Lesson 1

Genealogy Addiction

Hi. My name is Elisa and I am Genealogy addict. Yes, my sister (I’ll call her Glo) turned me on to it several years back. That’s right, my older sister. I didn’t realize she was addicted, but she was. She kept saying, “Try it, you will like it.” So, like every person who goes into addiction, not thinking it will happen to them,  I fell prey to the peer pressure. Her words over came me and I said, “Okay, I will try it just once. I won’t get addicted will I? I don’t want to spend all my time doing this.” But my dear sweat sister new better. My sister, Glo, knew exactly what I was in for. She knew the effects of the addiction. She had been there for years. Yet my sister looked me square in the eye and said, “No.” That is when I stepped out into the hands of genealogy addiction.

Now we two genealogy junkies go from town to town, graveyard to graveyard, library to library, and much more searching for the perfect genealogy fix. One of our greatest highs came when we found the death certificates of our two uncles. She found Uncle Laverne’s and I found Uncle Delmar’s death certificate at the same time, though we were not together. Yes we are truly Genealogy Junkies.

The World of Genealogy

The world of Genealogy opens up a lot of windows about your past. It leads you into the lives of past relatives, showing you who they were and what they were like. It takes you back to a time when your ancestors were making history. Yes, they were part of what makes America great.

 For example, my great-grandfather 9 times removed, was Mamenthouensa, also known as Chief Rounsa, of the Kaskaski (Kaskaskahamwa) Tribe. He was not just over the Kaskaski tribe, but he rose to the position of Chief over the confederation of the Illini Indians. This is something I would have never known had my sister, Glo, got me started in genealogy. 

(artist unknown)

Genealogy Addiction: It is Now Your Turn

Trust me, you will get addicted to this, and you will want to find every bit of information, every little tidbit, each and every picture that you come across. I have to warn you, you may come across information that is disturbing, but you can get past that. The rest will be worth it. Are you ready for the ride? Lets get started, shall we?

The first thing you need to do is start with living relatives. This is where you can get a lot of information to the past. You want to interview them as much as you can; using recorders and taking notes the whole time you question them. Write down stories that they remember from the past. Get as much information as you can. Each little tidbit will lead you somewhere.

Interview your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Close friends of the family are another source that might be helpful too. Just remember, document, document.

Older relatives are the best people to start with in your interviews. They can take you a long ways back, and they may remember relatives that your parents do not. They can give you information that you may have never known before. Recording comes in handy here, because the stories they can tell can mesmerize you as you listen to them tell you about the past.

Also, you need to go back and re-interview your subjects. Tell them to think about the things you have talked about, so they may possibly have more information later on. Not only that, it is nice to return for the visit and time you can have together, for the older generation may not be here long and you will miss golden opportunities with them.

When my mother was dying of cancer we took a tape recorder to her house and we taped some of our interviews. We left the recorder with her and she would add stories as she thought about them. Now that she has passed on, we have recordings that are priceless to us.

Our Mother

Velva Jean Smith nee Hedrick

August 2, 2011, circa 

b. August 2, 1933, d. February 2, 2012 

Notice the information I have given about my mother. In the entry of her name you will see the words, "nee Hedrick. Nee means her maiden name. You will want to find out your female ancestors maiden names for further branches in your familial tree. 

I also included the date the picture was taken followed by the word circa. Circa means approximately on or about. Circa is a broad span of approximately 20 years. So in this case, it would be better to say that the picture was taken around August 2, 2011, because it was indeed taken on or about this date. I was just trying to give you an example of its use. You will sometimes see the  abbreviation c., ca., circ., and cca., which mean circa. 

Note also, that before her date of birth is the letter, "b." and before her death is the letter, "d." These are the abbreviation of her birth and death. You will also see abbreviations for marriage as, m., or md. Whereas divorce has the abbreviation of div.This is a site you can go to for a short list of abbreviations: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/genealogy-abbreviations.html. The next site I am listing is an extended version from A-Z: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rigenweb/abbrev.html.

In closing for today, remember this. When you interview your relatives about themselves or other relatives, don't find out just when they were born or died, find out who they really were. Get a sense of what type of  person they were. Find a personality to go with the face and information you find. Get every tidbit of information you can so you can really know who your family really were.