Field Notes: Writing Out A Brick Wall

I started a new series recently. Brick Wall Ancestors. Thought it'd be good to release them out into the wild and do a little crowd-sourcing. If they are brick walls for me, they may be for someone else too. Well, wouldn't you know it, seeing as they are Brick Walls and all, truthfully I had not really looked into them recently.  Sure, I revisit them about once a year - mostly just looking for any new records that might have cropped up. Well, things change when you start to write a blog about it! Or maybe I should say, when you start to write about it. Period. Laying it out linearly, putting into words what I had and had not discovered just threw a monkey wrench into the whole thing! In a good way, mind you.

The thing with writing, with telling a tale, the story needs to progress. Getting from point A to point B needs logical explanation. Different than records only. Records confirm a fixed place in time. Handy to verify someone was somewhere sometime. BUT how did they get there? And why? Telling a non-fiction tale like we do with our ancestors requires research, logic, a knowledge of (then) current events and even laws of the time.

So, as I set out to write up my first Brick Wall Ancestor in story form I realized I had very little 'meat', which made me dig. And question. The facts that I had amassed (or not) would not adequately depict what I was trying to convey.

I began to think in new ways.

Which lead me to new discoveries.

Which broke my Brick Walls.

No, not all of them - but the first three I originally had planned on writing about gained parents, or a place of death, or two new generations of ancestors! Plus a whole slew of new places to travel to to really dig for additional clues. (Because we all know, only a fraction of records are available online!)

Here's what I learned:

• Gather ALL your information before you begin writing. It's as much about debunking or negative evidence as it is about acquiring new positive information. 
• Check the online databases frequently - you never know when some new record set will be digitized and available for viewing.
• Utilize social media and online genealogy research groups. If you are researching in Ohio for example, but live in Kansas you could travel to Ohio yourself (you should, eventually) or you could find an appropriate online group and post your research questions there. Most of the groups are filled with people who have experience researching in that group's particular area.
• Do you have three conflicting sources of birth location? Make sure the county boundaries didn't change, or the town itself didn't get renamed. (see below)
• Use maps. Old maps, Google maps, county maps. I have a tab with Google maps open all the time when I research - I put in point A (say, Cleveland OH, for example) and point B (say, Chautauqua NY) It sounds like quite a distance in my head, but when I look at it on Google Maps I see it is a 135 mile straight shot. Not out of the question for 'commuter' travel in 1850. In my research case, Cleveland may have been the  closest big city to obtain goods and services. I also use the heck out of  the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
• Fill in the years between the census with City Directories. Your ancestor might not turn up every year, but it gives you a clearer picture of their movements. And their occupations! Also, notice the neighbors. Immigrants especially tended to live near kin or countrymen - always another clue!
• Check land records, marriage/church records and wills. Quite a number are digitized now, if you are unable to travel to your research location. FamilySearch has a great number of unindexed records to scroll through - from home - and even more if you visit a Family History Center in you area.
• FAN research! Friends, associates and  neighbors. Sideways research always, always brings me new discoveries. 
• Don't leave out newspapers and other forms of social context. Depending on where you are researching, newspapers can pre-date some other types of documentation.
• Military records! Pensions, widow's pensions, muster rolls, battles - they all can hold a clue.  
• Family lineage and Town history books. Google Books, Internet Archive, FamilySearch, Ancestry, WorldCat - there is a vast number of books that might contain the information you seek. My Faulkner lineage was 'hidden' in a book on the lineage of the Bull/Wells family. (Which I initially learned about from an online genealogy group) 
• Question everything! Always ask 'why?' or 'How?'. Why did they attend church 50 miles and two counties away from their farm? How did they arrive where they did, and why did they leave?
• Now, WRITE IT OUT! Write out everything you know. Tell a story. Start with the facts and fill in the blanks. You will end up with a more solid idea of where to research next, and you might just discover a hidden clue or two that will bring that Brick Wall crashing.  

I'm not going to say that this is necessarily easy - or quick. But if you have the desire to really break through a Wall or two then putting in the time, the 'leg-work', the hours of travel you will undoubtedly take down a rabbit hole or two is well worth it. Not to mention the personal satisfaction that comes from solving a 'cold case'.

Bring a flashlight  .... and snacks.


©2017 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved

Field Notes: Challenges ~ To Do or Not To Do?

Challenges.

Love them?

Hate them?

In our genealogy/family history world there seem to be quite a number of challenges, and I'm not speaking of those challenging ancestors either, no I'm talking about the daily, weekly, monthly, challenges that seem to be constantly on my radar. There's the Family History Writing challenge, the 52 Ancestors challenge, the A to Z blogging challenge, the Do-Over, Fearless Females, oh the list goes on and maddeningly on!

I jumped in with both feet this year. I was going to do them all!

The Fates would have it differently ......

First, on Day 3 of the FH Writing Challenge I had emergency detached retina surgery. Had to do the whole face down 24/7 thing (on a massage table - so not fun!) and when I surfaced I could not even use my 'good' eye for almost a week. No reading, no writing, even watching the television was too much of a strain.

Scrap that challenge.

I've since learned to function moderately well with one eye (12 weeks in an eye patch is a whole other level of challenge!) I can type, read, walk - no driving (no depth perception!) Perfect opportunity to hunker down in the Cave and pound out some genealogy!

I went into the Fearless Females challenge with my hopes high. Plan in place, I set aside my normal blogging schedule for the month to focus on the challenge. Well, wait. I set aside SOME of my normal blogging schedule, replacing part of it with the Fearless Females. Should be easy, right?

Bwahahaha!

