My Top Ten Genea-Mysteries

 

I posted another blog post about my "Top Ten Genea-Mysteries" in 2014, and it is time for an update!  I'm hoping that by posting these brickwall stories, maybe someone can send me a clue or make a cousin connection.  Some of these mysteries have bothered me for 30 or more years! 

My Top Ten Brick Walls:

1.)  Who is Hannah Smith?  She married my 5^th great grandfather, Stephen Cree, on 27 February 1787 in Holden, Massachusetts.  Stephen was born in Topsfield in 1760 and died there in 1821.  All five of their children were born in Topsfield.  Did they elope to be married in Holden, or was Hannah a resident of Holden? Who were her parents?  One clue is in the book Early Massachusetts Marriages Prior to 1800 Worcester County, Southborough, page 72 “Stephen Cree & Mrs. Hannah Smith February 27, 2787”  What is this reference to Southborough? Of course my top brickwall would be a SMITH!

2.) Who is the Mary Hovey who married Nathaniel Treadwell on 17 July 1786 in Ipswich, Massachusetts?  These are my 5^th great grandparents.  This is a Mayflower lineage back to Isaac Allerton, but none of the paperwork ever submitted with this couple names her parents. I left it blank and my application was accepted.  I have no birth date for her or place of birth.  She had five children with Nathaniel Treadwell, and she died on 15 January 1832 in Ipswich.  Nathaniel was a Revolutionary War Patriot.  Both the DAR and the Mayflower Society have no information on Mary Hovey. 

3.)  What are the origins of Benjamin Gardner, born about 1720 probably in Boston, and died 7 June 1797 in Salem, Massachusetts?  This is my 6^th great grandfather, and much has been written about him in Salem records, and in the diaries of Rev. William Bentley who mentioned his wives and his children, and his brother, but Benjamin still remains a mystery.  He was married twice, first to Sarah Randall on 10 October 1751 in Boston at the West Church.  They had three children, including my 5^th great grandmother, Mary Gardner born in Boston.  Sarah died in 1781 in Salem, and he remarried to Mary Briers (widow  of Michael Ferguson and John Bassett) on 2 November 1782 in Salem.   Benjamin was a ropemaker in Salem, a partner to Josiah Gaines.  He had a brother, Thomas Gardner, who died on 22 September 1789 in Boston.

4.) Who is Nancy Thompson (about 1804 – 1847), my 4x great grandmother? She married Jonathan Batchelder on 11 February 1822 in Belmont, New Hampshire.  Her children’s marriage and death records say she was born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire.  There are several Thompson families in Gilmanton and Belmont (contiguous towns) but no record of Nancy/Ann/Hannah Thompson.  Jonathan Batchelder died in the Concord State Assylum.   His wife, Nancy Batchelder, was granted guardianship of their children in 1847.  I recently found her 14 November 1884 death record in Sutton, New Hampshire under the name "Nancy Palmer".  How do I know it is my 4x great grandmother?  I recently found a court record where she lists her name as Nancy Palmer, but gives names of relatives in the Batchelder family, so I know this is her!  Unfortunately she doesn't give any testimony on her own side of the family. 

5.)  Related to Nancy Thompson, above:  I'd love to see the testimony Nancy Thompson Batchelder Palmer gave during the court case in Louisiana in 1866.  Does it survive? All I have are excerpts in books. I'm not familiar with records from outside of New England! 

6.)  Who is Elizabeth Lambert (about 1775 – 1834), my 5x great grandmother? She married Owen Jones, a native of Wales and son of a British customs officer, on 11 May 1793 at the Second Baptist Church in Boston, Massachusetts.  They lived in the North End, and had six daughters all described as debutantes and all married very well.  I was hoping she was from a well-connected, wealthy family in Boston who left lots of good records, but so far I cannot find her parents or lineage.  There were many Lambert/Lombard/Lumbard/Lamport families in Boston at this time, and I have searched them all for Elizabeth.   One clue-  Elizabeth had a sister, Sarah, who married John Darke/Dargue on 1 December 1793 in Boston.  Elizabeth (Lambert) Jones named her first daughter Sarah Dargue Jones in her honor.  The sister Sarah (Lambert) Dargue died on 3 September 1796.  No parents listed.  Another clue – Elizabeth Lambert was probably born at about the time of the siege of Boston during the American Revolution (many residents fled the city), so she may have been born elsewhere in New England.

7.) Who is Margaret Welch (about 1796 – 1860), my 4x great grandmother?  Her death record in Chichester, New Hampshire does not name her parents or place of birth.  She married Richard Locke on 21 October 1823 in Chichester.  Her children’s marriage and death records say she was born in Kittery, Maine.  Census records say she was born in Maine.  I haven't found her in vital records or in any compiled genealogy.

8.) Who is Thomas Jillings (died 1801 in Newbury), my 5x great grandfather?  He married Hannah Mirick on 18 November 1725 in Newbury and had seven children with her.  Hannah was born in Charlestown in 1702 and died in 1754 in New bury.  If he was born around the same time as her he would have been nearly 100 years old at the time of his death.  Jillings is an unusual name, but I can’t find his origins, parents or any ancestors.  Is Jillings a misspelling or corruption of some other surname?

9.)  I'd love to research my grandmother's roots in Leeds, Yorkshire, England.  Her name was Bertha Roberts (1891 - 1990). I have traced back to Samuel Roberts, my 4th great grandfather, father of John Roberts, named on his 1803 baptism record in Holbeck, Leeds, Yorkshire, England (no mother listed). I have no idea how to proceed further back on this family line from this side of the pond!  Roadtrip to the UK? 

10.) Who is my 4th great grandmother, Amelia wife of Capt. Thomas Lewis of Salem, Massachusetts.  She died on 22 April 1860 in Wayland, Massachusetts.  She was possibly born about 1790 maybe in Stoughton, Massachusetts?  She married three times.  She was married first to Capt. Lewis, and he died on 31 August 1824 and she had two posthumous babies (twins) born 26 June 1824 (one is my 3rd great grandfather Thomas Russell Lewis).  Then she married Thomas Johnson on 16 October 1827 in Salem.  She married third to John Adams on 11 June 1843 in Topsfield.  Both John and Amelia were listed as paupers at the poor farm in Wayland in the 1860 Federal Census mortality schedule (he died of "lung fever" and she died of "paralysis").  What is her maiden name? Parents and family?  

