not have.

On the family search site I found not only marriages but really good information on marriage records for children I did not have in my files and marriages as early as the 1670's and as late as the 1950's.  Some of the marriage dates I found had parents names & more!  Obviously not all the marriages I've wanted have been found, but I must say I was impressed with just how many states have marriage records available thru these two sites. 

It seems that as genealogists we get so caught up in the birth & death thing that we overlook the marriage stuff.  I was suprised when I did a report on my data base how many marriages I had that had either no date at all or the date was incomplete! 

One of my goals for 2011 was not to focus on adding persons to my file, but to go back thru my data base, find things that for some reason are missing sources or facts and fill in those gaps.  Sort of a spring cleaning for the genealogist!

Time consuming but so worth it!

Happy Researching!

Karen

Everything I Needed to Know I Found On Ancestry...

At least that is what some people think... In my travels over the past few years I've come to realize that most people really believe that everything they need to know about researching (and finding) their family history is on Ancestry. Its as though the whole internet boils down to this one website.

I find it disappointing that people really believe that this is the only way to find anything on their family history. It's a shame actually, because there is so much more to the internet & genealogy besides Ancestry.

It's almost like people are afraid to jump out of the comfort of their "nest" and try flying errr searching on their own. With search engines there's so much more to find, and the best part? There's no cost. Try Google, Yahoo, Dogpile, Bing to name a few.

Try this: Print off ONE group sheet for a family you would like to focus on. Just one. Now sit down at your computer and spend a few hours with each of the search engines. Playing with surnames, playing with places named on that group sheet. Try searching for place names & vital records. Try searches like "South Carolina Archives" or "Missouri Death Certificates". Stay away from the commercial sites. Try using " __", try using + and - with words, don't forget ( and ) with your words as well. Be creative with your searches. Try searching for your ancestors names, with and without dates, with & without locations. How about searching for your ancestors name with & without a religion attached? Ever thought about looking for newspaper archives or obituaries without using Ancestry? It can be done.

I'm not knocking Ancestry but there really is alot more to the internet than just Ancestry. Have you looked at FamilySearchLabs? How about Cindi's List? Expand your horizons a bit and try searching using your search engines. It just might surprise you what you can find.

Happy Researching!
Karen