Not so fast. As the month dragged on it got increasingly hard to produce. Quite the 'challenge'! And guess what I discovered? I don't like challenges! I'm very much a creature of routine, new things often throw me off course for a while. I have a good, solid blog and research plan that's doable - even when life throws a little something my way.  It took two years of fits and starts to get to this settled point, and here I went driving the whole thing off course.

My steady plan went out the window as I struggled to meet this (self enforced) challenge and my well organized schedule was/is shot to H-E-double-hockeysticks.

I hope I learned my lesson.

Do I feel like I failed? Maybe a little. I'm not one to say I'm going to do something and then back out - a rule I've inflicted upon myself that really only hurts me, as I force myself to do something I no longer find desirable.

So, starting today I have made a (new) promise to myself. No more challenges. Writing challenges anyway, or maybe I should say organized writing challenges. I'm still up for a challenge or two of my own creation (um, hello! Brick wall anyone?) But for me, the challenge I levied upon myself when I committed to my research and blog is more than an adequate test and will happily occupy me for some time to come.

On my own terms.

Onward ..............

©2017 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved

Field Notes: Genealogy's Plasticity (and why you're never really done)

Plasticity: (noun) The capability of being molded, receiving shape, or being made to assume a desired form.

This is a two edged sword. It means we can revisit our previous research, make corrections and move on. It also means if we are new to genealogy, uneducated or careless we can, in the span of a rainy afternoon, create a fanciful monster of a family tree that takes on a life of it's own; and ultimately gets abandoned to the infiniteness of the cloud.

We've all seen our fair share of the second. I'd like to talk about the first. The ability to modify our research as more information becomes available. This falls loosely into the "my genealogy is finished" trap. Genealogy is never "finished". So-called 'brick walls' are not eternal dead ends. IF your genealogy is 'finished' then you have made the decision to be 'finished'. And that's fine. Some of us do not want to allow the pursuit of ancestors to consume our lives. (I know, hard to believe!) Sometimes  the reason for 'doing genealogy' is merely to learn who a particular ancestor was, a soldier or pilgrim perhaps.

I began thinking about this placticity as I was looking at my grandmother's work. She dedicated the last 30 years of her life to daily research. I doubt she was ready to 'go quietly into that good night', instead pleading that she wasn't finished yet! (Somehow, I think that will be me as well) She had made great headway in putting together our family tree. Writing letters, traveling to repositories, archives, libraries and museums, ferreting out all the documents she was able. She logged her research.  She was able to gain entry into both the DAR and the Colonial Dames. She went as far as she was able, with the resources available to her at the time. In the end what was left was an almost complete 5 generation maternal branch with a few surnames reaching back several more generations. Her paternal branch was more challenging. She was able to complete 3 generations but, with the exception of her maiden surname line, the rest of the tree was a big fat nothing. She had little success on her husband's line as well.

I inherited 'good bones' in her research and when I began to scratch my own genealogical itch I did, in the beginning, bump into her brick walls. At first I had the same difficulty, feeling I could go no further. This was in the late 1980's and early 1990's. She had exhausted all the resources available to us at the time. I took to writing letters and pouring over books at the library. And ultimately setting aside the big box of research and pursuing other things.

Two things happened to pull me back. The internet appeared, and along with it the first forums, data and resource pages and online trees! Like a choir of angels, a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, a whole new, bright and shiny way to research! The forums were a-buzz, information was being shared, cousins were being found and new friendships were formed. I dabbled, poked and lurked. I purchased my first family tree software - it came on 5 1/4 floppys - Family Tree Maker stone age edition, I think.

I pulled out the box of research and started anew.

The second thing was the death of my father, and the discovery of his 'operation grampa' research. Seems he had been trying to learn more about his grandfather, who had died a year before he was born. From that discovery a quest was born. Now known as 'Finding Faulkner', this was the research that I cut my eye-teeth on. That kicked my butt, left me crying, and ultimately showed me that there is really no such thing as a brick wall.

The Finding Faulkner experience instilled great confidence in me to relook at my grandmother's 40 year old research. What she had considered 'done' or 'unfindable' I took as a new challenge. The resources available to us now are light-years ahead of what she had to work with - heck, computer software alone puts things in a whole new perspective. Using the FAN technique and collateral research I was able to get beyond where my grandmother had left off. I have been able to disprove some long held beliefs with the discovery of hard evidence, incorporating the GPS to verify my findings.

Plasticity.

And why your genealogy is never, ever really 'done'.

In the years since I took a serious and responsible approach to solving the mystery that is my family tree I have broken brick walls, proved/disproved names, dates, and locations, found 'unfindable' female ancestors, rewritten some of my grandmothers 'facts' - heck, rewritten some of my own 'facts'! I've uncovered first marriages and step children, put parents with children, removed children from parents, digging ever deeper. Adding DNA into the research mix is bound to open even more doors in the future.

It's an exciting time in the genealogical world - I am sad neither my father nor my grandmother are here to experience this new age. I hope I will have someone to pass my work along to, and I especially hope that she (or he) will take it farther still, break more brick walls, change some of my conclusions, rewrite the family story and refine it further.

So, what are you waiting for? There's more to your story and always more to be found! I love this graphic, the gal on the right is sure her genealogy is 'done' - she only sees the surface, but the guy on the left? He knows what he sees are only the tips of those icebergs! Too bad he's not suiting up in his diving gear ....

Be the guy on the left.

Consider the possibility of new and different conclusions. Have an ongoing goal of continuous progress.

Embrace plasticity.