For the truly curious:

Click here for a previous post from 2014 of my Top Ten Brickwall mysteries: 

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/my-top-ten-genea-mysteries.html   

Click here for a previous post from 2012 of my Top Ten Brickwall Problem Ancestors:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/12/my-top-ten-brickwall-problem-ancestors.html

----------------------

To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "My Top Ten Genea-Mysteries", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 21, 2023, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/03/my-top-ten-genea-mysteries.html: accessed [access date]). 

Thank you Nutfield Genealogy Blog Followers

A big “Thank You!” to all my dear blog readers and blog followers!

In 2018 I have enjoyed your email and comments, and your messages via social media.  Every comment is very important to me.  I appreciate all your suggestions, clues, humor and inquiries. 

My blog is not monetized.  I don’t promote advertising and I have no affiliate links.  But I enjoy checking my blog statistics to see what is popular, and what my readers enjoy reading.  If there are patterns, I don’t necessarily change my writing or my posting because mostly I write for fun, for my family, and for the pure enjoyment of making “cousin connections” and receiving feedback from you, my readers.

Here are the top ten blog posts from Nutfield Genealogy, in reverse order….

#10    “How Genealogy Literate Are You?”      My attempt at humor, from March 2018, with 22 comments it seemed to resonate with many genealogists.

#9      “19 August 1692, Five People Hanged at Salem, Massachusetts”     This one was originally posted on 19 August 2015, and receives modest re-reading every year on that date.  It is a re-post of a blog post I wrote several years earlier that was very popular, too.

#8      “Ten Ways to be a Good Ancestor”     This was another attempt at humor from 2016

#7       “Meghan Markle’s New Hampshire Roots”     This was written this year near the royal wedding, so I can see why it received so many hits from Google. Nearly 5,000 hits!  I wasn’t trying for popularity, just trying to see if there were any cousin connections out there.  According to the number of comments on Facebook many, many people are kin to the new Duchess.

#6      “Patriot to Passenger Project”     This project from the General Society of Mayflower Descendants attempts to match patriots in the DAR database with Mayflower Passenger ancestors.  It was also published just this year, and has nearly 6,000 hits.  Many of the readers found DAR patriots who were not listed, and they provided the names to the project manager and increased the list by a large amount. Good job readers!

#5   “University of Durham Team is Reaching Out to the Descendants of 17th Century Scottish Prisoners”   This blog post was written in 2016 and received thousands of hits because of the archaeological dig that was in the news (uncovering the bodies of many of these prisoners from the 1650 Battle of Dunbar).  This dig continues to be in the news, along with the recreation of the battle next year, and so now the number of hits is approaching 6,500.  A very popular subject among genealogists and history buffs!

#4   “10 Unexpected Places to Find Family History”   This was written in 2015, but continues to draw readers and is now nearly 7,000 hits.  I suppose that when you hit a brick wall, a blog post like this might help you think out of the box.

#3    “2020 Events for the 400th Anniversary of the Arrival of the Mayflower”    This post from just a few weeks ago has nearly 8,000 hits already, and as 2020 approached received a lot of new reads.  Check out this list of scheduled events if you are interested in attending the commemorations this year.

#2    “Flora Stewart – Black History Month”      This post from nearly eight years ago (written in February of 2011) still receives lots of hits, and it makes me happy that this obscure woman who lived in poverty in New Hampshire is still of such interest to history buffs.  Perhaps it is her haunting photograph that makes this blog post so interesting?

#1    “A Favorite Christmas Gift!  You Might Want One, Too”     This post from 2012 has lead my list of popular blog posts for eight years.  It has had over a quarter of a million hits, with about 3,000 more this Christmas season.  I suppose people googling for gift ideas (especially family history gift ideas) find this an interesting post.  My thanks for this success goes out to my daughter, who gave me this gift for Christmas in 2012.  And my thanks goes out to Pinterest, where this post still goes viral every December.

Top Ten Traffic Sources for 2018:

1.  Facebook

2.  Google

3.  BuzzFeed

4.  Pinterest

5.  Nutfield Genealogy

6.  Bing

7.  Yahoo

8.  Tipsted

9.  Google UK

10.  t.co   (Twitter links?)

Other trivial facts about Nutfield Genealogy:

First blog post- 17 July 2009

Total posts- 2867

Page views all time history  (as of January 3, 2019) – 2,810,044 (almost 3 million!  Cool!)

Top Five Search Keywords (phrases)

1.  White Horse

2.   Maria del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa

3.   Flora Stewart

4.   Kilcher Family Tree

5.   Thanksgiving Proclamation

Total Blog Posts by Year

2009  - 75 posts

2010  - 337 posts

2011  - 341 posts

2012  - 346 posts

2013  - 349 posts

2014  - 309 posts

2015  -  291 posts  

2016- -  286 posts

2017  -  284 posts

2018  -  249 posts

Total number of views of these pages:

"Surnames to 9 Generations"                 23,298

"Descendants of Thomas Wilkinson"    16,942

"Descendants of Samuel Wilkinson"      11,364

"Awards"                                                  8,394 (this page has been removed)

"Honor Roll Project"                                8,394 (this has moved to its own webpage)

"New England Genealogy Bloggers"       9,850

“Nutfield FAQ’s”                                     2,783

---------------------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Thank you Nutfield Genealogy Blog Followers”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 4, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/01/thank-you-nutfield-genealogy-blog.html: accessed [access date]). 

Top Ten Genealogy "Close Calls"

What’s a “Genealogy Close Call”?  It happens when I research an ancestor and realize that if fate didn’t intervene I wouldn’t be here today.  Some of our ancestors narrowly escaped disasters, only to live on and produce a descendant that led to YOU!   Read down the list, and you’ll instantly know what I mean.  I’m sure there are many “close calls” in your family tree, too.  Why don’t you tell me about some of these bits of serendipity in the comments?

Close Call No. 1:

John Howland (1592 – 1673) is my 9th great grandfather on both my mother’s side, and my father’s side of the family.  He had a very close call on his way to Massachusetts on board the ship Mayflower in 1620. Halfway across the Atlantic the Pilgrims encountered a great storm. For some unknown reason, the passenger John Howland was on deck instead of below with the other Pilgrims.  He fell overboard, but miraculously grabbed a rope that was hanging over the side of the ship, and he was hauled to safety.  Young John was described in William Bradford’s journal “though he was somewhat ill with it, yet he lived many years after.”  He later married Elizabeth Tilley, another passenger, and had many children, including the two daughters, Hope and Desire, from whom I descend.  If not for that rope, I wouldn’t be here today.

