Genealogy Research Results in Family Stories

The Thrill of the Search

Names and dates.  Very important things to a genealogist.  But names and dates (even locations) seem to paint a very thin picture of an individual who actually lived.  Going beyond the numbers is where the stories begin and that is the best part of genealogy research.  My ultimate goal in genealogy research is to find or construct family stories.  I can do this because every bit of genealogy information I find helps me to flesh out my ancestors.  Genealogy is my way of preserving family history and honoring my ancestors.

Genealogy research is a way to make the past disappear.  Each scrap of paper, every photo, any small detail, bring me closer to knowing those who have come before me.  Genealogy research provides me with family stories.  Their stories tell me my story.  I don’t do research in order to give myself a sense of self-importance.  You won’t here me saying “I am important because my great, great grandparent did something exciting.”  No, I say “Aren’t they interesting?” and “Can you imagine how brave that person must have been?”  It is all about them.

We can all be proud of our ancestors.  They faced challenges we will never face.  They created the world in which we now live.  Some fell short of our expectations, I’m sure.  But they represent their times as we will be representations of our time for future generations.  Maybe they serve as examples and inspiration.  Our ancestors are more than just a birthdate, a dash, and a death date.  Details help define the dash.  Collect enough detail and the person becomes more real.  How could they not?  I hope you find their stories as interesting as I do and I also hope that you are as proud to claim them as your own.

Genealogy Websites

I have a very expensive account with Ancestry.  I think at this point, I have access to all the records they have and that is running me over $300 a year.  A basic subscription will allow you to start building a family tree.  And yes, it will most likely be all names, places and dates.  This may seem boring to some and if it is, know this.  You have to do the genealogy research and find people before you can find family stories.

Another thing…If you are just starting out, you don’t need access to the international records unless your family was in another country a generation ago.  My latest arrivals to the U.S. were my great, great, great grandparents in 1851.  I could continue to do a lot of genealogy research before I needed to upgrade my account access.  I waited until I was consistently needing to access those other records before I upgraded.  It made no sense to pay for something I occasionally needed.

Family Search is a great place to go.  It is owned by the LDS folks (just like Ancestry, I think).  It is a free site and I have found a lot of documents like death certificates on this site.  You can store family data here (build a tree) and so it is a great way to get started with online genealogy with little cost.

Fold3 is a site that has military documents and records.  It is enormous.  Ancestry and other sites refer you to this site for actual scans of records.  You can have a free two week trial, but after that, you are going to be paying for it.  My recommendation is to get your family tree filled out and once you have their names, use Fold3 to find details about them.

Other Internet Resources

The Texas General Land Office is a great resource, but it is somewhat difficult to navigate at first as it is not primarily a genealogical site.  I’ll post more about what I know on this site later.  For now, just know that it has land records that have been scanned and they are just about the coolest things ever.  I found Bailey Anderson, Sr., Bailey Anderson, Jr. and Oliver Hazzard Anderson’s land grant records from 1828.  They are from the Mexican government and are written in Spanish.  I almost fell over.

Sometimes, when you are very lucky, genealogy research results in full-blown family stories.  Where to find them?  On small, local websites.  I do a lot of genealogy research and I have noticed that counties and states have local genealogy societies that have websites.  They are often incomplete, but if your ancestor is on there, you have hit the jackpot.  The genealogy research contained on these sites often include family stories.

Two Examples

In my home county of Hill, in Texas, the local DAR chapter created a website to highlight local history.  Sure enough, my ancestors were featured and on this site we found a letter written by my great, great, great grandmother, Isabella Wood,  in 1851 describing their trip to Texas from Scotland.  The letter provided new information and cleared up some “family historical traditions” that had been passed down for years and were simply not what had happened.  That site, if you happen to be looking into Hill County, Texas history, is Heart of Texas Tales.

Bottom line, when you are researching, search everywhere.  After exhausting every avenue known, my husband searched their names on Google.  That is when the Heart of Texas Tales site popped up.  Likewise, I Googled the names of Sarah and Alfred Painter.  A sweet soul who was not related (Thanks, Dr. John!), but who had bought their property had added their history to his website.  That was how I found out where their graves were.  In both cases, the information had existed, we were just waiting for someone to post it where we could find it.  I hope that this site serves someone in the same fashion.

My Families

The families that I most often research are:

Anderson, Cockerham, Evans, Ferguson, Goodman, Painter, Thomas, and Wood (to include Davis, Frazier, Patterson, and Ward).  If I find something interesting about an in-law, I will chase that rabbit for a while as well.  The 1846 Texas Homestead we renovated was associated with the Wood family.  One of their daughters (Margaret) married James Ransom Davis.  His brother, Charles Smith Davis, was interesting to me because he lived in one of the horse barns behind our house before the Wood family bought it.  He was also elected as the first sheriff in our county…the voting booth was across the street from our house.  So while I am not related to him, I feel connected to him.  His story is part of the story of my house and my family and so I continued to do some genealogy research on his line to enhance my family story.

Hope you find someone you know.

Blessings,

Jana