Writing

The Power of Best Practices in Genealogy Communication

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A genohistorian imagines the various ways her research will be communicated to others.

Genealogy is a pursuit of clarity—piecing together our past, connecting names, dates, and stories into a meaningful whole. But how we communicate those connections can be just as important as the research itself. Without clear, consistent language, our findings can become tangled, confusing, or even misleading. One of the greatest pain points in genealogy communication … Read more

Born Here, Died There: The Life between Bookends

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Three people described in the article are shown in a painting-style conversion of an original photograph.

My 2nd-great-grandfather Jacob Dennis Mayberry, widowed in 1917, desired a fresh start. In 1919, he purchased a 440-acre farm in Chilton County, Alabama, 24 miles northeast of his former residence in Bibb County. He built a large and rambling house around the old cabin that stood there. His daughter, Clara, her husband, Otha Payne, and their baby, Clara Thomas Payne (my grandmother), and his unmarried daughter Mary Thomas Mayberry moved with him to the new place. And on this property, they all lived out the rest of their lives, though you would not know that by a basic family tree.

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Judging Ancestors: The Distortions of Hindsight (A Cannibal Story)

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We see a woman looking through a gauze blindfold.

Hindsight will never be 20/20. The further back we look, the fuzzier the view gets. In looking back past our own personal experience—that journey we call “studying history”—we become strangers in a foreign land. Observing what we see there can be immensely valuable. Evaluating the effectiveness of our ancestors’ choices can enhance wisdom. Morally judging ancestors through the eyes of the 21st century, however, is a destructive misuse of hindsight.

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Semantics: What Did They Mean by That?

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A group of women are spinning wool into yarn, assisted by men. The image is labeled "Spinsters and their Husbands prepare yarn for the market"

Friday was my birthday. Yes, 9/11. In the years after the World Trade Center disaster, people tended to express sympathy to me on my birthday, saying things like, “ I hope you can enjoy it, in spite of everything.” This past Friday, though, I heard nothing at all about 9/11 in my birthday messages.  

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Multi-Great Style or the Great-Great-Great Tongue-Twister

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A proud descendant describes the paintings of his illustrious ancestors, tripping over the great-great tongue twisters

What label do I attach to a great-great-great-grandmother in speech and in writing? Because, let’s face it, “great-great-great-grandmother” is just a ridiculous mouthful. Do I say “3-times-great-grandmother”? “Third-great-grandmother”? Or, more concisely in writing, “3rd-great-grandmother”? Do I need the hyphens? Does the genealogy field have a standard?

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