Close Call No. 2:

I have many ancestors who were involved in the 1692 Witchcraft Hysteria that hit Salem, Massachusetts. Three were hanged, many others were imprisoned, brought to trial, accused and otherwise abused.  The ones who were hanged (Bridget Bishop, John Proctor and George Jacobs) were past their prime, with grown children, so their deaths did not mean that my lineage never occurred.  However, I had one ancestress, Elizabeth Collston (b. 1676), my 7^th great grandmother, who was arrested and imprisoned with her mother and grandmother.  At some point 16 year old Elizabeth Collston escaped.  And she escaped a second time weeks later!  Considering that she could have been brought to trial and hanged like the three ancestors mentioned above, she also could have died in jail because the conditions were appalling.  Lucky Elizabeth escaped, married in 1703, and had a daughter, Mary Collston, who was my 6^th great grandmother.  Thank you Elizabeth!

Close Call No. 3:

My 7^th great grandfather, William Munroe (1625 – 1718) was a Scots warrior in the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651.  The Scots lost the battle, and survivors were rounded up and marched without food to London to be shipped on board the John and Sarah to Boston to be sold into servitude.  If you read about the Scots prisoners of war, there were not many survivors of this bloody battle.  There were not many survivors of this forced march to London.  Some died on board the ship on their way to the New World. Somehow young William survived all this to be sold on the docks into servitude.  The Scots were not welcome in Puritan Boston, but most of these men survived and married and left many descendants.  William married in 1665 to Martha George and had four children, including my 6^th great grandfather, George Munroe (about 1672 – 1747), and remarried twice more and had ten more children!  There are many descendants who feel quite grateful that William was a survivor!

Close Call No. 4:   

My 4^th great grandfather, Johann Daniel Bollman (about 1751 – 1833) was born in Hammersleben, Saxony, Germany.  He was a surgeon, and a Hessian officer during the American Revolutionary War.  He served with Baron de Riedesel’s Brunswick Regiment.  They fought at the Battle of Bennington in August 1777 where about 200 Hessians were killed and 700 were captured.  Then they fought in September at the Battle of Saratoga where my ancestor was captured.  Most of the Germans were marched to prison camps near Boston.  However, since he was a doctor, he was one of the first men to be included in a prisoner exchange and sent to Halifax.  He settled in the town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia – not far from Halifax.  He survived two bloody battles and being captured.  Dr. Bollman became a politician, as well as the town doctor.  He was a member of the House of Assembly and represented Lunenburg from 1793 - 1809.   He was a physician for 54 years and died at age 82.   Click this link to learn more about this ancestor:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/03/surname-saturday-bollman-my-hessian.html  

Close Call No. 5:

My 5^th great grandfather, Levi Younger (1756 – 1806) served in the Revolutionary War as a seaman.  This wasn’t unusual because he was a mariner from Gloucester, Massachusetts.  However, what was unusual was that he was captured and sent to the prison ship “Favorite” in New York harbor.  If you read or Google what the conditions were like on those British prison ships you will wonder how Levi Younger survived this ordeal.  Then he was brought to Forten Prison at Gosport near Portsmouth in England.  Googling the story of Forten Prison will make your hair stand on end. Somehow young Levi survived all this, returned to Gloucester, and married in 1784.  He had five children, including Levi, Jr. (1786 – 1858), my 4^th great grandfather.

Close Call No. 6:

Levi Younger, Jr. (1786 – 1858) is my 4^th great grandfather.  His father  (see above) was captured as a seaman during the Revolutionary War.  Levi, Jr., was also a mariner, and when the War of 1812 occurred, he stepped in to serve his country in defense of the New England coast.  You guessed it – Levi was one of the many American sailors “impressed” into the British navy during the War of 1812.  He was listed as “refusing to do so service [and] have been punished”.  Like father like son.  He also survived his ordeal and was married in 1816 in Boston and had five children, including my 4^th great grandmother, Mary Esther (Younger) Emerson described below.

Close Call No. 7:

This one is quite a story!  James Stilson, my 7^th great grandfather, was born about 1680 in Maine near the Pemaquid River.  He was captured in 1689, along with his mother, two sisters and a brother, and taken by the Indians to Quebec, Canada.  His mother was redeemed after a few years, but James was not ransomed for 12 years.  He heard that a New England woman was still being held prisoner, and he went back to see her, and liked what he saw.  Her name was Hannah Odiorne, the widow of John Batson of Cape Porpoise, Maine.  He ransomed and married her in the Roman Catholic church of Notre Dame in Montreal.  They had both been baptized Roman Catholic during their captivity.  Their first child, Marie Anne Stilson dit Dutilly Odiorne was baptized Roman Catholic on 8 March 1707.  They were remarried in Boston upon returning to New England.   The baby baptized in Montreal is my 6^th great grandmother, Hannah (AKA Marie Anne) who married Thomas Mead on 2 May 1725 in New Castle, New Hampshire.

Close Call No. 8:

Mary Esther Younger (1826 -1913) was my 3^rd great grandmother. Her father was a mariner from Gloucester who lived in Boston.  Her mother died very young, leaving Esther motherless, and two little brothers also died at the same time.  Her father remarried, but there must be more to the story because Esther was adopted by her father’s sister and her husband, David Harris.  She was raised by the David Harris family (this was another longer story on how I puzzled out her real parents).   What kind of dreadful disease or accident took the mother and brothers? Was Mary Esther lucky to have survived?

Close Call No. 9:

George Emerson (1817 – 1890) was my 3^rd great grandfather.  He was a young husband with a wife (Mary Esther Younger, above) and two small children when gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mills in California in 1848.  On February 4, 1849 George was one of the 100 members of the New England and California Trading and Mining Company that left Boston on board the ship Leonore for San Francisco.  Yes, he was “49er”!  They arrived 150 days later via Cape Horn in San Francisco Bay.  There are a few surviving diaries from other members of this group of gold miners, and one describes George Emerson as sick and dying, left by the side of a California creek to write his will.   Somehow George survived, and made his way home to Boston where he had six more children.  One was Mary Katharine Emerson, my great great grandmother.  She wouldn’t have been born if he had died in California, like many other 49ers.  Click this link to learn more about my '49er ancestor:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/08/george-emerson-forty-niner.html  

Close Call No. 10:

