The New FamilySearch.org and the future of this blog

My intent on first starting to blog was to preserve the memories and stories of my family. I realized after my parents died that I had no one in the family to give these memories to so I decided to give them to the world in order to preserve them. As time went on I wrote less and less of personal things and more of genealogy in general.
Now with the new FamilySearch.org everyone can preserve photos, stories and memories online. In addition only those people who are interested in the members of your family tree will find those stories and photos. 
I have already started uploading my photos and stories there. I do not know what I will yet do with this blog. Perhaps I will dismantle it completely or change it to less of a personal nature.
Whatever I do, I thank you who have taken the time to read my posts and even to comment. It is always satisfying to know someone has been reading.

Nothing like the computer world to mess things up

I am in the process of changing email accounts and trying to delete old unused accounts. Do you know that idea about if you publish something in the digital world it is there forever somewhere? It never goes away? True with email accounts as well. I now find that although I can change - through a roundabout way - the email address attached to this blog, if I delete the old email account under which all the previous posts were published then all the published photos will be lost! Sort of defeats the purpose of changing email accounts, doesn't it.
Do not be surprised if sooner or later the previous posts on this blog suddenly go dark. I like to keep a neat, trim and tidy workspace and that includes my computer. I'll try to patch up what I can.
In the meantime,
Happy sleuthing.

Faces on the Ancestry Tree

I saw this photograph and loved it. At first glance I found ten faces. I think it is easier to find them if you distance yourself from it a bit. How many do you find?
 

Rural church holding final service tonight

Rural church holding final service tonight

BY KATHRYN BASSETT kathrynb@kpcnews.net

Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 12:10am

Zion 16 Lutheran Church CORUNNA — Exactly 155 years after the adoption of its constitution, Zion 16 Lutheran Church will host its final service tonight at 7. “It’s an old, old church,” said Jim Mason, one of the three remaining members who attend regularly. “They have all passed away, and we’ve not been successful at recruiting new members.” Indiana-Kentucky Synod ELCA Bishop William Gafkjen will preside at tonight’s final service in the church on S.R. 327, between Garrett and Corunna. Mason is a lifetime member of the church. He was baptized and confirmed there and has many happy memories. “The most vivid memories are when I was in Sunday School as a young kid and as I grew up, confirmation classes,” Mason said. Mason said he also heard stories about how the church was raised off it its foundation in the early 1940s, and his father and brothers used horses and slip-scrapers to dig a basement. He recalled churchwide events such as picnics and trips to Pokagon State Park in the summer. “Back at that time, we had 60 to 70 members. I can remember times when the pews were all full,” Mason said. “After 155 years, it’s a big blow to us.” Mason said the church has the option of selling the property and already has seen some interest. “There’s a lot of history in that church,” Mason said. “I’d like to see it remain a church, but that’s not for me to say. If someone else can put a good use to it, that‘s what should be done.” Mason encouraged the public and anyone who has had ties to the church to attend tonight’s final service. A reception with light refreshments will take place afterward.

The School House Project OR Give Us Your Memories

The DeKalb County Historical Society (Indiana) is working on school books for the one room county schools. The Committee would like for you to send pictures and personal stories of experiences in the county schools. These can be personal stories, memories from your neighbors or even memories of a teacher or school bus driver.

Stories can be sent to DeKalb County Historical Society, 201 East main Street, Butler, Indiana 46721 or contact chairman, Sharon Zonker.

No story or memory even if it is just one line is insignificant.

Wow - how time flies!

I apologize that I have not put anything up since July!!! Wow, time flies, and it goes faster as you age. My friend's children were only 5 and 3 yesterday. Today they are 18 and 16. It just can't be. But I'm sure that is how our ancestors thought - "Wow, when did I become old!" - I can hear them saying.
But it happens to everyone unless someone dies young. As genealogists we search out death dates as eagerly as we search out birth dates, but do we ever stop to think that maybe someone someday will be filling in our death date on one of those family group or pedigree sheets. I was watching a movie the other day and there was one scene where a young girl is trapped in a burning house.  A young boy makes his way in to save her and she says, "Are we going to die? You can tell me if we are. I'm not afraid." The boy replies, "Yes, we're all going to die. But if it's all the same to you, I prefer it not be today." The boy speaks truth. We are all going to die, but most of us prefer that it not be today. When we do die, what we leave behind us for good or bad is what makes us live after we have left mortality.

This brings up a poem I recently discovered, and I will leave you with it:

How Did You Die?