©2017 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved

Field Notes: Tidewater Virginia Families Study Group on Facebook

Tidewater Virginia Families Genealogy Group

Do you have Tidewater Virginia ancestors? Are they driving you crazy? Come join us as we decipher this bunch! Discussed in great detail in Virginia Lee Hutcheson Davis' books, we are still guided by all her exhaustive research. Meet you kin and add your research surnames to our register. 

Surnames include: Bell, Binford, Bonner, Butler, Campbell,Cheadle, Chiles, Clements, Cotton, Dejarnette(att), Dumas, Ellyson, Fishback, Fleming, Hamlin, Hampton, Harrison, Harris, Haynie, Hurt, Hutcheson, Lee, Mosby, Mundy, Nelson, Peatross, Pettyjohn, Ruffin, Short, Spencer, Tarleton, Tatum, Taylor, Terrell, Watkins, Winston, Woodson.

Tidewater Virginia Families Genealogy Group

Join us!

©2016 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved

Field Notes: Faulkner Surname Study Group on Facebook

Faulkner Surname Study Group

Are you researching the Faulkner surname? Come join the fun over on Facebook! 

All variations are welcome - 

Faulkner, Falconer, Fawkner, Falkner, Falkener, Falconor, Faukner, Faulkender, etc.

This One-Name Study is a fun place to meet other Faulkners, share research, learn, socialize. We talk about DNA, ancestral origins, learning aids, books, studies, etc.

We'd love to have you join us!

Faulkner Surname Researchers Group

©2016 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved

Field Notes: Are Facebook Groups In Your Tool Kit?

Facebook is a great genealogy resource. I'm on Facebook all the time. But not in they way many people are "on Facebook". I don't actually remember the last time I "went on" Facebook to browse my news feed. My husband likes to scroll through his while watching TV and, thinking I'm on Facebook ALL DAY, he asks "did you see this?", "I suppose you already knew that?"

Well, no. Actually.

If I'm in a particular mind-set, I might retort "I did find this great new source for Ulster County land records" or "I 'met' the great, great granddaughter of my 3rd great grandmother's son by her first marriage" And watch as his eyes glaze over as he returns to his scrolling, mumbling something like "wow, that's great".

I'm talking Groups! Facebook groups! Oh how I love them! What a wonderful resource. A brilliant place to network with like minded researchers. Or experts. Or historical and genealogical societies. And, travel around the globe without leaving your chair!

Got a Brick Wall? Take it to a group! Just started using RootsMagic and have some questions? Take them to a group! Working on a theory and need some feedback? Yup ..... take it to a group!

I belong to over 100 various genealogical groups. (I was a bit shocked to learn this ...) Some are for research, some are for software and technology, some are for blogging. Some are just social. (Where else are you going to find people who "get" you and you're crazy genealogy 'addiction'?) If you're doing research in New Jersey, for instance, there's a group for that! Want to join/already belong to DAR? There's a group for that. Mayflower descendant? French Canadians? Adoptees? There are state-specific groups, county-specific groups, even city-specific groups. There are so many choices! Doing Prussian research? (sorry) there are a few great groups for that.

I'm not going to go into detail about how to find, or join groups. I suspect you are all pretty savvy when it comes to ferreting things out. (Just put in "'whatever you are looking for' genealogy" in the Facebook search bar) Besides, there are helps right on Facebook to walk you through. I would suggest that once you've joined a group, under 'notifications' click on 'all posts' or 'highlights', depending on your needs. I switch back and forth. If I'm concentrating my research in Orange County, New York, for example, then I want to receive ALL notifications from the related groups. If I belong to the Prussian group (I do), but I'm not currently working on a Prussian line, I usually choose 'highlights'. I still get some notifications, but I'm not pinged with every post.

So, yes. I am on Facebook all day. I consider it a valuable tool in my research kit. And you should too! (Just don't ask me if I saw "hey cat" ..... my eyes will glaze over as I stare at you blankly)

I'd love to learn what your favorite Facebook groups are, and/or if you've made any discoveries with the aid of a Facebook group. Please share in the comments!

©2016 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved

Field Notes: Chasing Unicorns

Unicorns.

We all have them.

Elusive ancestors that hover just on the edge. Almost mythical. Every once in a great while we catch a glimpse; a casual mention, an also-ran lost to the annals of time. We know they're there, but no proof exists. Least-wise none that we have been able to ferret out.

And we ferret.

We search high and low.

We look in the most obscure places. We run head first down bramble covered paths. We post to message boards, hunt down distant cousins, contact anyone, anyone who might have a lead.

We stay up late and get up early.

We lock ourselves in our Cave for days on end, certain that the next unindexed image will contain the Holy Grail.

We begin to mumble. And snap at our household members. No! I do NOT have time to do (fill in the blank) can't you see that I'm busy! This is very important work here, people! VERY important! And it must be solved. NOW.

Then we catch something out of the corner of our eye. A mention in an old history book, or a land sale - just enough to throw up our hands and demand a T.A.R.D.I.S. right this minute.

How could our ancestors have been so thoughtless, not to leave a well documented paper trail? Who do they think they are, anyway? Living their lives, minding their own business. Really.

And the ones that magically appear out of nowhere? They're the worst!  Just tell me, how do you one day just "appear" in the Colonies with thousands of acres of land? Or in a very nice house in Poughkeepise? And for crying out loud - how do you just fall off the earth after all of this? I mean seriously.

Unicorns.

We chase unicorns.

But every once in a while .......

We actually catch one.

Are you chasing unicorns? Share your story in the comments - I'd love to hear I'm not alone!

©2016 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved.