My great great grandfather, Abijah Franklin Hitchings (1841 – 1910) served twice in the Civil War. His second enlistment brought him with Company H, 19^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry to the Battle of Fredricksburg where he was shot in the leg on 13 December 1862.  He was discharge for his wounds on 25 July 1863 at Boston.  His leg wound was horrific, but he refused to let them amputate.  He suffered for the rest of his life from terrible diseases like necrosis.  I have a 100 page pension report with lots of pages of medical reports from his annual trips to the medical facilities at the Old Soldier’s Home in Chelsea, Massachusetts.  He walked with a cane for the rest of his life.  Fortunately, he was well enough to marry on 22 September 1864 and had two children, including my great grandfather, Arthur Treadwell Hitchings (1868 – 1937).   Personally, I think this is quite a miracle since we all know how terrible the medical attention was during the Civil War battles (not just from TV, but from historical accounts), and he lived through infections and necrosis in the years before antibiotics became available.  Look up necrosis – it’s quite nasty.   Click this link to learn more about A. F. Hitchings:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-to-find-your-american-veteran.html   

The image above is from the journal Blast from the Ram's Horn, 1902, page 249 https://archive.org/stream/blastsfromramsho00unse/blastsfromramsho00unse#page/n256/mode/1up

-----------------------------------

Alona Tester, an Australian genealogy blogger, was inspired by this blog post and wrote her own about her Australian ancestors and their "Close Calls".  You can read these stories at this link:
http://www.lonetester.com/2017/03/genealogy-close-calls/

-----------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Top Ten Genealogy "Close Calls", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 10, 2017, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/03/top-ten-genealogy-close-calls.html: accessed [access date]). 

What will Genealogists Lose through Proposed Government Budget Cuts?

@RogueGenealogy Top Ten List

"If not you, then who?
If not now, then when?" - John E. Lewis, Freedom Rider (b. 1940)

This is a blog post for everyone. It is not meant to be left, right, alt, or liberal. It's information all genealogists should consider in light of the new administration in Washington DC.

Genealogy is a bi-partisan hobby, and also a professional occupation for people of all political persuasions.  People of all sexual orientations, religious beliefs, and ethnic groups. Genealogy is for people of all age groups and socioeconomic levels.  And as genealogists we are accustomed to budget cuts because, let’s face it, who uses dusty old archives? Libraries are an easy target.  If there are cuts to the defense department, you can be sure that their military archives will face cuts before any other defense budget items.

I’ve never been a political person, and I don’t want to have a political blog.  I have no party affiliation and have been registered “undeclared” for 30 years in New Hampshire.  Recent events have made me suddenly interested in politics, calling my representatives, and signing petitions.  It is no time to be complacent.  There are signs that some of these acts of resistance are working to change minds in Washington DC.  The big question is "Can genealogy survive ALL these cuts at the same time?"  Just think about that for a moment…

What will genealogy be like after ALL these cuts?

1. National Endowment for the Humanities – budget $150 million, cost per American $0.46 – funds research at institutions like museums, colleges and libraries.   These are the grants for small town museums and historical societies that genealogists depend on for local information.  These are the grants that larger institutions need for oral history projects, preservation of documents and ephemera, research, digitization projects and other great ideas.  Think of all the historic homes, archives and repositories that would be affected by the budget cuts. And the administration wants to shut down this program permanently, not just reduce funding.  The biggest loss to genealogists will be the Chronicling America website, full of newspaper access.  Imagine not having Chronicling America! “The value of an education in a liberal arts college is the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks” Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955).

2. National Endowment for the Arts – budget $150 million, cost per American $0.46.  The Republican Study Committee states “The federal government should not be in the business of funding the arts.”  This is another case of not just reducing the funding, but eliminating the entire department.  Where would family historians be without terrific historical projects like the documentaries by Ken Burns or memorial projects like the Vietnam War memorial?  Both were funded by NEA grants.  Many historical societies have received NEA grants to preserve culture such as local music or art from immigrant or ethnic groups.  Many films were funded in part by the NEA to preserve the voices and stories of people such as holocaust survivors, immigrants, families from the Japanese internment camps or the Armenian genocide.   NEA grants have supported the preservation of archival and historic materials all over the USA.  Perhaps the RSC should listen to George Washington (1732 - 1799), who said “The Arts and Sciences, essential to the prosperity of the State and to the ornament of human life, have a primary claim to the encouragement of every lover of his country and mankind.”

3. Corporation for Public Broadcasting – budget $445 million, cost per American $1.37.  This is not just about Big Bird.  Genealogy can survive without PBS, but what a loss for getting newbies excited about family history, what a loss for learning more about DNA, what a loss for spreading the love of genealogy to other people.  PBS is the sole producer of programming that includes quality history and science documentaries, Masterpiece Theater, Ken Burns specials, ballet, opera, Shakespeare, dramas based on classic literature, history specials, Genealogy Roadshow, Finding your Roots with Henry Louis Gates and more.  You can bet your boots that commercial TV is not going to air opera.  The only television I have ever seen about DNA was on PBS.  Even the History Channel no longer shows history programming, but instead produces malarkey like Ancient Aliens and Counting Cars. What a loss!  TV programming that includes the arts and sciences is the ultimate non-partisan element in American culture.  All Americans should resist these cuts.  I love this quote by scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson (b. 1958) “Cutting PBS support (0.012% of budget) to help balance the Federal budget is like deleting text files to make room on your 500Gig hard drive.”    

4. Department of Education – It is no secret that the new administration wants to shut down this department.  Cuts to public school education come along with that proposal.  Our children deserve a secretary of education that cares about quality education for every child.  Such shortsightedness is appalling.  The entire education of a generation is at jeopardy.  The history curriculum in some schools and school districts is at risk of defunding, censorship and revision.  Schools and public education have suffered horrific cuts during the recession, and now they are at risk of not recovering from those cuts.  Music, arts, physical education, recess, and now history and the humanities are being lost from most public school curriculums.  Yes, this affects genealogy.  Imagine an entire generation not schooled in American history, world history, geography, social studies and all the other studies that go along with these cuts. Imagine an entire generation who never learned critical thinking, debating, writing and critical reading skills.  “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  George Santayana (1863 - 1952).

5. Social Security Benefits  - First, remember that social security is not an entitlement program, but it is self-funded by taxpayers who have contributed to the fund throughout their working lives. Defunding it and raising the retirement age affects thousands of genealogists who keep saying “I’m waiting for retirement”.  Don’t wait to start your family history – start now!  (This is why I’m so glad I started my genealogy research when I was in my teens, when I could interview relatives who remembered their grandparents stories about living through the Civil War)  Besides, cutting payments will mean less spending money for people on fixed incomes.  Less spending money means fewer dollars for some senior citizens to put towards genealogy classes, subscriptions, books, heritage travel, etc. or even towards food, housing, medicine for other seniors.  “Cessation of work is not accompanied by cessation of expenses” – Cato (234 BC - 149 BC).

