What’s a “family history enthusiast”, you say? Okay, I admit that I just recently adopted this moniker to fit the category I fell in. And I think there may be more of us in that bucket than I realized.
In my early 20’s, married but pre-kids, I somehow got excited about researching family history. I think my husband’s grandmother stirred this up a bit in me as she told me stories about her life and stories about her husband (who had died young) plus shared some family documents that were “so old” to me and very special. So I attended the local “genealogical society” meetings in Boulder, Colorado, where we lived at the time. They used the University library which had several treasures and I enjoyed the experience. This was in late 1960’s.
And then life took over. We moved, had kids and I was way too busy for extracurriculars.
Later, I was visiting my parents, my boys were toddler stage, and my grandfather who was probably late 70’s was also there for a visit. Can’t remember why I had a cassette recorder with me, but I sat down with my grandfather and started asking him questions and recording his stories. Maybe my other grandfather dying 5-6 years earlier and the fact that my living grandfather’s wife, my grandmother, had died just a few years earlier spurred me to this – I honestly don’t remember.
But oh, what a treasure that tape became. His voice – recorded. My kids came running up with questions in the middle of it – that’s the only recording of their little voices that I have. The stories he shared (born the 4th boy in a one-room half-dugout, half-soddy home in Indian Territory) have grown more dear to me in later years as I got into genealogy work on his family.
Okay. Life took over again and I dropped the ball for many years. Then my mother was the last remaining family member of her generation. In her late 70’s, she gamely took all the photos that had collected in her middle dresser drawer over the years and others that drifted down from family and put them in “unsafe” photo albums – with no journaling, I might add. Luckily, I discovered them as she was bed-ridden but still insisting on living at home (with 24-hour care).
I pulled all the album books down off the closet shelf and went through them with her asking “who is this” “what is this about”, etc. I wrote as fast as I could as she talked (this pre-dated laptops). I was able to transfer the photos to safe albums, digitize them, and create photobooks to be shared with family (siblings and my kids). Whew! But many of my dad’s photos from his side of the family he had in boxes so they did not get identified and stories added. However, a few that came from his father had been ones shown to me at some time in the past – and I remembered the stories my grandfather told about them.
Yep. Life was still taking over – working full time, kids marrying and grandkids coming on the scene. Everything just got packed away as my mom passed and later as my uncle’s memorabilia was passed to me since he had no children. But yes, I had several of his stories and could match up the photos with them.
Finally, I decided to take a Genealogy course. Wow! I loved it. Did the next level and then I took the Advanced course. For our “final exam” the instructor led us on a trip to Salt Lake City where she introduced us to research at the Family History Library – one of the largest genealogical libraries in the world. She had us prepped and ready to hit the microfilm and books and maps when we walked in the door – searching for all the items we had in advance listed from the online catalog as she trained us.
I was hooked. I came back home, joined the Castle Rock Genealogical Society and began to do as much genealogy research as I could fit into the nooks and crannies of my schedule. I ended up going on more trips to Salt Lake City and found more and more treasures. I bought the Family Tree Maker software and started entering my information digitally creating charts and timelines, etc. I attended a few of the big genealogical conferences (Roots Tech and SLIG) and kept on learning.
So here I am – enthusiast for family history? Absolutely. Trained in family research? Somewhat, yes. Family historian? Again, somewhat – historian sounds a little more professional than I think of myself. Genealogist? I don’t think I fit that level as I equate it with those who have gotten certified or do work for others at the level of a professional. I am truly an amateur.
So there ya’ go! I am a Family History Enthusiast.
Where do you fit? Like to dabble? Enjoy the family stories? Like the old photos and memorabilia? Did they show on your doorstep as someone’s home got cleared out?
So I have 2 things for you. First, stay tuned as I am working on creating a group around Family History Enthusiasts to share tools, tips, trainings, genealogy helps, and just encouragement to get our family histories digitized and preserved for generations to come.
Second, here is an immediate treat. If you have never done this, you might be blown away with how cool it is. Even though I had been to the Family History Library and I knew their online catalog was great – I did NOT participate in this one area. I just used the searching of the online catalog to make a list of what I wanted to search when I got there. Or some of it you could view online.
When I was at the Library, the volunteer helpers would ask “do you have a Tree?” and I would say “no” and move on to following my own agenda. My thinking was that since I was not a member of the Latter Day Saints, I would not want to do this. HOWEVER, I just recently was shown the error of my thinking. And I will share it with you.
Go to www.familysearch.org and if you have an account with them, sign in. If you don’t, create a free account (it never will cost you anything). NEXT – click on “Family Tree” in the top left options. In the drop-down menu, click on “Tree”. Fill out their form with your name and information and see if they have you in a tree (you may need to put in your parents if you don’t show up).
Voila! When I did it, up popped my maiden name, my parents and my family tree all the way back 12 generations in some of the lines (to the mid-1500’s) !! This was way more than I had discovered, and yes, the info they had matched what I had in my own chart. Plus they had lots more! Blew me away!! Such fun and excitement – I hope you get to experience it also.
Just a bit of a warning – obviously, there can be mistakes here and there and I recommend you take all of the information as “clues” — albeit really good clues. When you get another source or confirmation, then it is much more trustworthy as a fact (vs. clue). And here’s a BONUS –when you click on a person, the panel on the right may provide the vital facts plus give you the sources. Your work may already be done for you!
And then, as was true in my case, it may not show adoptions, etc. My great-grandfather was raised by his aunt and her husband and changed our family name to theirs because of that situation. That does not show up on my tree with Family Search. But I still need and want the “blood line” information Family Search provided.
Okay – happy hunting and may you get even more enthusiastic about your family history!!