Field Notes: Returning To My "Why"

I started this blog as a way to document my family stories. To share my research and discoveries, my ancestors and their stories. I inherited a big box of research from my grandmother that I wanted to sort and document. Included in the box were old letters, photos, obituaries clipped from newspapers and my grandmother's own 'story'. I thought about the different approaches I could take. I ruled out the online family tree choices, I wanted more control and I wanted to tell a deeper story than trees allow. I pondered a family website but that didn't feel right either. I had blogged in the past and enjoyed the intimacy the platform allows. I did want an intimate connection. I was writing and researching people that had lived real lives, gone through real struggles and hardships. Experienced great joy and sorrow. Many left everything behind to answer the call of adventure, the possibilities of a better, more rewarding life. Others led quite lives, leaving nary a trace, never imagining their normal, day-to-day living would one day be thought upon as anything more than ordinary.

These people were calling to me. To be heard. To be found. To be remembered.

Soon, the glamorous world of genealogy blogging had pulled me away from my original intention. I was following the blogs of some of the big names in the field. I was reading what other's were writing. I joined groups, chat rooms, societies. I followed these darlings of genealogy on social media, subscribed to newsletters, got on everyone's email list. My mornings lapsed into afternoons as I struggled to keep up with the influx of information.

And, as you might imagine, I quit writing. I began to question my "silly little blog" and wondered if it mattered. I wasn't sharing tips, how-to's, 5 step plans or ebooks. And {gasp} I wasn't making money!! Apparently monetizing your blog was what you needed to do! Otherwise, why bother? (My husband would tend to agree with this school of thought.)

I spiraled into Loserville.

I kept myself busy sharing other people's blog posts on my Facebook page. I learned about affiliate marketing. I watched a ton of webinars. I started an email list, worked on some logos, pondered my brand. But I didn't write.

I began to observe that some of the notables I was following, by blog or by email, seemed to be just posting to post. How many times a day do I need to be informed about the newest records on Ancestry? Or My Heritage, or FindMyPast? I already get email updates from the "horse's mouth". It seemed any news, big or otherwise, in the genealogy community was picked up and blogged about. The latest DNA deal? Everybody was blogging about it! FamilySearch to be upgraded and offline for 24 hours? Wildfire.

I started to see the light. And, began to unsubscribe.

I knew I did not want to blog, just to have 'something out there'. Yes, I wanted a big following. (Don't we all want to be loved?) I wanted subscribers and comments on my posts, I eventually wanted to figure out how to earn a living doing this which I love to my core.

I love to research and I love to write. Yet, I was doing neither.

I was frustrated, a little angry, lost and uninspired. Ruminating on what direction I wanted to take, an email appeared that became the catalyst for my return to my 'why'. The author of the email is a blogger I admire. She had been going through a very similar experience. She was frustrated, burned out, and losing sight of her 'why'. As I read her declaration I wept. It resonated so deeply with how I was feeling, it was almost as if she were writing to me, personally.

In that moment I remembered my direction. My course had been corrected. My 'why' once again in sight.  

In the coming weeks I plan to introduce some new themes. I will be focusing on my ancestor's stories, my grandmother's letters and the photograph collection I have inherited. I will wrap up Finding Faulkner, explore my Mayflower and my Tidewater Virginia families. I will continue to document the 1880 Fraser family tree that hangs in my hallway. There are a great many stories that still need to be told, and once again I feel the call to write them.

As for the email list and the affiliate marketing, I'm still pondering the purpose and necessity of sending seperate email. If you'd like to receive the occasional email from me, please let me know in the comments. I will keep some affiliate links on the blog - if I can make a little money it will aid mightily in maintaining marital harmony. (Just keeping it real!)

Thanks for joining me on this grand adventure. I appreciate each and every one of you!


~Anne

"Genealogy - the greatest hobby on Earth!"

©2016 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved

Field Notes: Learning The Hard Way, My Enlightenment

I have always been stubborn. Sometimes that tenacity works in my favor, sometimes it's just bull-headed nonsense. Like beating a dead horse. (What an awful visual that is, by the way) Long ago when I first embarked on this adventure of discovery I just sort of bumbled along. Learning as I went. Making sometimes enormous mistakes in my ignorance. When I first discovered Ancestry.com I felt like I had truly discovered the Holy Grail. As I have confessed previously, I had "successfully" managed to click myself half-way to Jesus. When I got to about 800 AD I felt that maybe something wasn't quite right. I had on my hands a COLOSSAL family tree. So large it intimidated me. I knew I needed to fix it. To pare it down. To make it right. But a little voice inside my head whined, "what about all that work!" "maybe we are related to all those people!" "let's not get ahead of ourselves here!"

So I opted for ignorance. Clearly the better choice! I continued to work on the branches I could document. (Oh, I came to documentation a little late - after all if it's on the internet it must be true!) Blessedly, my father's side was more obscure and I had not been as "fortunate", in that there were not Trees, or Millenium Files, or Family Data collections to click and add. I actually had to learn genealogy the correct way to make any discoveries on my dad's line. (At this point that little voice started to whine, "Genealogy is HARD!")

And on that shaky, ill built foundation I began to add my first solid research.

A decade or more passed and I had a rock solid, impressive body of work. Hard earned and something I could be proud of. I also had appendages of appallingly bad, sophomoric "data" that made my head spin. There were upwards of 30,000 names on my tree. Not huge - huge, but realistically only 3,000 or so of them I could actually be confident of.

