This will be my first entry to exemplify what I hope to be the majority of my posts.
A few weeks ago my mother-in-law asked me to do some work on her family history because her computer was temporarily on the blink. Well it had been such a long time since I did any research on my hubby's line so I wasn't sure where I was going to find any new names for mum. I opened up my husband's family history folder and was presented with a large pile of miscellaneous papers and certificates - which I can't blame on my hubby - they were definitely left there by me. So after sorting through these I found quite a lot of information on the Hele family, my husband's maternal grandmother's line. I jumped onto familysearch.org and realised that mum hadn't done much on this family so here was my chance to have some names ready for her in the short amount of time I had.
After updating the information that was already there for Robert Hele and his wife Maryanne Cook I was able to add another two generations for the Hele line complete with mother's maiden names and children. Two whole new families! I was desirous to have the same success for the Cook line. All I had to go on was Robert and Maryanne's marriage certificate which said that Maryanne's father was Albert cook and that at the time of the marriage, 1880, he was deceased! Oh well it was better than nothing.
After a further sorting of papers I found an 1881 British census record for Mary A Hele which I remember finding years ago (2005 in actual fact). I must have done a search for Robert and Maryanne hoping to find them together on their first census as a married couple. I do remember finding this record and the reason I printed it out was because even though Mary A Hele was listed as being married she was living with a couple named Charles and Fanny Rich. I thought it was a bit strange that she wasn't recorded with her husband but when I looked at her marriage certificate again I realised that the witnesses to the marriage were none other than Charles and Fanny Rich! Now that was all I needed to know that I had found the right Mary Hele, and that is where I left it in 2005.
Can you believe the other night I finally read the census record thoroughly enough to realise that Mary was listed as a daughter to Charles and Fanny! I had finally found her mother! I subsequently jumped onto Free BMDs online and found a marriage for Charles Rich and Fanny Cook in 1876. Then I realised that I should be able to find the marriage between Mary's biological parents. I entered the information but had no luck. I tried some different spellings and name combinations. I widened my search for the whole of England. Then finally I searched back to the 1850s and found Albert Cook married to Fanny Hurse in the correct place!! I was so excited to have Mary's parents and to be able to connect them together after so many years of research.
When those search results come up on the screen and you know that you've found the right name there is just such a wonderful feeling of success and fulfilment. I literally raised my arms in the air and said "YES!". Nights like these are what keeps me coming back to family history research time and time again. And as I write about it now it all sounds so easy but I think the hardest thing is putting in the time. I probably could have sorted this out years ago but even though I didn't, I believe now was the right time for me to have this awesome experience to inspire me to keep going.
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Just a coincidence?
Well here's my second entry - I was expecting this to be my latest family history research breakthrough but something small but not insignificant happened yesterday which I wanted to record.
Yesterday morning I had a friend over to work on her family history. We have been meeting together for about a year and we have learnt many things using new family search. But when we discovered a loop in her family tree, meaning that a person had been linked as their own grandparent, I was nearly thrown for a loop! So I tapped into the Help Centre (which may I say is the best online help centre I have ever used) and did a search for a solution to our problem. The first search result was what we needed and after a quick study of their suggestions we found the answer to the problem. It was caused by someone combining the wrong records and we just had to separate the ones that didn't belong. So it was a great exercise since it's been a while since I've had to learn something new in family search.
Now here's the coincidence. Last night while doing some of my paid family history work I was faced with not one but three families where branches were looping and repeating themselves because sons were coming up as their own grandfathers etc. It could have added an extra half an hour to my friends bill, but because I just learnt how to solve that problem it was all fixed in a jiffy! Now don't try and tell me that there isn't a heavenly helping hand in this work of family history.
These coincidences, light bulb moments, God sends or whatever we call them is what makes this hobby so fulfilling. I feel so inspired when I can work to effectively bring families together.
Yesterday morning I had a friend over to work on her family history. We have been meeting together for about a year and we have learnt many things using new family search. But when we discovered a loop in her family tree, meaning that a person had been linked as their own grandparent, I was nearly thrown for a loop! So I tapped into the Help Centre (which may I say is the best online help centre I have ever used) and did a search for a solution to our problem. The first search result was what we needed and after a quick study of their suggestions we found the answer to the problem. It was caused by someone combining the wrong records and we just had to separate the ones that didn't belong. So it was a great exercise since it's been a while since I've had to learn something new in family search.
Now here's the coincidence. Last night while doing some of my paid family history work I was faced with not one but three families where branches were looping and repeating themselves because sons were coming up as their own grandfathers etc. It could have added an extra half an hour to my friends bill, but because I just learnt how to solve that problem it was all fixed in a jiffy! Now don't try and tell me that there isn't a heavenly helping hand in this work of family history.
