Family Trees and stuff

I am sure there are many of you readers who are doing your family tree or would like to do your family tree.I got hooked on it way back around 1976, that is also around the time that Alex Haley had his mini series called Roots on television. So yes I got addicted to genealogy. Once you start digging and find something ,you will want to dig some more. I have been doing my acadian side for a long time,and found lots of interesting stuff, like fur traders,guides,bakery owners,tragedies and more. It is sort of like a history story book. Then I connected with my english roots, wow I am finding ancestors who died in workhouses, well what were workhouses? Do you remember Oliver Twist? This gives you a sort of an idea. Workhouses were for the poor,sick,orphans and the elderly.  Some workhouses had men in one area, women and children in other parts. They had really rigid rules, be up at a certain time, certain chores to be done, food was rationed. Think about it? Could your ancestors have been in one of these places? Mine died in one, not sure how long he had been there. He was old at the time. He had six children and when his youngest was around one year old he lost his wife. I don't know what happened between the time he lost his wife and the time of his death. I am curious to know. Now they have a show on TV every friday called Who do you think you are!. They trace family trees for the celebrities. It would be nice if they would choose a modern day person like you and I and  take us to the land of our ancestors and find information that we haven't found yet.  I keep hoping that through these celebrities one of my ancestors might surface. grin. A few pointers I would give to people who are just starting to trace their family trees or planning to do so. First of all take a pen ,paper, even a tape recorder , and talk to your parents, grandparents,aunts,uncles,cousins. Listen to their stories, get as much information from them as you can, with names,dates,places,and stories.  Next check on obituaries , sometimes you find a lot of information which gives you clues where to go from there. The census are great too, but remember that sometimes the dates on the census for births, may be a year or two off, your great grandmother could have been 22 and may be listed as 25 and so on. Ancestry.com has lots of infomation but you have to pay. Family Search  has a lot of information free, and there are now many censuses online. And you may also come across others who's line you branch into. But be very careful, check the information you find online out. There are mistakes, and errors  online. There are folks who think they have found an ancestor way back that no one else has found, that can be correct and that can be wrong. Find out where they got that information. Another think you should do is mark all your sources down as you find stuff. Very important . I hope this blog has maybe inspired you to find out who you really are and where you come from.  And remember by doing your family tree, you leave something behind when you pass on, something for your children, grandchildren, nieces ,nephews and their descendants. It is a good feeling.  Now changing the subject, am adding a few thing  for you to see, you can find these at http://www.zazzle.com/allicor*  and http://www.zazzle.com/boot_eek*   Have a great day>

 

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