I tiptoed around the knowledge that a massive culling was in order. (I know now why there are so many abandoned trees out there!)  I circled the beast, circled and circled. I could not do it. I'd walk away, talk myself back into it, look at it and walk away again. My savior came in the name of the Genealogy Do-Over. Brilliantly crafted by Thomas MacEntee. Although his suggestion was to put aside previous work, I eventually opted for the culling. I did save a full copy of the horrendous tree before I started the killing ...... then I just dove in. Boy did it feel good! (Think Katniss a la Hunger Games)

Somewhere along the way I had created several different study trees for researching different branches, doing collateral research and following very far removed cousins. The original behemoth was already messy enough, I didn't want, or think I'd ever need, a 5th great aunt or a 7th cousin, twice removed.

I thought wrong.

But it has taken me quite a while to reach this conclusion.

For several years, I was quite happy working on this tree or that tree. Building nice family structures, branching out with children, and children of children. All separate. All neat. All organized. Until one day, when I was stuck on a seeming brick wall and trolling the chat groups for answers. I posed my query to a group on Facebook and immediately received a piece of the missing puzzle. The name I was given sounded familiar. Too familiar. Like, in one of my trees familiar. D'Oh!  Turns out, the mystery brick wall woman's 5th great grandfather was the brother of the 6th great grandmother of an ancestor on one of my other family branches! Breaking down my maternal and paternal trees had severed the possibility of me discovering this connection. Eliminating collateral "fluff from so far back" wiped away any connections I was likely to discover. I spent the rest of the day building the tree, referencing the other tree until I reached the common ancestor. (I know, wait for it...)

I was watching a lot of webinars at the time and kept hearing the same thing over and over from some of the best in the field. ONE BIG TREE. Keep only one big tree. But my previous experience with my original wildly out-of-control tree kept me from buying into it. My smaller, separate trees were working, um, reasonably well. I could focus more specifically on one branch or another. Sure, I was duplicating some of my work as I got farther back in time, but it was OK. I didn't mind reinventing the wheel every time I made another discovery.

The arguments were sound, logical. The trees these gurus were successfully maintaining were huge! Bigger than my original 30,000+ disaster. I had most emphatically learned my lesson the first time around (I know!) but I was scared of it getting out of control again. I blundered onward, two steps forward, one step back with my "safe" and "organized" methodology.

Until the day I decided to begin my Finding Faulkner series.

I actually have three working Faulkner trees with many of the same cast of characters, all with varying degrees of information. My main tree has direct ancestry only. The two others? One has all the descendants of my 4th great grandfather, the other contains all the Faulkners that were recorded in the William Bull/Sarah Wells Genealogy book.

At first, I was fine with flipping back and forth between trees as I reconstructed the tale. As I got farther back in time, however, it became more and more burdensome. The story was taking longer to tell. The documents I had used as sources for one tree needed to be added to the others. I even made a few additional discoveries! Things that by themselves seemed irrelevant once added to a more robust collateral family tree became obvious missing pieces. The story became infinitely richer, patterns emerged that I had not previously observed.

I finally understood. Bigger IS better. But only, and I stress, only when it is a correct well-sourced tree. Not only will you see patterns and relationships you would otherwise have missed, linking your DNA to this large tree will bring more kin, and more opportunities to collaborate.

Today is the day I begin the merge. It should be fairly easy in my FTM program. I'm a little nervous, but also excited to see my own Yggdrasil emerge from a bunch of separate yet related shoots.

Wish me luck! I'll let you know how it turns out ......




©2016 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved

Field Notes: The Cart Tipped Over, The Horse Ran Away

Or at least that's what it felt like.

These last few weeks have been a turmoil of urgent family issues that have harshly and abruptly brought me out of the Cave, squinting like a mole, confused and momentarily dazed.

Life happens.

When it does, our focus and responsibilities must shift accordingly.

That focus brought me away from everything but the most urgent, immediate demands in my life.

To put it gently, my mother has begun to enter her second childhood. I read that term recently and it really resonated with me - it is exactly what is happening to our family. The children have become the adults; the parent, the child.

It has been a difficult and emotionally straining few weeks as our family has scrambled to determine what the best course of action is, now knowing fully the severity of our mother's condition.

As is usually the case, she had been hiding it most brilliantly for quite a long time. And, as is also usually the case, we all went on believing, on some level, (perhaps out of fear) that she was perfectly fine.

Until she wasn't.

In the coming weeks, I hope to find my way back to the Cave; genealogy and family history being my comfort and solace. I also sense a new urgency to record my mother's memories before it is too late. I have begun writing down every little funny question I wonder about, I missed the opportunity with my father, a deep regret.

I have returned to my grandmother's research box, my mother's mother, and am assembling a folder with letters, photos, etc that need answers only my mother can give. Her long term memory is spot-on and I am looking forward to some rich family stories that I might never have thought to inquire about.

Time is short. Memories die.

Carpe diem.


©2016 Anne Faulkner ~ AncestorArchaeology.net, All Right Reserved

Field Notes: Hindsight, Old Notes and Jumping the Gun

Hindsight is 20/20.

If it was a snake it would have bit me.

Well thanks, Captain Obvious!

Guess I jumped the gun on that one.

D'oh.

While gathering all my research notes in preparation for my Finding Faulkner series, I realized something. The answers had been there all along. Hiding in plain sight. Like Dorothy, I had always had the answer I was looking for, but I had not taken the journey of discovery, yet.

It was the reconstruction that illuminated this.

I had been searching for my elusive, nay mythical 5th great grandfather. When I began the quest, still wet behind the ears, in late 2007 I had very few facts but a lot of supposition and tenacity. Perhaps too much tenacity. And a very myopic research focus.

