To Do Lists

I don't know about you, but sometimes I think my "to do" list is over running my ancestors!

It used to be simple in the beginning. I was simply looking at a pedigree sheet and trying to fill in the names with their dates and parents. Seemed simple to me back then. I would call someone up, ask a question, get an answer, and then fill in a line on the sheet.

Then I found out about family group sheets. Ok, I admit, I really liked them. They had more information, and seemed more interesting to me. So.... I went back to those same relatives (I was a teenager then), asked a few more questions, filled in a few more lines (like the names of my ancestor's children and where they went to church), and felt really good about this past time of genealogy and thought of it as fun, easy to do, and very information limited.

Now, please understand. I still think its fun and that discovering my ancestry has been one of the greatest things I have ever become involved with besides being part of my alive family. However, now....

There are binders dedicated to family groups filled with census records, city directory information, cousin correspondence, military service, narratives, timelines, cluster studies, research logs, source checklists, and so on.

At this moment I have a small binder filled with my "to do" lists divided by surname and location and type of record, etc.  When did this happen? When did studying my family become its own creation?

My only consolation is in knowing that there is a whole facet of the world out there doing the very same thing, and I LOVE IT!!!!  I would not trade what I do for anything in the world.

Now, lets talk about those people who say their tree is DONE after only 9 months or so, shall we????

Until we see each other again,

Kim

Tombstone Tuesday

McDaniel

Israel Montezella

1869 - 1941 1908 - 1927

Father Daughter

Israel McDaniel is my Great Grandfather and was a railroad man. His daughter was known as Maunzell in most records. She appareently had a disability and spent part of her life in an unnamed facility in Dixon, Illinois.

They are buried in a cemetery in White County, Illinois.

Tombstone Tuesday

JULIA SCHNACKE and CONRAD ECKARDT

She was born 12 Feb 1875 in Warrick County, IN and died 24 Nov 1959 in Evansville, Vanderburgh, IN

He was born 9 June 1876 in Syracuse, NY and died 4 June 1940 in Haubstadt, Gibson,IN

They were my great grandparents and are buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Vanderburgh,IN

Living Family

Sometimes we are so busy with the dead that we don't pay attention to the living. Shame on us! Or should I sayshame on SOME of us! I know, there are times when our ancestors who bootlegged through the mountains of Kentucky, fought in the Revolution, or who sent us through years of agony as we tried to find them seem much more interesting and rewarding than Uncle Shem who consistently naps over in the corner , but one day he will be someone else's family history and we need to honor that.

I have been very lucky. Although I admit to shrieks of excitement over a 1866 marriage certificate found in an unlikely place, I also shriek just as loudly at a parade with my nephew and a softball game cheering on my daughter (actually more, but lets not split hairs here). We may bicker a bit over the piles of "to dos" on the table, but we also couldn't imagine being anywhere else for Thanksgiving.

Now I am the first to tell you that while we are eating our pie I am quizzing memebers with genealogy questions, and when the football game is on I am reading one more of my pile of publications, but I do my best at combinig the two. However..... when the day is over, I am heading to the next inernet site or repository with a thankful heart!

Too Late

It was too late for me and when I read the notice in the obituary section of the newspaper I could only bend over and let out a little cry. For nearly a year I had been planning to go see a certain relative in the family related to my maternal side of the family to interview them.

Oh, I could give all the good reasons as to why it didn't happen from scehdules to a broken foot, but the reality is that over and over EVERY book, conference, and suggestion says to go see your relatives while you still can and I did not.

To put further pain into the wound, within 2 weeks another relative also passed away. Now I don't know about you, but my grandmother always said deaths came in threes so I tailed it over to Posey County Indiana to visit a very healthy cousin I had never meant in person this week, because I was not going to take any chances. We share the surnames of Tucker, Cozart, Wright and beyond and met each other through Ancestry.

We had a great time getting to know each other better and to share some info.

So for goodness sake, don't waste any time! Don't be another one of those fools like I was!