While we are on the subject, we stand to lose a lot of research through gagging and defunding other government agencies, such as these examples:

6. National Park Service - The National Parks are more than just a place to take a hike.  The National Park Service also oversees hundreds of historical sites.  Personally, the staff at these places has helped me many times with my family history.  When I was researching my 2^nd great grandfather, Abijah Franklin Hitchings, who was shot at the Battle of Fredericksburg, a staff member looked up his service record for me at the visitor center and then walked me out to the battle ground to the exact spot where he was injured.  I left Fredericksburg with a file full of information, and lots of photos.  This same thing happened to me in California while researching another 3^rd great grandfather who was a “49er” in the Gold Rush.  And several times I have been assisted by staff members at the Salem Maritime Historical Park in Massachusetts, not just for historic guided tours, but with actual research documents and maps.  “What a country chooses to save is what a country chooses to say about itself”  Mollie Beattie (Director, US Fish and Wildlife Service) (1947 - 1996).

7. National Archives - Budget cuts risk public access to records.  Cuts here are the worst of all for genealogy and family history.  This is a violation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), for providing access.  NARA took a big hit on their budget during the Great Recession a few years ago.  Many regional NARA centers were closed, programs were reduced or eliminated, hours and days were reduced.  Additional budget cuts will prove to be very detrimental to public access.  These cuts affect genealogists in every aspect of their research.  The most basic genealogy searches include federal records such as census, military, and immigration records held at NARA. This is not just bad news for genealogists, but for researchers across the board in all disciplines and occupations.  “Withholding information is the essence of tyranny.  Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship” Bruce Coville (b. 1950)

8. National Science Foundation – rumors are that the NSF is next on the list behind the NEA and the NEH for reforms and budget cuts. I don’t know if the current administration plans to cut the department entirely.   Research funded by the NSF has increased our knowledge of DNA and genetic genealogy greatly in the past.  Forensic genealogists depend on this DNA research to solve unclaimed body cases for veterans and the military.  Adoptees use this DNA research to find family members.  Criminologists work with genetic genealogists to solve crimes and cold cases using DNA.  Family histories can now include medical histories to trace genetic diseases, traits and chronic conditions because of NSF funded DNA studies.  The science community is so alarmed about  proposed gag rules and budget cuts that they are organizing at the grassroots level to protest, petition and change policy. [“The Nation’s Top Scientists Can’t Get Through to Trump”, The Washington Post, January 26, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/01/26/leaders-of-science-organizations-dismayed-by-trump-administration-moves/?utm_term=.399f15c87bfb]    “By denying scientific principles, one may maintain any paradox” – Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642)

9. The Library of Congress - I haven't heard yet of any cuts to this institution, which falls under appropriations for the legislative branch.  During the Great Recession, the LOC suffered cuts in 2013 and 2014 which slowed digitalization projects and caused backups for copyrights.  Slow downs in conservation projects meant that endangered manuscripts continued to decay instead of being preserved. Further cuts in this department could mean that new works and copyrights will linger instead of being registered with the LOC, and preservation projects might be completely cancelled instead of being just delayed. Historians, genealogists and citizens will experience cuts in access online as well as physical access to collections in the buildings in Washington, DC.  "Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries", - Anne Herbert (b. 1952)

10. More announced budget cuts are happening every day.  But just listing them, complaining, and whining is not enough.  Reach out to your senators and representatives.  Reach out to the staff of these departments under consideration for elimination or budget cuts to see how you can make a difference. Reach out to your colleagues, research friends, and genealogists from both sides of the aisle about resolving these issues amicably.  Continue to patronize these institutions, and help spread the word about their contributions to American society.  Get involved. Keep informed. Vote. 

"If liberty and equality, as it is thought by some are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons like share in the government to the utmost."  -Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

"On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does."  -Will Rogers (1879 - 1935) 

The source of budget information is from Money Magazine http://time.com/money/4639544/trump-nea-sesame-street-budget-cut/

-------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "What will Genealogists Will Lose through Proposed Government Budget Cuts?", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 10, 2017, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/02/what-will-genealogists-will-lose.html: accessed [access date]). 

Ten New Genealogy Blogs about New England

Every month of the 10^th day I publish a blog post with a top ten list…

It’s been a long time since I listed some great New England genealogy bloggers. In that time, many new bloggers have started posting.  Here are some new ones about New England genealogy  (or new-to-me blogs) you should try out!

In no particular order:

1.  Marblehead Musings by Marge Armstrong   https://marbleheadmusings.wordpress.com/

2.  Fletcher Family Tree by Jake Fletcher  https://travelyourgenealogy.com/

3.  Beautiful Water  by Christine McCloud  https://beautifulwatergenealogy.wordpress.com/

4.  Pine Trees and Pedigrees  by Kathleen McCracken  http://pinetreesandpedigrees.blogspot.com/

5. Genealogy Adventures by Brian Sheffey   https://genealogyadventures.wordpress.com/

6.  Genealogy in West Brookfield by Leah Smith http://genealogyinwestbrookfieldmass.blogspot.com/

7.  Between the Leaves by Deborah Lee Stewart   https://deborahleestewart.wordpress.com/

8.   From Shepards and Shoemakers  by Julie Roberts Szczepankiewicz   https://fromshepherdsandshoemakers.wordpress.com/

9.  Discovering Your Past by Dan Young https://discoveringyourpast.wordpress.com/ 
ALSO - Enjoy Dan's genealogy videos on YouTube, produced for Nashua, New Hampshire's public access TV channel  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqxty9X_5ZyIlE2t6ymh3g  

10. Kate’s Kin-nections by Kate Lowrie    http://kateskinnections.blogspot.com/

For a full listing of all the New England Genealogy bloggers, try this link:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/p/new-england-genealogy-bloggers.html

Do you know of any other new New England genealogy blogs?  Let me know about them in the comments or send an email to vrojomit@gmail.com

-----------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Ten New Genealogy Blogs about New England",  Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 10, 2017,  ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/01/ten-new-genealogy-blogs-about-new.html :  accessed [access date]).

Top Ten Books about Nutfield History and Genealogy

Every month on the 10^th day I post a “Top Ten” list for my readers.  Here is another one featuring books about Nutfield, New Hampshire, in no particular order…

1. History of Londonderry, By Rev. E. L. Parker, 1851.  This book is out of print, but widely available in used book stores and online book shops.  It is also available to read online at archive.org but there is nothing like having this good reference book right at your elbow. The back of the book is full of genealogies of early Londonderry families. 