The battle (it often felt like a battle) waged on for nearly nine years. Nine long, hard, confusing years. I, apparently, took the scenic route .... on a tricycle .... with one wheel missing.

But I arrived. Triumphant. I could prove, after a reasonably exhaustive search (you ain't kidding!), who this unicorn was.

When I sat down to retell the tale I pulled out all the material I had gathered over the years. The reconstruction proved difficult. So much had transpired, most of it in nonsensical order. But that forced me to lay everything out and look at it, afresh with wisened eyes. The answer I had been seeking had been handed to me very early on, I had had it with me for the entire journey. The last piece of the puzzle.

My amulet.

But it required the entire journey to get it to fit together. Having the last piece without all the pieces in between did me no good.

The takeaway from this? Do your work. Don't give up. Relook at your early notes as you go along - there might be a clue you overlooked previously. Start with what you know and build on that. Having the roof does no good if there is no structure to lay it upon.

Would I have concluded my journey sooner had I worked more logically? Perhaps. I would certainly have had a more robust profile of each generation, gaining me the ability to cast a broader search net.

Hindsight.

Field Notes: What's In A Name?

I was named for my father's grandmother. Or so the story goes. My brother got a combination of our mother's surname and our father's first name. Names are important. Names have meaning. I'm sure, if you have children, you thought for months about what to name him/her. Although traditional naming patterns are rare these days, we still name our offspring something important to us. We want them to be a member of our tribe, or we want to honor and remember someone special who has gone before us.

Our ancestors were no different.

Even if they did not subscribe to the traditional naming patterns of their heritage, they still choose meaningful names for their children. Often that meaning is obscured behind the veil of time, and we are left speculating on the meaning and origin when there is no direct correlation. 

I have a lot of Harrison's, Lloyd's and Anson's in my direct Faulkner line. Even more collaterally. The name Harrison, especially has been used across numerous branches of the Faulkner descendants, but I'm as yet unaware as to the origin.

While working on my Finding Faulkner series I was reminded of a mystery that has haunted me off and on over the course of almost a decade. Niggled at my logic. Kept me awake at night. (Genealogy geek - no shame in that!)

I have been trying to identify the purportedly eleven children of my 3rd great grandfather, James Faulkner. He was said to have eight daughters and three sons. I can only get to nine.  I am missing a son and a daughter. The other bit of information that bugs me is a man named Nelson Faulkner who purchased land adjacent to James, my 3rd great grandfather, in the Michigan Territory in the 1830's.

Nelson seems to appear out of nowhere. And vanishes just as quickly.

I have been trying to claim him as the missing third son for some time now. The Michigan patent, dated 1837, says that he is from Michigan, whereas James Faulkner's patent, dated 1834, says he is from New York. That's true. He was an early settler in Jackson Co, by way of Orange Co, NY.

(Wait! I thought this was a post about names? Now we're going to talk about land patents? Just wait.....)

As I said, I have been successful at finding nine children. Including birth years and places. The first identified child, a daughter, was born in 1812. BUT on the 1810 census James is listed with one female age 16 - 25 and one male under ten. Clue #1. (This older boy appears on the 1820 and 1830 census as well.)

Clue #2 would be the land patent. Although vague it does put Nelson as a resident of Jackson Co, Michigan in 1837. Whereas James and his family settled in Grass Lake (Jackson Co) in 1834. Meaning by 1837 Nelson would be a resident of MI if he had come with his family in 1834.

Clue #3 just sort of "hit" me when I was not paying attention. (Here it comes!) While relooking at the  names of my 2nd great grandfather's children recently, it sort of slapped me upside the head. IF Nelson was a son of James, then Harrison, my 2nd great grandfather, would be his brother. Harrison's known brother was named Anson. Harrison and his wife had three sons. Arthur Edward, Lloyd Anson, Louis Nelson. Coincidence? Maybe. Edward was the name of his wife's father. Anson, of course, was his brother. So, Nelson was .... ?

I still have some digging to do, but I feel just that much more confident that Nelson could actually be the missing third son. 

Have you considered the names of your ancestors and their collateral family? What's in a name could be more than it first appears. When stuck, perhaps a reexamination of family names may afford a clue. Just maybe you will find another piece of your puzzle! 

©2016 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved

Field Notes: Do You Yahoo!?

A bit old school, perhaps, Yahoo Groups is a great place to talk genealogy. And often get answers you might not find elsewhere. Researching Illinois? There's a group for that. How about Irish or Dutch? There's a group for that. Twin Cities? You bet. There are county groups, surname groups, state groups, nationality groups. City groups, DNA groups, adoption and brick wall groups.

Are you a member of one, or several? If not you need to be! I first discovered Yahoo Groups about 9 years ago when I was just starting my research into my Faulkner line. I can't even tell you how I happened upon it. Serendipity, happenstance, genealogy fairies?

The HOW, I guess, is really not that important.

I had more questions than answers and my research was going nowhere fast. I knew there had to be answers out there. After my lackluster success with various genealogy message boards, I stumbled into the Yahoo group that eventually was paramount to my success in tearing down a very irritating brick wall.

The key members of this particular group (it was a county group) either lived in the county or did extensive research in the county. Some were members of the genealogical/historical society there, others had centuries of family history, being of the same stock as the county's founding families. I was able to request lookups in various books and other materials that might only have been available to me had I made the 800 mile trip myself.  Bonus, the surnames I was researching were familiar to them and I was able to learn more than I would have in other types of groups or message boards.

And, like all of us, the group members in all the groups I belong to really, genuinely enjoy the research and are more than willing to lend a hand.

