Home is Where Family Begins

Where did your ancestors live? Not just geographically, but literally? Do you know?

While looking for interesting events happening during Family History Month, I came across the website of The National Register of Historic Places.  They're celebrating Family History Month by sharing resources that can help you uncover where your ancestors may have lived; highlighting buildings on the Register and sharing resources for putting a location on the Register.

(c) 2011 Laura C. Lorenzana

Wouldn't this be a great way to honor your ancestors? As your research for who your ancestors are progresses, often times locating land and tax records becomes a focus to ensure you've done your reasonably exhaustive search. This site has lots of great resources to help you move your research to the next level. You might even find that home your great grandparents lived in!

(c) 2011 Laura C. Lorenzana

Remember, also, genealogical societies have many of the same type of resources that can help you ramp up your research. The value in joining a society comes in the information that they have; the collective knowledge acquired from years of research. Tap into that knowledge base by exploring a local society today to see what they have to offer.

Extreme Genealogy (Or Why You Should Belong To At Least One Genealogy Society)

Genealogical Societies can take your research to extreme heights.

I tend to do things to the extreme. Just ask my friends. I never cook just a small dinner when having guests over because I might not have enough side dishes and desserts to go around. So it ends up looking like a buffet restaurant.

I don’t put new flooring in just one room (or one room at a time). Oh no. I have to do the whole house -- all at once. So it’s really no surprise at all that I belong to six genealogy societies, and I will probably join more. I'm extreme like that.

You’re probably wondering why I belong to even one, much less six, genealogical societies. Once upon a time I was like you. Overworked and underpaid, I had no time for what I thought of as socializing at the local genealogical society. Besides, I thought those folks were probably all old fogies who sat around talking about their aches and pains and boring everybody with stories about their family. They weren’t talking about my family so what good were they to me?

Then I needed a record from my grandmother’s place of birth from a burned county, which meant – at the time – I would need to write away for the birth certificate, which I did only to find that the courthouse with all the records burned down 80 years ago. What to do? “Well,” I thought to myself, “Maybe there was a birth announcement in the newspaper.” But my problem was that I was in California and the newspaper that may have contained the birth announcement was in a little bitty town in Nebraska. And I didn’t belong to any “network of genealogists.” 

Then I had a brilliant idea. Maybe the local genealogical society would do a look up for me. And that’s what got me hooked. (By the way, many newspapers are still not digitized. So this is a problem for family history researchers today that many genealogical societies can still help you out with.)

I don’t know if you know this or not, but many genealogical societies have someone in their membership who is in charge of doing (or doling out) look-up requests. This is just one of the many benefits of a society. I also found that by belonging to the societies, I get their newsletter, which sometimes is more like a magazine filled with things like pedigrees, stories about historical events and people, local culture, and more. Once, I actually stumbled upon a story written by a cousin about my family!

Since I have no family in the area I live in, my local society was the last one I joined. “After all,” I thought, “they weren’t going to help me find my ancestors.” But I soon found out how wrong I was. Not only have I learned better research techniques, have gained valuable hints and tips, and have been guided by those who have searched before me, but I have actually found books about my research area on sale at their annual book sale.

In addition, I have attended many “how to” technology classes like, “How To Use Evernote to Aid Your Research” and “Database Programs To Help Organize Your Research.” You know, all that techie stuff I can’t figure out why I need it, but everyone keeps telling me I do.

Did I say I belonged to six societies? Let me correct that. I belong to seven. How could I have forgotten the Southern California Genealogical Society?

California, right? They probably have nothing to help me with researching my Louisiana roots, right?

Well, that's what I thought too. But I was wrong again. SCGS has one of the best libraries on Cajun research, and as a member I can research there to my heart’s content, or ask a fellow society member to do a look-up for me when I can’t get there myself.

There are many reasons for joining a genealogy society, but October being Family History Month seems like a perfect time to try one or two out. Search the FGS Society Hall to find them, and you may discover they take your research to whole new heights -- extreme heights. And you’ll probably make a bunch of new friends who understand your obsession with dead people too. Like I did.

Kim von Aspern-Parker

Genealogy Resources at Your Fingertips

Genealogy Resources at Your Fingertips

A couple of weekends ago, while participating in the filming of PBS' Genealogy Roadshow in the beautiful and historic New Orleans, I had the honor and privilege of talking to the general public about genealogical societies and how they can help them with their research.

Some of those who I talked to had been doing research on and off for years. Some had never even attempted, but were curious. Quite a few had started but had stopped for various reasons, but mostly because they hadn't known what they were really doing or they had hit brick walls and could not go any further.

For those completely new to the idea, I showed them some of the usual websites and what they could find using information they already had.

Others brought their brick wall problems. In fact, the first day, I was helping this couple who had been trying to find a death certificate for an ancestor who had the audacity to have a name that was both unique and easily misspelled.

And we finally found it by trial-and-error using various phonetic spellings of the name. It was all we could do to contain our excitement. But, hey, they were filming a T.V. show behind us. And as we were discussing how finding that one death certificate answered one question and raised fifteen more, the PBS Genealogy Roadshow Event Producer came over and whispered, "You can take your lunch now."

<dramatic pause>

<blinks eyes several times>

I was aghast. Did she not know genealogists do not go to lunch when we are in the middle of a genealogy quest? We had a ton of clues on that death certificate to follow up on, but I went because, hey, they were filming a T.V. show behind us. (But not before I emailed the death certificate to the couple. I'm sneaky like that.)

No matter who I talked to, though, I explained how not all the information that you need to help you solve your family history mysteries is online. In fact, a lot of it is not online.

And that's where genealogical societies can come in handy.

They're kind of like your "boots on the ground" in those locations you cannot get to for research.

They're your place to learn more about how to research, where to research, and what tools to research with.

They're your support system who can get excited with you when you find that one clue you've been searching for years for.

They're going to listen to you tell that family story again (for the fifteenth time) because they know you'll listen to theirs (for the fifteenth time).

They're your source for that local history no one knows or remembers, and many of the societies have libraries bursting with books, microfilm, etc. just waiting for a look-up request.

Finding one or more genealogical societies to help you out and be your support system can be a key part of your genealogy success.

Genealogy Resources at Your Fingertips

And that's where FGS can help. With our hundreds of Member Societies across the nation and around the world providing a multitude of family history resources, our Society Hall quite literally puts research resources at your finger tips. Finding a genealogical society to get plugged into couldn't be easier, really, especially with our mobile app.

Download it today for your iOS device or your Android device and find a genealogical society near you and/or in the locations you are researching. If you want, join as many as you like. (We won't judge.)

And, hey, while using it, you don't have to worry about a T.V. show being filmed behind you either.

(For more behind-the-scenes images of FGS at the filming of Genealogy Roadshow, please visit our Facebook Page.)