2.  Early Londonderry, a five volume set of books by the Londonderry Historical Society. Each book covers a specific section of town.  Contact the Londonderry Historical Society to purchase one or the entire set  http://www.londonderryhistory.org/shop/

3. Nutfield Rambles, by Richard Holmes, Peter Randall Publisher, 2007.  This book, and the one below, are written by the Derry, New Hampshire town historian, Rick Holmes.  Both feature chapter length sketches from Nutfield and Derry town history. 

4. The Road to Derry:  A Brief History, by Richard Holmes, History Press, 2009. 

5. Willey’s Book of Nutfield: A History of That Part of New Hampshire Comprised Within the Limits of the Old Township of Londonderry, From Its Settlement in 1719 to the Present Time, by George Franklyn, Willey, 1895, available online at Internet Archive and on Ancestry.com 

6.  History of Windham, in New Hampshire 1719 – 1883: A Scotch Settlement (commonly called Scotch-Irish), embracing nearly one third of the ancient settlement and historic township of Londonderry, NH, By Leonard Allison Morrison, 1883, available online  at Internet Archive.   There was also a supplement to this book written by Morrison in 1892 which includes marriages, births and deaths 1882 – 1892 and some obituaries. 

7.  Vital Records of Londonderry, by Daniel Annis Gage, 1914 (covers 1719 – 1910) available online at the Internet Archive and the Hathi Trust websites for free.  There is also a PDF at the Pelham Library website http://www.pelhamnhhistory.org/library/pdffiles/neighbors/vitalrecords/LondonderryVitalRecords.pdf   This book is also searchable at Ancestry.com (check their card catalog). 

8.  Willey’s Semi-Centennial Book of Manchester: Historic Sketches of that Part of New Hampshire Comprised Within the Limints of the Old Tyng Township, Nutfield, Harrytown, Derryfield, and Manchester, From the Earliest Settlements to the Present Time, by George Franklin Willey, 1896 available to read or download online at Google Book Search.

9.   Index to Genealogies in New Hampshire Town Histories, by William Copely, New Hampshire Historical Society, 2000. This is my favorite place to look up surnames from New Hampshire.  Many New Hampshire town history books have genealogy sections in the back, for the early settlers. 

10.  Scotch Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America, by Charles Knowles Boston, 1910.  Available to read online at Google Book Search. 

If you know of any other great books that should be on this list, leave a comment below!

--------------------------------

To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Top Ten Books about Nutfield History and  Genealogy", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 10, 2016, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/12/top-ten-books-about-nutfield-history.html: accessed [access date]). 

Ten Genealogy Road Trips I read about on Blogs this Year

Pack your bags and get ready to research!

These are ten interesting stories on heritage travel I read about this year (2016) on genealogy blogs.  I hope they inspire you to take a genealogy road trip, too, whether it is nearby, cross country, or across the ocean.  It can be a photographic adventure, a real research trip, or just heritage travel.  All are exciting to read about, and to help you plan your own jaunts.

I'm sure that I missed a few great trips by other bloggers. If you know of any other interesting research trips, please add them to the comments.

1.  Lara Diamond took a trip to the Ukraine at her blog Lara’s Jewnealogy.   It has multiple posts, and you can start with the first episode here:   https://larasgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/ukraine-trip-post-1-day-1-september-1.html 

2.  Tim Firkowski’s research trip to Poland is also written over many posts at his blog The Genealogy Assistant, and it starts here:  http://www.thegenealogyassistant.com/index.php?option=com_easyblog&view=entry&id=117&Itemid=103

3. Susan Petersen was a guest blogger on Lisa Alzo’s Immersion Genealogy blog about her trip to Ireland:  http://immersiongenealogy.com/immersion-genealogy/discovering-ireland-and-finding-myself/   and at her own blog Long Lost Relatives   http://www.longlostrelatives.net/ 

4.  Pam Seavey Schaffner traveled to New Brunswick.  You can read about it at her blog Digging Down East and at this link:  http://diggingdowneast.blogspot.com/2016/08/my-64-researching-my-fourth-great.html 

5.  Jill Ball, the Australian blogger at GeniAus, took a trip to Europe (she calls it a “Genea Jaunt”) and blogged about it here:  http://geniaus.blogspot.com/2016/08/tombstone-tourist.html 

6. Miss Peggy Clemens Lauritzen, the author of Always Anxiously Engaged, took a road trip with her sisters to Kentucky.  She had some hilarious adventures at this link:  http://alwaysanxiouslyengaged.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-kentucky-research-adventures-never.html

7.  Carol Kostakos Petranek, who blogs at Spartan Roots, traveled to Greece.  You can read all about her adventures in nine separate blog posts starting with this one:  https://spartanroots.wordpress.com/research-trips/greece-2016/

8.  Kiki Nakita went to Pennsylvania to trace her roots.  She blogged about it at A Collection of Memories, http://kikinakita.blogspot.com/2016/09/labor-day-weekend-in-philadelphia.html

9.  Diane Tourville went on a 40 day genealogy research trip to St. Louis, Missouri and to the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference in Springfield, Illinois.  She wrote several blog posts at Genealogy on my Mind.  You can start with her first post here:  http://www.huboutourvillegenealogy.com/wp/?p=3174

10.  I traveled to many places around New England this summer, but we also went to New York City https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/08/a-new-hampshire-yankee-in-new-york-city.html and to Spain https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-new-hampshire-yankee-in-spain-and-i.html  (and we weren’t afraid to bring a baby with us!)

Bonus:

This was not a genealogy blogger, but a regular article in the Washington Post that sounds like a fun bit of heritage travel - "I rented my 26th great-grandfather's Welsh castle, and so could you":

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/i-rented-my-26th-great-grandfathers-welsh-castle-and-so-could-you/2016/09/29/f373b270-7ea0-11e6-8d0c-fb6c00c90481_story.html

------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Ten Genealogy Road Trips I read about on Blogs this Year", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 10, 2016, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/11/ten-genealogy-road-trips-i-read-about.html: accessed [access date]). 

Ten Ways to be a Good Ancestor

Every month on the 10th I write a blog post with a top ten list...

Here are ten things you can do to make it easier for your descendants to research your life one hundred years from now.  Your kids or grandkids may not care, but down the road one of your descendants will someday thank you for doing any of these activities…

1.   Leave a paper trail. Keep a diary. Save those letters.  Print out important family email and texts.  Scrapbook news clippings.  Save receipts and ephemera.  Scan everything if you don’t like the paper mess.  Buy land or a home and be listed on the deeds.  Write a will and make sure your probate records are filed with the court. Pay your taxes.

2.  Join the military. There will be lots of good records for someone to dig up later.

3.  Lay down some roots.  Your descendants don’t appreciate running from state to state or across international borders to trace your vital records and censuses.  If you must move frequently, consider keeping a journal with all the addresses and stories behind each move. 

