NAVIGATING ALONG the RIVER - Research Tips

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Every time I really want to break down one of my genealogy "brick walls," I think about doing "back-door" research. This is when you try to go around the "wall" instead of over or though it. Sometimes I call this "side-door" research. It is that day when I take time to see what I do not know about the person and the family. Generally, I notice that I have not checked into the siblings and their lives. Was Richard the older or the younger brother? If I check him out, I might learn that he is the older brother and he was born in a different location. By going through this "side-door" (via Richard & where he was born), I might find new clues to find out about their parents... my brick wall.

Since I have researched for a lot of years, there was a time that it was more expedient to just gather data on my direct line and just recording the minimum on the brothers & sisters. I am talking about the days before the Internet, Ancestry.com, Find-A-Grave, HeritageQuest, USGenWeb Project, Fold3, and the many, many more resources available on the Internet. Back then, I had to pay a small fee to get a microfilm of a census for a certain location that I thought my ancestors lived. When it came in, the library would call to say it was here - we had about 10-14 days to use the microfilm (only at the library - when it was open!) before it had to be sent back. It usually took several hours to browse through the microfilm looking for anyone that had the surname you were researching... all the while, the pages rolled by causing you to get sleepy. I hated it when I would dose off while continuing to crank the handle on the machine and then not know how much film I did not see!!! The Willard Library at that time was not open on Monday, so if you worked during the day - you only had the weekend and Tuesday night to go through your microfilm. The library had far less research books available, too... many without an index. All of this meant you had little time to get info on your direct line of ancestors, let alone the siblings.

What a difference having a computer to record your data and to be able to use the resources on the Internet. You still need to go to the library, to courthouses and other repositories, but you do not need to order microfilm anymore. Ancestry.com, Heritage Quest & others have posted the US Census and a lot of other actual records on the Internet. Most are not free, but it is searchable and nearly all of it is available!!! Too often we are not sure what county or even which state to find them in 1860, for example. Granted these searches often give you many more choices than you want, but the first ones are more likely to be the one.

I have always used the computer software called "Family Tree Maker" to record my database for my family history. It has a special feature that allows you to go online with a button to search all of Ancestry.com for each individual in your database - one person at a time. It is perfect for checking out the brothers & sisters that you have not had time to check before. The search engine uses all of the data concerning that individual that you have entered into FTM. In just a few clicks you are usually taken directly to the page in the census listing your family. and you can copy & paste it right into your FTM program. Ancestry also allows you to put your data onto their servers and when it discovers something about one of them, it puts a leaf by that person's box for you to explore what clues & documents that may relate to your research. Ancestry costs about $100 a year as a subscription and may not be what you want to do. But Google or Yahoo can help you find free sources for most of this data online.

Just remember that Friends and Family uses the back or side door to visit... start using that approach more in your family history research.

- Written by JGWest

KHS/KGS July Family History Workshop

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The Kentucky Historical Society and the
Kentucky Genealogical Society
present the

July Family History Workshop

"Genealogy Brick Walls"

Saturday, July 9, 2011
10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History

A panel dsicussion begins at 10:30 a.m. with Deborah Campisano, Roger
Futrell, Valerie Edgeworth and Betty Darnell. These experienced genealogists
will describe how they have resolved difficult family history research
hurdles and recommend strategies to help get beyond what appear to be
genealogical "dead ends."

At 12:30 p.m. Deborah Campisano discusses the genealogical proof standard.
Genealogical problems arise when historical records either do not exist or
do not directly support a clear conclusion. Learn about the accepted
standards of evidence that must be met when trying to draw a conclusion,
prove a relationship or discriminate between what information is credible
and what is not.

Registration is required before noon on Friday, July 8 for this free
workshop. A light lunch is available, if requested at time of registration,
for $6, payable at the door. Contact the Reference Desk
<mailto:RefDesk@ky.gov> by email or at 502-564-1792, ext. 4460.

NOTE: Roger Futrell, one of the panelist, is a Rager family cousin - JGWest

"Brick Walls"

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What's this all about?

Have we reduced genealogy to building walls? Well sometimes we have built our own walls that we can not get past. What I mean by that is how we do research. We sometimes get excited about new leads or the volume of new information. When this happens, we sometimes do not begin to build a solid foundation for our research... making sure of our sources and evaluating the evidence before we continue. Now, you would think that building a poor foundation would make tumbling a brick wall easier! This fact would be valid except that we have piled a lot of garbage & other waste products around the wall to fortify it. Like the old joke about college degrees: "BS, MS & PHD" - the last being "piled higher & deeper." You might ask about making a solid foundation, wouldn't that make it harder to knock down a brick wall? No, because your documentation and sources provide lots of doors and windows to the previous generations.

