As some of you know, one of my favorite things to do is search for information about my ancestors. I have been working on the genealogy of my family ever since my mother, Alice Gregory, told me, about 30 years ago, that we have English Royalty in our distant past. Since I always thought I was a "princess," I became interested in helping prove it!! So, I must tell you that we not only have English royalty, but also French and German kings in our "family". (the more I look, the more mixed I become)
The methods of searching has changed through the years; from spending time in the back rooms of courthouses & libraries and tromping through remote cemeteries to staying up away too late searching the internet. Of course, spending time in those previous places was part of the fun - searching the bottom drawers in the huge library in Salt Lake City was tedious - but like a treasure hunt!
Another change from "the beginning of this hobby - which became an obsession" - is from recording our finds on paper charts and family sheets to entering the data into the computer. Our first software (as it is now called - we didn't even know that, then) was PAF - created by the LDS church and loaded on a floppy disk. You had to have the disk in one slot and a "data disk" in the other one. All the new data was saved on the second disk. You had to know alot of "DOS" terms to make that work. This was before "mouses" were invented.
We were so excited when we figured out how to "share" our data by creating a GEDCOM file. Which is basically a database created with the same fields in the same order so you could export the data from one persons records and import it into another's.
Through the years, I have spent alot of money purchasing upgrades and disks and CDs with huge amounts of information on them - only to sort through and find that ONE piece of data that fit into our family. It seemed like every time I "found" something that looked like it would fit, I had to pay out more money to discover if it was the right piece of information. I joined Ancestry.com, which propelled my search to a new level. Their Family Tree program has elevated the record keeping to a professional height that we could not have imagined a few years ago.
We have spent hours searching through information from 'Listserve' members. And that has been a very useful tool because you meet other people who are searching for the same information you are. One person I met in the way had information about my Gregory side of the family that broke through a "years long" brick wall.
(what we call coming to the end of your rope - or not being able to find someone's father, so you can't go on)The next step was logical: Share what we have found with others via Family Trees uploaded to the internet. This has uncovered more people looking for the same information with a connection to information that may or may not be backed up with "fact".
A recent direction I have taken is helping build information for others who may be searching for their family history. Last month I volunteered to become the host of Genealogy Trails History Group for Dundy County. I did this mainly because I seem to have more information in my computer than I can find on the internet so I decided to find a way of sharing what I have collected. I am finding this to be interesting, exciting and time consuming!! And I have met more people who have sent things to be posted.
Like the story on Genealogy Trails about
Albert H. Nordyke. As far as most of us knew, he was only a gravestone in the Haigler Cemetery whom no one knew where he came from or who he was. One day this week I got an email from his great-grandaughter's husband asking for a picture of his headstone. I knew that Bill Hardwick, from Benkelman, had spent the time to take a picture of EVERY headstone in EVERY cemetery in Dundy County, so we were able to send him one. However, we also asked him what information he had about Albert, who was a Civil War Veteran. He sent the story posted on Genealogy Trails. AND of course, I still wonder what he was doing in Haigler, along with his family. Was he working for the railroad? or helping build the Pioneer Canal? or working on one of the ranches as a "wagonmaster"... or Cowboy?
If you have read this far in this "long story" (which is actually short)... then you might understand why you haven't heard from me for the last couple of weeks. AND maybe this will prompt you to send stories and pictures about your family. I love hearing from you.
Just send me an email:
haiglerblogger@gmail.com
Look at this cute face!!