4.  Join a lineage society.  At least one line of your family tree will be preserved somewhere as a lineage application.  This application and its sources will help some future descendant fill in the rest of the branches with the good clues left behind on your lineage papers.

5.  Take lots of family photos and spread them around to all the family across the globe.  Don’t forget to label your photographs before you share them. Please.

6.  Get involved in your community.  Run for committees, local offices, clubs and societies. Be listed in the newspapers for volunteering or service.  Be listed in the town reports if you live in New England. Donate to projects. Register to vote. Serve on a few boards.  Join a house of worship.  Graduate from a few schools or institutes of higher education.  Have a lot of friends and neighbors (acquaintances might remember you, too, on paper or in records!). 

 7.  Learn to spell your name.  Consistently.  And pass this spelling on to your descendants. Never sign or register as “A. B. Smith”. Please spell it all out.  Never sign as “Mrs. John Smith” when you can sign as “Mrs. Mary Maiden-name Smith”, and this will please your descendants to no end.

8.  Get your name in the newspaper.  It doesn’t matter if you are up to something naughty or nice.  Just get involved in some activity that is covered by the local press.   Black sheep ancestors are interesting, too.

9.  .  If you must pass on family names (especially Jr. and III’s), please think of interesting and “different” middle names.  Six generations of Robert Wilsons in my family tree were difficult enough.  Four of them married women named Mary, too.  I love the ancestor who finally broke the boring string of names with a “Robert Southwick Wilson”. 

10.  Keep a family register.  Pass it on to someone who will appreciate it, and add to it, and preserve it for the future.   Whether or not this register [family tree/genealogy/chart/bible entry] is paper, electronic, artistic or carved in stone does not matter.  Just leaving the clues is the important bit.

------------------------------

To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Ten Ways to be a Good Ancestor", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 10, 2016, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/ten-ways-to-be-good-ancestor.html: accessed [access date]). 

Ten Things to Try When you Hit a Genealogical Brickwall

Every month on the 10^th day I publish a blog post with a top ten list…

The proverbial genealogical brickwall is a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to your discovering the identity or parentage of an ancestor on your family tree.  Sometimes, with just a few new ideas or hints, the answer will suddenly become apparent, and you can “smash” your brickwall.  Other times, unfortunately, you will run into a dearth of written records and must admit defeat.

Here are the top ten ideas I have used to smash brickwall genealogical problems.  You may have other ideas, and some new strategies I haven’t thought of, so please feel free to leave your “smashing tool” ideas in the comments or email me at vrojomit@gmail.com ! 

Let’s break a few brickwalls today!

1.) Get it in writing.  This is one of the most effective ways I have found to see the holes and gaps in my research.  Usually I write a “Surname Saturday” post every week for this blog.  By taking the time to write up a short sketch on an immigrant ancestor, I can immediately see discrepancies in dates, missing parents, poor sources, and missing citations.  By cleaning up the data, storylines, citations, checking new sources that might be available (books and newly published articles), I often find answers to my own questions.  More than a handful of times I have “smashed” a brickwall while getting a “Surname Saturday” post ready for publication. 

2.)  Share your written sketch (complete with all your citations) with other people.  Pass it around to members of your genealogy club. Email it to a genealogy colleague.  Post it online.  Blog about it.  Sometimes you have stared at your problem for so long you can no longer see what you are lacking in evidence.  Or someone else may know of an archive or source you haven’t thought about yet.  Don’t forget that sharing includes DNA and surname study projects.  You never know what you will uncover unless you share are willing to share.

3.)  Revisit the latest research.  I usually write about New England ancestors, so I double check books like Martin Hollick’s New Englanders in the 1600s for the latest published research.  This book only covers research up to 2010, so my next step is to go online or to my bookshelves to see what has been published since that date in my favorite journals.  Learn how to use PERSI for searching scholarly journals.   I double also check the online card catalogs at NEHGS, FamilySearch, Allen Country Public Library, the state libraries, historical societies, and other places for new books. Query your favorite archivists and librarian by email or pick up the phone. Use all these clues and articles to look for the original records which may have additional information you need to break down your brickwall. 

4.)  Visit the hometown of the problem ancestor, if at all possible, or take a virtual trip by email and perusing the internet.   Is there a historical society nearby?  A public library with a special collections department in genealogy or local history?  Ask the librarian to tell you what is available that you may have missed.  There may be resources unknown to you that could unlock clues about your family.  A local person might also know name variations or spelling variations you haven’t considered.

5.)  Since most of my brickwall ancestors are women, finding a maiden name can often be the biggest clue to finding her identity and parentage.  Court records can be invaluable here, especially in cases of divorce, deeds, guardianship, name changes, and citizenship.  Sometimes newspaper marriage announcements, obituaries or social pages may name a woman’s maiden name that is missing in vital records.  You can find articles, book, classes and webinars designed to help you find maiden names.

6.) Extended family such as siblings, in-laws, cousins, second marriages (and third and fourth marriages) and other distant relatives are often ignored by some genealogists, but learning more about these relatives can often help you understand your ancestry.  Intermarriages between cousins is more common than you think, especially the further you go back in time.  When you hit a brickwall, try working sideways on the family tree for clues.  Finding the vital records on all the siblings might yield a mother’s maiden name, or a cousin’s record could name a common ancestor that is new to you.

7.)  Who were the neighbors and friends of your brickwall ancestor?  Did you look for relatives living nearby on census records, maps, directories and tax records? A little investigating might prove that the neighbors with different surnames might actually be sisters, female relatives or other cousins.  Business associates, business partners, guardians, recipients of letters and gifts might also prove to be close or distant relatives. It can be well worth the time to investigate these friends, neighbors and their family trees.

8.)  Join a Facebook group for the surname, geographic location, religion or ethnic group of your brickwall ancestor.  This doesn’t mean you post a query and wait, but joining a group and frequently reading comments will keep you up-to-date on the latest research and discoveries that might help you.  Get friendly with the members of the group.  Some of the Mayflower groups I belong to have some of the most renowned authors for Pilgrim research frequently answering questions.  The “Explore Congregational Church History”  Facebook group has some wonderful ministers and theologians who are expert on the early Puritan church.  You never know who is on Facebook!

9.)  Hire an expert.  Many people think that hiring a professional genealogist is a big, expensive project.  However, you can hire a genealogist to do a lookup, visit an archive, or to work on a small, specific genealogical problem like your brickwall ancestor.   It doesn’t have to be a major expense,  because you can have a professional give you an estimate for the project ahead of time.  If you are seriously stuck, this is a good option to get you jump started.  There are online membership directories for professional genealogists at the Board for Certification of Genealogists http://www.bcgcertification.org/ or the Association of Professional Genealogists https://www.apgen.org/ to help you find a specialist.  

