" They're painting the roses red," said Alice.
I was invited to visit the Redlands Family History Center by a neighbor who is LDS. At the Center, genealogical research can be done on one’s family – whether or not one is LDS. My family history is a little convoluted since I know very little about my birth dad and only marginally more about the man who was dad. I have more information about my mother’s side of the family so that’s where I started.A woman working there handed me a packet of information about how to get started and helped me begin my research on their computers. My mother’s dad was born in Norway and came to this country via Canada so I wasn’t sure how much we’d be able to find but Leslie started checking US Census data from the county in Minnesota where they lived and voila – listed on the 1910 Census was info re my mother’s parents and her two older siblings. Eventually there were nine children in her family. On one form they listed my mother as "Charlotte" – Aurlette must have sounded like Charlotte to the census taker.
I looked into my dad’s family name and pulled up information on his brothers and sisters – all of them now dead. It was sobering to see all of them listed with their birth dates and dates of death. I don’t think they changed the family name when they came to this country so that should help in the research. That and I think I have a cousin who may have already done some of this work – though we’re not really related I think she will share what she knows.
Re my birth dad: It turned out that when he died, he didn’t live that far from where we live.
Has anyone else done genealogical research? Leslie said it was one of the more popular hobbies. The LDS website www.familysearch.org provides info on how to get started and also has free family history software that can be downloaded.
3 comments:
My dad zealously researched his genealogy in an age before computers. He traveled to courthouses and cemeteries all over the South to trace his roots. Seems like his family came to Virginia shortly after Jamestown was founded. There are some gaps in the genealogy because, to quote my dad, "The dammyankies burned down the courthouses. With the aide of todays technology we have filled in a lot of the missing links.
I've been researching both my mother's and my father's family since 1990... but unfortunately both mum and dad were gone by then, and there are so many questions I should have asked!
LDS Centres have been very helpful, and now there is so much available via the internet. I know very little about USA research, all my family members came from UK, I am the first generation in N America.
Last Xmas I gave each of my sons a printed book of everything I have researched so far. They may never read it from cover to cover, but at least they'll have it after I am gone!
Mom - how great your dad did all that research and left you all with a record of your past and a terrific quote to boot!
Ms. Shammy - that's my goal, to leave our children with a record. If I had a do-over, I'd ask more questions.
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