I encourage you to investigate Yahoo Groups for yourself. You just might discover that missing piece you've been searching for! Or possibly you could have the answer to someone else's brick wall.

So as not to reinvent the wheel, here's a great wiki that will walk you through the process and get you up and running in a flash.

Do you Yahoo!?

Field Notes: Overthinking Things

I have been stoically attempting to pen my first proof argument for the past week. I sit down to write, notes at hand, and nothing flows.

I love to write. I have such fun weaving the details of my ancestors lives into a pleasant to read story. I love the sleuthing, the studying of historical events pertinent to the times. But for some reason the idea of writing something a serious as a proof argument (my first ever!) is unimaginably daunting.

What if I get it wrong? There are standards for these sorts of things, after all.

In my heart I want it to be an engaging story, but arguing the proof is really more cut and dried, isn't it? And maybe I'm not so much arguing the proof as connecting the dots and explaining to you, the reader, why I concluded what I concluded. The facts are convincing, but limited. The time period does not lend itself to many pieces of evidence.

What if I'm wrong?

I have dreams about this beast nightly.

My logical self says it's right, I've been working on this particular link for over seven years just waiting for the evidence to show itself. My Doubting Thomas side however, is telling me another thing ....

Maybe I'm just surprised that I'm the one who figured it out. Sort of feel like I stumbled upon something. Then again, I might be the only one researching this particular family connection ....

I've gone over the proof standard criteria about a million times. I've read articles and watched webinars about writing a proof argument. I think I'm over loaded ... and overthinking things. (Are you laughing at me? I'm laughing at me!)

I've second and third guessed myself.

It's time to stop "enlightening" myself and just write, right?

(Any thoughts, suggestions, words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!)

Field Notes: My Love Affair With City Directories

Do you use city directories? You should, and here's why.

There is a wealth of information contained in a city directory. There are listings for schools and churches, there are maps, there are business listings, there are lists of newspapers, city officials, societies, new buildings, and of course people!

Chicago City Directory Contents Page 1847

 Trying to figure out which church your ancestor might have attended? Consulting the city directory for that time period will give you a list of churches, their location and denomination.

Can't find someone in the census? Check the city directory!

Think your ancestor might have lived in an area where a tragedy struck? (New York Fire, Chicago Fire, San Francisco Earthquake ...). Consulting the city directory will give you an exact address.

I have used the city directories to determine when my ancestors arrived at a location, and when they departed; much more precisely than a census record could.

Wondered what happened between 1880 and 1900? City directories to the rescue!

They are useful for pinpointing a death as well. Look for the last year your ancestor was listed in a directory and that will give you a clue for possible year of death.

Generally city directories were published for the prior year. For example, the 1860 directory for the City of Chicago was published May 1, 1860 and included names of business and inhabitants who were in the city from May 1, 1859 to May 1, 1860.

Sometimes city directories will not only give you names and addresses, but countries of origin and years of residence!

As with all non-indexed records, you will need patience to flip through - but it is so much fun!

There are some sites that offer a search bar, but I highly recommend a manual search. If you try the search bar and come up empty, don't think there is nothing there! Dig in and page through - you'll be surprised.

Oh, and let's talk about spelling. Just like census and other records, you might find your ancestor's name spelled a variety of ways.

Here is a good article about city directories.

My go-to site for city directories is Fold3 but there are many others. Ancestry has a good collection too. (Which can be accessed through HeritageQuest for free if you belong to a library that participates) For a list of paid and free sites look at FamilySearch. And don't forget Google!

There is a wealth of information contained in these tomes that will add color and depth to your research. All just awaiting your discovery.


(*disclaimer: I have not received any compensation for endorsement of any sites in this post. I am merely passing on my opinions and experience)

Field Notes: Where There's A Will

It had long puzzled me. The spelling on the transcribed abstract will. The will I strongly suspected belonged to my 5th great grandfather, but could never prove. The document that had been floating around Ancestry for years, being attached to far too many incorrect men. (Story for another day) I had given up all hope of finding the answer without a trip to Albany NY and a good digging in the archives there.

Well, the genealogy fairies smiled brightly upon me yesterday morning.

Taking another pass on Ancestry yesterday, I decided to wing a search with as many wildcards as it would let me.

Turns out that was a fine idea.

It brought me to the ACTUAL will papers. The ones actually signed by my 5th great grandfather when he was alive. Not the will alone (which is a 'copy' anyway), not the probate records - there are two separate 'copies' of those, by the way. Nope. Yesterday I was presented with the Holy Grail. The will AND the papers.

I can now, finally, connect the dots, put the family in order, and definitively declare I have found my 5th great grandfather!

I'll be writing this up later today with sources and photos. It's an interesting story. I'm so excited!

Never give up.

Field Notes: I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

In my last Field Notes I made the confession of my haste to win genealogy {again} and the embarrassing error of my ways. It happens. Even to the best of us.

If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done. - Ludwig Wittgenstein

But today I would like to share with you how that plan ultimately came together, and I found more information in an afternoon of ease, that hours and hours of struggle.

Once I realized the error of my ways I was able to search intelligently. I was looking for my grandmother's marriage information and her death information. I knew when and where she died, but I did not have a death certificate or an obituary. I only knew a timeframe for her wedding and had no idea where, so that was a bit more of a challenge.

