"Genealogy is Like a Very Big Puzzle"

I have always liked to solve mysteries and to put together puzzles.  I was making a comment on one of MyFamily.com groups of many of my West family and other related families.  We have pooled our resources and what we already have learned to attempt to fill in the gaps of our family history.  I suddenly wrote that it was like we were all working on one very big puzzle.

We are finding the puzzle pieces, but we need to be able to put them all together. As with puzzles, many of us start by finding the flat edged pieces to put together the outer edges (frame) and then concentrate on areas of similar characteristics putting the pieces in one by one until they all connect and the puzzle is complete. This is what we are trying to do, except it is hard to make that frame and there are so many pieces that seem to be the same! :) Also because we can not find some documented records, the pieces are not complete or some of the image of the piece was damaged (lost). No matter what, it is very hard to put together a puzzle if you do not have all of the pieces.

When we first start researching our families, there are just a few that we know who may be of help to us.  As time goes on we build a network of researchers and resources.  We use libraries, DNA, courthouses, friends & family, genealogical societies, the Internet.  Many now are using resources like Ancestry.com, Heritage Quest, bulletin boards, USGenWeb, MyFamily.com and so many others.  What we are doing are looking for the pieces of the puzzle and trying to connect the pieces.

The group I mentioned is a good sized group of cousins that are trying to find these puzzle pieces and then try to put them together as a large diverse group of people.  When I work on a picture puzzle, it seems to get put together so much faster when there are several working together.

Genealogical societies provide resources to help us put together our family puzzles.  Working with others who are researching the same family can increase your chances of finding missing pieces and then connecting them.

My point is that our family puzzles have been scattered about and some pieces are lost or damaged beyond recognition.  We can not rely on just one resource or one person to gather most of these pieces.  We need to work together as much as we can and we can put together that family puzzle.  Of course, once we get that puzzle done, we start expanding the frame!  Hopefully, putting together the puzzle will be fun and enlightening as you go.

- Written by JGWest

From My Email Box - "Puzzles - Just for Fun!"

Genealogists are detectives... puzzle solvers! I thought it might be fun for visitors to have a few puzzles to sharpen their puzzle solving skills.

Telephone Mathematical Puzzle

Grab a calculator. (You won't be able to do this one in your head)

1. Key in the first three digits of your phone number(NOT the Area
code...)
2. Multiply by 80
3. Add 1
4. Multiply by 250
5. Add to this the last 4 digits of your phone number
6. Add to this the last 4 digits of your phone number again.
7. Subtract 250
8. Divide number by 2

Do you recognize the answer?
- Submitted by Sherri Bradley

From Alice Warner comes the mathematical explanation how the above puzzle was developed and how it works... she makes it all quite simple!

When done properly, it should concatenate the two numbers used (the
first three digits, and the last 4 digits) so that you wind up with
your 7 digit phone number.

The way this works is through algebra. Assume the first three digits
to be "x" and the last 4 to be "y". The instructions lead you to this:

Step 1: x
Step 2: 80x
Step 3: 80x+1
Step 4: (80x+1)*250 = 2000x+250
Step 5: 2000x+250+y
Step 6: 2000x+250+2y
Step 7: 2000x+250+2y-250 = 2000x+2y
Step 8: (2000x+2y)/2 = 1000x+y

Then, since multiplying by multiples of 10 shifts the decimal point
one number, 1000x means that your three digit exchange becomes
###0000. Then by adding the last 4 digits you wind up with #######,
which will always be the first three digits concatenated by the last 4
digits, on the assumption that the first number x is ALWAYS a 3 digit
number and the second number y is ALWAYS a 4 digit number.

My cousin Beverly Justus Jones sent me this great puzzle that will help you learn the locations of exactly where each state fits in our country - it is kind of a geography puzzle.

Place the States!

This is fun, lets see how good you are.!!!

Place exactly on the spot....

Wonder how a high school senior would do on this one. See how you do in placing the states of the United States of America. All you do is look at the top of the page and "drag'n'drop" the state where it belongs. Smart map, varies the order of the states' placement with each new try! Look across from the word Place to see the state!

It isn't easy mostly because placing a state in the precise location when it as yet has no boundaries in place is a bit tricky! No half credit for close but over a tad....If you get it wrong, click and drag to the correct area which will show up in red.

http://jimspages.com/States.htm
Click on the above site.

Have some fun and improve some of your genealogical skills! - JGWest