history. I've always had it; I was even a history major in college until I realized it wasn't a viable source of steady income should I need to fall upon my own resources. And it wasn't just the history in books; family members who came before me fascinated me. Names my parents brought up in conversation, names written with old fashioned pen and ink in dusty books--they came alive in my head and I longed to know about them.
Last year I mentioned going to a family reunion on my father's side and coming away with questions which resulted in my joining Ancestry.com. I spent countless hours pouring over records and discovered a lot. I ended up with three different family trees: one for my dad's family, one for my mom's and one for Dan's. During this time Dan was often out of town, so I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning and the time flew. After a month's time, I had totally burned myself out.
Every so often over the last year I'd log onto Ancestry and find I couldn't bring myself to even start. Until a few weeks ago. I checked in, noticed I had some hints, and suddenly, I was off again. I've found a number of pieces of information that eluded me last year and each discovery drove me on. I've combed through old ships' passenger lists from the 1880's through the early 1900's and found names. I've discovered naturalization papers that helped me find ships and dates. Witnesses on marriage licenses have lead me to find information on other, formerly lost because of name changes, family members. Wow!
I've also discovered that some mysteries may never be solved. Did you know that the 1890 census is gone? On January 10, 1921, a fire in the Commerce Department building, Washington, DC, resulted in the destruction of most of the 1890 census. That leaves a big hole in family trees--twenty years between 1880 and 1900. What happened to Dad's great-grandfather after he moved to California? And in Dan's family, his great-grandparents came to American from Scotland after 1880 and both died before 1900. No official records for them but we have been blessed with their family Bible and have much information there.
I feel like I have had a crash course in research and investigation. Chris Miller, P.I. Every time I feel I can't go any further, one more little crumb falls and I'm off again. And I'm certain more records are coming to light with each passing day. And the moral to this little confession? Write. Stuff. Down. Label photos, fill in those pages in your Bible; you know, the ones that say Marriages, Births, Deaths. Someday, someone will want to know and your information will help them.
It's amazing what's on the internet. Here's a picture of the Oscar II, the ship my mom's dad sailed on from Christiania (now Oslo), Norway in 1906, when he was a young man of just twenty.
I feel like I have had a crash course in research and investigation. Chris Miller, P.I. Every time I feel I can't go any further, one more little crumb falls and I'm off again. And I'm certain more records are coming to light with each passing day. And the moral to this little confession? Write. Stuff. Down. Label photos, fill in those pages in your Bible; you know, the ones that say Marriages, Births, Deaths. Someday, someone will want to know and your information will help them.
It's amazing what's on the internet. Here's a picture of the Oscar II, the ship my mom's dad sailed on from Christiania (now Oslo), Norway in 1906, when he was a young man of just twenty.
Meanwhile, I'm hoping to avoid joining Family Historians Anonymous. For now, I'm just saying, "Hello. My name is Chris M. and I'm a history nut." ♥
Wow! Who knew you were a "closet" genealogist? Certainly not I. I know quite a bit about my ancestry but I don't enjoy the documentation.
ReplyDeleteMy shoestring cousin Leah is a genealogist. She calls herself "Detective Sherlock," and she, too, stays up late (all night sometimes, I think), searching records.
But, without her I never would have known so much about my dad's aunts, uncles, and cousins. And you know what? -- these people aren't even her tree! Her grandfather's first wife was my grandfather's sister. They had one child, who was her mother's half-sister.
I still have labeling to do leftover from the previous generation, which is really two or three generations, if you want to look at it that way. I'm just grateful that I can identify these pictures.
Yes, I guess I am a closet genealogist. It is exciting to find long-lost information and to think about those people who are a tiny part of me.
DeleteVery cool! What is the story of how your family ended up in Orofino? Did your grandparents also live there or just your mom and dad?
ReplyDeleteBoth sets of my great-grandparents on my father's side came to Orofino in the early 1900s. I was the third generation to graduate from high school there--my grandmother and my dad preceded me. Mom grew up in Everett, Washington, and was a first generation American--grandpa came from Norway and Grandma was born in Alaska, but it was a territory at the time.
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