First stop: FamilySearch where I input the correct information and easily obtained an indexed record of her death certificate. (No photo) It didn't tell me anything I did not already know, but I found it. (No marriage information to be found, however)

On to cyberdriveillinois and the Illinois death certificates database. Entering her name and the county where she died (obtained from the indexed record on FamilySearch) I found the entry and was able to learn the official death certificate number. (Made a note to order a copy)

Next stop: my local library online remote access to the historical Chicago Tribune to search for an obituary. I entered my grandmother's name and the year of her death and received 97 results. Scrolling down to the obituary with the correct date, I opened it to learn of the church where her funeral was held. This was brand new information! And, to be quite honest, a little eerie for some reason - this was the first time I had ever laid eyes on it. It made her death all that more real. (Quick backstory, I never knew her, she died when my dad was 15 and my grandfather had already remarried by the time I arrived)

I need to say at this point, I tried the Chicago Tribune archives first with no success. After finding the obituary on the ProQuest site I was then able to return to the Tribune archives site and simply by adding yyyy/mm/dd after the url successfully found the paper, and the obituary, but I did need to "read" the paper to find the obituary section.

From her obituary I learned the church where her funeral was held, and on a hunch I googled it to get an email address. I sent an email inquiring after my grandmother, if she was a church member, and wondering if she may have been married or even baptized there. (Another aside: Before emailing, I checked the FamilySearch non-indexed database on this church, but it stopped a year short of when she might have gotten married - and there was no record of her baptism .....)

The following morning there was a reply to my email from the church pastor!

YES! She had been married there!

He gave me the date, the witnesses and the church where she had been baptized (gotta love the Catholic Church for their record keeping!) Her baptism record had been destroyed by fire, but there was an affidavit from her parents attesting to her baptism.

I FINALLY had an answer to the mystery of her marriage! And her baptism.

**Thorough researcher that I am, I went back to those non-indexed church records on FamilySearch and browsed the baptism records from the correct church - indeed there had been a fire, and the record books noted it! I was able to find her brother's baptism 5 years later, so I felt a bit of consolation.**

Happy ending to an afternoon of armchair research.

_____________________________________

links:

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/databases/idphdeathindex.html

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/yyyy/mm/dd

Field Notes: On Looking And Seeing

This past weekend saw a flurry of activity in the Cave. Hot on the trail of hunting down my grandmother's marriage information, I allowed myself to get flustered and became so narrowly focused I was not seeing what I needed to.

Has this ever happened to you?

I must confess that I let my frustration guide my bad thinking and I did not take the time to sit back and assess what was going on.

I was seeking her marriage and her death records. I did not have exact dates for either, but I had month and year for her death and a year range for her marriage. Having entered all the information I knew into FamilySearch I just kept hitting a wall. Same with the historical Chicago Tribune archives. I tried the historical Cook County vital records at Genealogy Online and came up empty there too.

What was going on?!?

I jumped over to Chicago Genealogy Facebook group and posted my dilemma.

Within minutes three different people had found exactly what I needed. Right there. In plain sight. So easy to find if it were a snake it would have bit me.

At first, embarrassed at my clear lack of search skills, I then realized what I had done.

In my haste I had entered only her maiden name information! No wonder I couldn't find anything!

Do I feel stupid. You bet.

Will I make this mistake again. I seriously doubt it.

The reason I am sharing this embarrassing tale with you today is to remind you, me, all of us, not to let emotions get in the way of clear headed, fact based research.

I was looking. Looking hard, but I wasn't seeing the one bit of information I was missing that would have gotten me my answers sans frustration.

Field Notes: Over Cite To Avoid Oversight

While researching my 2nd great grandmother for my 52 Ancestors piece on her, I needed to reference my 2nd great grandfather's life. I noticed I had included the note that he had gone to Australia mining for gold in 1851. Now, I remember finding a document on it about 8 years ago, but wouldn't you know it I did not reference it!! Nope. Just wrote the note that he went.

I spent the better part of a day attempting to re-locate that bit of information.

I would suspect I got it from a passenger list. But WHERE???

That is now the 6 million dollar question.

I can't tell you what possessed me to note this without citing where I'd found the information. I remember being excited and intrigued upon discovering it and had planned on returning to it at some point to investigate further.

I am a bit of a scattered note taker, but I combed through all my research notes. I found some other things I had discovered around the same time, but not the gold mining in Australia bit.

Two things come to mind. Right around that time my genealogy computer crashed. We were able to recover almost everything, but not all of it. There was also a glitch in my old FTM16 when I tried to convert/upgrade to FTM2010.

Perhaps the information I spent the weekend hunting for was lost to the crash? Or the software conversion?

These days I make copious notes right in the fact box on Ancestry and add additional notes in the note section. Taking every effort to keep my Ancestry and FTM trees synced after any bit of work I do on either end.

And, I back up to several different locations.

Live and learn.

Takeaway: Back-up. Early and often. And always cite your sources. Always, always, always.

Field Notes: Ask And You Shall Receive

On Thursday I was researching the history of the early residences of my 2nd great grandmother, who was born in Manhattan NY in 1832.

I know absolutely nothing about New York.
Well, early New York City, anyway.

Now early Chicago, that's a different story.
I know exactly where to look to get my answers.

And I'm pretty good at early Orange Co, NY too.

But New York City? I was at a complete loss. And getting very, very frustrated.

After wasting about an hour getting nowhere, banging my head on the desk and getting a serious case of eye strain, I decided to pose my question to the New York Genealogy Network group on Facebook. Within minutes I started getting replies and in less than ten I had found exactly what I was looking for!

I was able to move forward with my research.

The day was saved.
(My head and eyes were saved!)

The point of this 'field note'? ASK! There are so many groups out there, just on Facebook alone. If you're stuck on something, just ask!

Odds are very good you'll find someone eager to help.