10.)   Relax. Be willing to wait.  New resources become available all the time. Look at all the lost records that are found every year in archives and libraries.  More items are digitized and indexed every day. If you can’t solve your brickwall today, put it aside and revisit the problem next year.  Later you will be refreshed, and can look at your problem with "new eyes".   After a waiting period, run through all the new resources, articles and books that were published during the interim, and recheck your queries online.  I’ve had queries answered months, years and in one case, decades later!

------------------------------

Other strategies for brickwall ancestors include keeping a good research log (don’t keep searching in the same old places - keep track of your goals!), continuing your genealogy education (there is always something new to learn) and staying organized (document as your finds as well as your failures) .

What are some of your brickwall strategies?  Please leave a comment below!

This blog post was written as a story as part of The August 2016 Genealogy Blog Potluck Picnic! 

------------------------------

To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Ten Things to Try When you Hit a Genealogical Brickwall", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 10, 2016, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/08/ten-things-to-try-when-you-hit.html:  accessed [access date]). 

Ten Ways to Share Your Genealogy

Every month on the 10th day I publish a blog post with a top ten list...

Two years ago we moved into a new home. During our search for a new house we saw lots of places with home offices (one of my “must have” requirements).  One large condo we viewed during an open house had a huge bonus room that was someone’s home office.  It was packed with stuff and as I examined the room I realized that a genealogist had been at work here.  There were books, binders, multiple computers, piles of disks, memory sticks, and printouts hanging on the walls. Unfortunately the realtor told me that the owners were deceased.  I knew that nothing was donated to the historical society because I was (at that time) the president of the Londonderry Historical society.  It looked like the heirs to the property were going to end up tossing years worth of research.

Don’t let it happen to you!

The time to share your genealogy is NOW.  Don’t wait until your research is finished because, for goodness sakes, we all know that it is never finished.  There is always another name to lookup, sibling to find, maiden name to research, etc. etc.  What you have now is wonderful, even if you are a newbie, and someone else would love to read it.

Here are ten ways to start sharing.  You don’t need a vast collection.  Sometimes just a few interesting stories can be shared.  I know there are more ideas out there, so leave some of your ideas in the comments or email me at vrojomit@gmail.com

1.)  Share online.  If you aren’t comfortable sharing all your research, put a subset of your family tree online at Family Search, WikiTree or a pay website like Ancestry.com or MyHeritage.com.  Pick a branch that contains a brickwall problem and post that branch for “cousin bait”.   Or pick a branch with a famous ancestor and share that just for kicks.  Share something about a military hero on Fold3.com.  Start with something small, and you can always share more later on down the road.

2.)  Share with your family.  I know they roll their eyes whenever you bring up the subject of genealogy, but there is probably a cousin or two who would love a pedigree chart or register style report of their branch of the family tree.  You can even be fancy and make up a Blurb book or Shutterfly book with charts, photos and stories.  I’ll bet that there will be some other siblings or cousins who complain, “Why didn’t I get one, too!”

3.)  Choose a branch of the family that lived in one area for three or more generations and download a report on that branch to donate to the local library or historical society.  Even if they are located at a distance from you, it is something easy to mail.  Attach contact information to the report, along with some photos and maybe even a chart or two.  You’ll be surprised how many cousin connections you will make from patrons visiting those facilities. 

4.)  Scan your family photos and give copies to relatives.  My mother took her mom’s photo albums and re-distributed photos to her seven siblings and their children.  They appreciated getting photos they had never seen before of their parents and families.  Don’t forget to write on the backs of the photos to identify people, places and approximate time periods.  If you have a lot of group photos you can make books with Shutterfly or Blurb.com and gift them at Christmas, weddings or family reunions.

5.)   If your family has already been written up in a compiled genealogy book, find out if an update has been done recently.  Most of the family genealogies that have my family tree were written in the 1890s.  At family reunions I have found out who is updating these old genealogies and donated information on my immediate family.  Or you can volunteer to write up a new update and collect information from all your cousins. Historical Societies will sometimes fund these updates on local families.

6.)  If you are even just a little bit tech savvy, think about sharing your genealogy, photos, stories and charts online in places that aren’t just online trees.  Think about starting a blog you can post to on a regular basis.  Maybe you can download everything to a website once and then just occasionally maintain it.  Be sure to leave your passwords and website/blog information in your “When I pass” file for your heirs (along with your social media information).

7.) Join a well-established lineage society.  This isn’t just for bragging rights, but it ensures that your lineage will be safely stored and shared with future generations.  If you belong to a lineage society, a small, not too expensive bronze marker can be attached to your gravestone when you pass.  Any future researcher, even decades from now, will see this and know that they can find your tree by contacting the appropriate lineage society for lineage papers.

8.)  Consider writing an article about a small branch of your family, or the genealogical background on an interesting story in your family tree.  These articles can be submitted to your local newspaper, historical society newsletter, family association, genealogy magazines or journals, lineage society newsletters or other organizations.  Start with one small idea and find a good place to share your story.

9.)  Have a talk with your descendants or heirs (children, grandchildren, friends, nieces or nephews) to see who might be interested in inheriting your genealogy “stuff” when you go.  We’re all going to go someday, and you don’t want your research to end up in a dumpster, like that office I mentioned above.  Even if a younger person only takes on part of the job, they can also insure that the rest of your notes and manuscripts end up in a library or museum instead of the landfill.

10.)   Don’t assume that the local historical society or genealogy society will automatically take your “stuff” after you pass.  Make those arrangements now, and have a talk with the appropriate societies as soon as possible.  I have already donated some things to a genealogy library for several reasons – #1 to establish a relationship and to get a feel for what they will accept as manuscripts (answer: they won’t take everything) and #2 the storage at the genealogy society is much better than my basement, so they got the originals and I kept a few copies.  Find out what preparations you need to do now in order for them to accept your manuscripts and papers later.

Don’t be shy!  You don’t have be a great author to share your stories.  There are people out there who would love to hear about your common ancestors or kinship, even if you aren’t a Pulitzer prize writer.  It is the content that is important.  Sharing ensures that your family history won’t disappear, but will continue to be appreciated by the next generations.

-----------------------------

To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Ten Ways to Share Your Genealogy", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 10, 2016,  ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/07/ten-ways-to-share-your-genealogy.html: accessed [access date]).