            Did you tackle that trouble that came your way

                With a resolute heart and cheerful?

            Or hide your face from the light of day

                With a craven soul and fearful?

            Oh, a trouble's a ton, or a trouble's an ounce,

                Or a trouble is what you make it,

            And it isn't the fact that you're hurt that counts,

                But only how did you take it?

            You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what's that?

               Come up with a smiling face.

            It's nothing against you to fall down flat,

                But to lie there -- that's disgrace.

            The harder you're thrown, why the higher you bounce;

                Be proud of your blackened eye!

            It isn't the fact that you're licked that counts,

                It's how did you fight --  and why?

            And though you be done to the death, what then?

                If you battled the best you could,

            If you played your part in the world of men,

                Why, the Critic will call it good.

            Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce,

                And whether he's slow or spry,

            It isn't the fact that you're dead that counts,

             But only how did you die?

                                       -- Edmund Vance Cooke (1866-1932)

The National Archives, Washington DC

I have returned from vacation and my first trip doing research at the National Archives.
What advice can I give?

1. Prepare in advance exactly what it is you want to accomplish at the NA. Go to the NA website and look at what is available. This will let you plan and prepare your visit. Some things are not available at the DC site and archivists will suggest you visit or write to another facility. That can be a great disappointment when you have been anticipating your moment amongst the greatest deposit of federal information in the United States.

2. A free shuttle service is available to College Park, Maryland facility from the DC NA site, but it is about a 1-2 hour ride.one-way.

3. Be prepared to be searched, logged in and enumerated upon entry to the site. Then you will have to apply for a research card. Before being issued a research card you will be required to watch a short power point presentation and fill out a form. You will need this research card every time you enter a different room. You will also need to log in every time you enter a room.

4. The room where you watch the power point presentation and get your research card is a useful spot to get to understand the protocol of the place. Archivist/librarians and aides are there to help. They will generally steer you towards the computers to get all the preliminary information you need to access actual archives.  I wanted to see civil war records of an ancestor. Before requesting the records I had to know his company and unit number. I obtained this on their computers which brings me to ....

5. The program on the computer is ancestry.com. But not just your in-home version of it. This is an industrialized version of ancestry.com - like the difference between a jumbo jet and a cessna, a blender and a Vitamix, one rose in a bud vase, and two dozen red roses wrapped in cellophane and tied with a satin ribbon.

My friend who was with me subscribes to ancestry.com at home. She was able to find things on the NA version of ancestry.com that she never found in her home version. It just doesn't sound right to me, but it is so. My experience was similar.

5. All records have to be requested on a form and submitted. There are certain times when archives are pulled (obviously called "pull times"). These are listed on the NA website. You can request a record and if there is a significant wait before the next pull time you can leave the building and return later. You will have to go through the security procedures again.

6. Only certain things are allowed in the archive rooms. These are enumerated on the NA website. Lockers with a refundable 25 cent deposit are available to stow extra gear. No purses or camera cases are allowed. Be sure to not take anything that won't be allowed. You will just have to turn around and return to the lockers which are on the ground floor.
All personal papers will be stamped by employees to distinguish them from archive documents.

7. Upon leaving for the day, you may want to put all your papers into a "green bag". These are obtained in the reception room where you watched the power point presentation. Librarians will put your papers into a green bag and lock it. This prevents security personnel from having to search all of your papers on the way out. You give the green bag to security. They unlock it and return your papers to you.

8. If you don't understand anythiing - ASK! Personnel are more than willing to help and they understand that many people are new every minute.

9. Once your first day is over you will have a better idea of how things work and you won't feel so clumsy the next time. But if you only remember one thing from all this, go back to #1. Use the NA website and PREPARE!


How about getting to the National Archives. The National Archives is within easy walking distance of the train station. My friend an I were staying in Manassas, Virginia and took a Virginia Railway Express commuter train into DC. The round trip was $16.90. She had prepared with a map of downtown DC and found the National Archives was a straight walk of about 5 blocks north from the L'Enfant metro train station.

I had made reservations on recreation.gov for $3 to save us standing in line to see the other side of the National Archives where the founding documents of this country are housed in the rotunda area. We easily made our tour of the Declaration of Independence and other documents while our records were being pulled on the other side of the building.

It was fun and educational to go to the National Archives, but I understand now a little better why it isn't always necessary to go there in person. So many things are available digitally now, that much work can be done from your own home. I plan to go to the NA again, but next time, I will make sure I am much better prepared and with an exact plan of what it is I want to research.