These coincidences, light bulb moments, God sends or whatever we call them is what makes this hobby so fulfilling. I feel so inspired when I can work to effectively bring families together.
Saturday, 4 June 2011
The Launch
Bec loves family history - and has done for the last 10 years! I'm a young woman in my 30s and have had various times in my life where I've been literally addicted to doing family history research. And in case your wondering I'm am a member of the LDS church (Mormon) which is why I got started with this in the first place. I have four young children and an awesome husband and love being a stay-at-home-mum. So yes when the family history bug bites me, my day literally revolves around how much research I can fit in between everything else! So don't ask me why I've started this blog...I really don't know to be honest. One reason is because I have just started doing some paid family history work for a friend and would love to turn it into a regular income and thought this may eventually drum up some business. Another reason is because I have some wonderful experiences doing family history research which brings me so much happiness and thought I should start writing them down. So this is where I've decided to do that. So for my first entry I thought I would share my first ever family history discovery - that I can remember!
I was about 22 or 23 years old and my LDS chapel had a family history centre but it always looked so dark and mysterious! Don't ask me why but I was kind of scared to go in! But every time I walked past the door I just knew it was something I should do. So finally I found a time to go to the family history centre. I met a wonderful lady in my ward named Yvonne Vincent. Can I just say now that if Yvonne had not taken me under her wing and given me so much encouragement and taught me so many skills then I don't know if I would have taken this as far as I have. So the ice had been broken. I grew up thinking that my parents had done our family history but when I received a package from my dad with all their information I was excited to see that there was plenty of work still left to do (and that is still the case after 10 years!).
On my second or third visit to the centre Yvonne was helping me to look up my family on the 1881 British Census on micro fiche! I think the CDs were available at that time but I think the one computer in the centre was being used. Of course Yvonne was a pro at using the fiche anyway so it didn't take long to find the right one. My parents had done quite a lot of work on researching our direct line but hadn't been able to add the various siblings to many of the families. So the 1881 census was going to do that for me. I put the fiche into the reader and went to the correct frame. Before I knew it I was reading the names of my ancestors. Sarah Ann Pawson with son Charles Pawson - names that I already had - and daughters Frances, Georgina and Hannah!!! I gasped in joy and amazement and caught the attention of everyone in the room. They were all happy for me to be discovering the delights of family history research. I just couldn't believe that these names had been sitting in the filing cabinet drawer in the family history centre for a long time just waiting for me to find them! And it all just happened so quickly. That was a wonderful experience for me and I have felt uplifted just reliving it now as I type.
That uplifting feeling has confirmed to me that starting this blog is a good thing to do. I hope that as I share my small but not insignificant experiences I may one day inspire others to search out their kindred dead because when we do I know that it can bring so much happiness into our lives.
I was about 22 or 23 years old and my LDS chapel had a family history centre but it always looked so dark and mysterious! Don't ask me why but I was kind of scared to go in! But every time I walked past the door I just knew it was something I should do. So finally I found a time to go to the family history centre. I met a wonderful lady in my ward named Yvonne Vincent. Can I just say now that if Yvonne had not taken me under her wing and given me so much encouragement and taught me so many skills then I don't know if I would have taken this as far as I have. So the ice had been broken. I grew up thinking that my parents had done our family history but when I received a package from my dad with all their information I was excited to see that there was plenty of work still left to do (and that is still the case after 10 years!).
On my second or third visit to the centre Yvonne was helping me to look up my family on the 1881 British Census on micro fiche! I think the CDs were available at that time but I think the one computer in the centre was being used. Of course Yvonne was a pro at using the fiche anyway so it didn't take long to find the right one. My parents had done quite a lot of work on researching our direct line but hadn't been able to add the various siblings to many of the families. So the 1881 census was going to do that for me. I put the fiche into the reader and went to the correct frame. Before I knew it I was reading the names of my ancestors. Sarah Ann Pawson with son Charles Pawson - names that I already had - and daughters Frances, Georgina and Hannah!!! I gasped in joy and amazement and caught the attention of everyone in the room. They were all happy for me to be discovering the delights of family history research. I just couldn't believe that these names had been sitting in the filing cabinet drawer in the family history centre for a long time just waiting for me to find them! And it all just happened so quickly. That was a wonderful experience for me and I have felt uplifted just reliving it now as I type.
That uplifting feeling has confirmed to me that starting this blog is a good thing to do. I hope that as I share my small but not insignificant experiences I may one day inspire others to search out their kindred dead because when we do I know that it can bring so much happiness into our lives.
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