However, sometimes we have been doing quality work building our family history, but records are missing or there seem to be few clues to where to look for our ancestors. Much has been written on this subject. Cyndi's List has a whole category devoted to this subject with 38 links to sites that attempt to help us tear down brick walls stopping us from going back in time. The category is called: "Hit a Brick Wall?" http://www.cyndislist.com/hitbrick.htm The first link is for buying a copy of the book "500 Brick Wall Solutions to Genealogical Problems"... we have a copy of this book at Willard Library. I reviewed it for the Tri-State Packet several years ago.

Good luck & keep digging and knocking down brick walls!

- Written by JGWest

NAVIGATING ALONG the RIVER - Research Tips

Genealogical Brick Walls

Are Excellent Opportunities

Just over 20 years ago, Oak Hill Cemetery was not in the shape that it should have been. Employees were unable to keep up with the mowing; and trees, vines and bushes were covering grave markers & blocking passage on some of the narrow roads. I was given a lot of the credit for the hard work of the levee employees in maintaining grass mowing and trimming back trees & brush along the berm of the earthen levee. The Evansville Mayor moved me from the Levee Authority Superintendent's post to be Manager of the two city cemeteries: Locust Hill & Oak Hill. And once we managed to get things under control at the cemeteries, a newspaper reporter asked me how we were able to get everything in order. I sarcastically replied that it was not very hard keeping the grass mowed, but would have been even easier if it was not for all of the big rocks everywhere. Of course, I was joking about the tombstones. The joke did not make the paper and probably for the best. And as you know, I and all genealogists (and most everyone else) really appreciate the tombstones erected in the memory of loved ones. Often stumbling blocks or hurdles are considered hindrances to our progress or success; but, generally, these hindrances are important in other ways. Just as tombstones may get in the way of efficient mowing of grass, they are important as a monument (and information) of those who came before us. Honoring our dead says volumes about our civilization. Genealogical researchers use more than just what is engraved on the marker... many clues can be found from the cemetery, the kind of stone, etc. That is a subject all by itself, but I want to discuss “Brick Walls” and not the physical ones found around a cemetery.

Genealogical research eventually is halted due to what most describe as a “brick wall” - we just can not seem to get around it or over it to go further back on our family's history. A good friend wisely stated that problems were just opportunities to use our minds and talents to resolve them. Brick walls in genealogy is just another opportunity to use our investigative skills and make us use our minds to figure out how to become successful in our quest to discover our family history. We might be able to compare the brick wall with grave markers... they both can be hindrances to our progress, but each can have its importance in other ways. That importance should be obvious for the grave markers. How can a brick wall have any importance? Most significant, perhaps, a brick wall tells us that we have not adequately researched the times, the history, etc. concerning the problem at hand. Brick walls force us to try alternative methods to find what we are seeking. We expand the scope of our research... learning about siblings, neighbors, people of the same ethnic, religious or cultural backgrounds. Many genealogists have called this the “back door” or “side door” research and is generally very helpful even when it does not resolve the original question. Developing a time line for each person helps to establish that person's life – what, when, where, and most importantly why. Often we blame lack of records as the excuse for the brick wall... and it is a deterrent to moving back and over walls that block us on our journey. However, we have managed to get over walls before that records did not seem to exist... we discovered that we were looking in the wrong place or needed to change our direction & focus of our research. I have found that you can remove brick walls one brick at a time by simply filling in the gaps in the time line of each person involved. Attempts to fill the gaps can show weaknesses in your research. An example might be that your ancestor should have married in a time range of 1748-1756 estimated from other facts you have found, yet, despite the records existing for marriages where you think he should have married – he is not listed... why? Answering that question is very important and may just knock down that wall completely or take out several bricks to where you can see the other side. If you have an example of tearing down brick walls, share it with us! Just remember you can always mow the grass even with all those rocks (tombstones) in the way!

- Written by JGWest

From the FIRST MATE's PHOTO ALBUM...

The Planets of our Solar System

I thought this was a slightly different perspective of our world, and emphasizes the need to attempt to pull back a little to look at our "brick walls" from a different angle or from a distance. Often we get in a rut and wonder why we can not get around a brick wall. Taking a different route can open new doors to learn more about our ancestors.

- Submitted by JGWest