Leaving it better than we found it Archives — GENOHISTORY.COM

Leaving it better than we found it

A traveler on a dirt path finds the way blocked by a boulder pile.

Boulder Demolition for Genohistorians: Uncovering Ancestral Trails

7 Comments / Genohistory on Purpose, Leaving it better than we found it, Organizing for optimal efficiency, Research / By / 13 minutes of reading

If you have been doing ancestral research for some time, and taking it seriously, you know the glorious victory of tumbling a brick wall or two. You broke through to a piece of historical or genealogical knowledge that had eluded you. But some of us will eventually find our research path impeded by something bigger and much harder than a brick wall. What do you do when your path is blocked by a landslide of granite boulders ten times your height? The information you need is not just elusive. It’s gone.

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Genealogical Society Boards versus Committees—Forests and Trees

8 Comments / Golden Egg Genealogist, Leaving it better than we found it, New developments in the field / By / 5 minutes of reading

When your genealogical society board of directors gathers for meetings, are they steering the organization, or are they deciding if you will serve orange or apple juice at a seminar? Are they minding the forest or pruning trees?

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Rise of the genealogy entrepreneur

Leave a Comment / Golden Egg Genealogist, Leaving it better than we found it, New developments in the field / By / 5 minutes of reading

You know if you are one. You have been longing for a way to make genealogy your daily bread and butter. Or, maybe a sideline income or a retirement gig. It’s happening—the rise of the genealogy entrepreneur. I can feel it, and I like it.

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Here dies cursive writing. Long live cursive reading.

3 Comments / Golden Egg Genealogist, Leaving it better than we found it, New developments in the field / By / 5 minutes of reading

It’s happening. Cursive writing is dying, suffocated by neglect. For genealogy to live past it, cursive reading must live long and prosper.

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The Golden Rule of Genealogy Volunteerism

1 Comment / Golden Egg Genealogist, Leaving it better than we found it / By / 4 minutes of reading

The Golden Rule — the law of reciprocity — offers a great maxim to apply to our world of genealogy. Most of us live far from the places our ancestors lived. We depend on others to make the local records safe, organized, and available — preferably in digital online form. The Golden Rule suggests we first do for others what we hope they’ll do for us. How many of us are doing that?

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Descendants of slaveholders, we have a job to do

4 Comments / Digging for genealogical gold, Every little thing in context, Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist, Leaving it better than we found it, New developments in the field, Organizing for optimal efficiency / By / 6 minutes of reading

Some of you started long ago. I started six months ago. Perhaps some of you will start today. When it comes to the very difficult and incredibly rewarding challenge of documenting America’s enslaved populations, we who descend from slaveholders are the logical ones to do the work.  It makes sense at so many levels. Welcome, GEGs, to the Beyond Kin Project. …

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What’s in a name? Conflicting practicalities.

2 Comments / Every little thing in context, Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist, Leaving it better than we found it, Organizing for optimal efficiency / By / 17 minutes of reading

In genealogy,  a rose by any other name may not smell sweet. A feud broils over what is acceptable, when it comes to naming conventions. Do you use question marks for unknown portions of a name? Do you write helpful information in the suffix field? Congratulations, we’ll call you a Montague! Do you get annoyed when you see people doing the above, fearing trashy data transfers — a messed-up GEDCOM? You, friend, we’ll call a Capulet. In determining how to use the name fields in our software, we find ourselves having to choose the house of Montague or Capulet — expedient practicality or clean data sharing. Some want both, and we call ourselves GEGs. Starry-eyed GEG I may be, but with the right tools and rules, I think Romeo and Juliet can have a future together.

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FamilySearch, same-sex marriage, and the risk of obsolescence

3 Comments / Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist, Leaving it better than we found it, New developments in the field / By / 6 minutes of reading

We genealogists use family trees to reflect the past, not to morally judge it. Our trees contain many family situations our churches then and now have disavowed. But we’re the historians of families; it is our job to gather, interpret, and present facts. In FamilySearch Family Tree (FSFT), I can reflect unwed parents, infidelity, common law marriage, and even incest. But FSFT blocks me from recording the legal marriage of two men. As a historian, I then have a problem: FSFT, great gift to the world that it has been, now risks obsolescence. (Welcome to my newest, and rather disturbing, addition to the Wish I’d Known Series.)

UPDATE: FamilySearch has since added the capacity to reflect same-sex relationships, for which we are relieved and grateful. See this notice to read FamilySearch’s announcement.

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There are hobbies, then there’s genealogy

6 Comments / Golden Egg Genealogist, Leaving it better than we found it / By / 3 minutes of reading

I’ll grant you, genealogy is a hobby to many, and I am glad we have the hobbyists in our numbers. The more the merrier. But when I think of genealogy, as applied to myself, the word “hobby” grates on my sensibilities. For me, it is the wrong word. The wrong idea altogether. Genealogy means so much more to me than that. How do I give it proper tribute? If I can’t stomach saying, “Genealogy is my hobby,” what can I say? Genealogy is my … what?

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Childless siblings & empty silhouettes

18 Comments / Every little thing in context, Golden Egg Genealogist, Leaving it better than we found it / By / 6 minutes of reading

Some of us will never be ancestors. We have no descendants. We died too young, or we married too old. We stayed single and took care of our parents or stayed single just because. Or married and couldn’t or married and didn’t. For any number of reasons or none, we died childless. So, who will tell our story?

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