Getting Information from Elders

Hi, today I thought I would discuss a little more about how I started verifying some of the information that my uncle had provided in his family record and then go into discussing my mom's side of the family. Other than the messages boards full of people looking for the same ancestors that I was looking for I also looked through any of the census records I could get for the time period I was looking in for each person. I tended to only find basic information with this though unless I was willing to pay. The same was with the vital records site at http://www.vitalrec.com/ but I was able to access some great records for free for the state of West Virginia that did not charge http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_select.aspx . If you are lucky enough to stumble across a web site like this, then you can gain all kinds of valuable information. I found copies of original birth, marriage, and death records that had been scanned and placed on the site which allowed me to verify a lot of information very easily for both sides of my family since most of the recent generations were born and raised there. It is when generations that migrated from another state or even another country that I am still struggling to find credible information on.

So far, on my mother's mother side of the family I've gotten all the way back to 1763 for a William Herald who migrated from Kentucky to West Virginia but I have yet to find a free site that has the information I need for the Kentucky information. Once I started looking in the Kentucky information they want to charge which is something I'm not willing to do yet until I have done a thorough investigation to make sure i can't get it free first. I have also seen a few suggestions that he may have also been an immigrant from such places as Ireland, Scotland, England, or Germany which is something I really do want to find out but I know it is not going to be an easy road finding that kind of information. I do know for a fact though that that part of my grandmother's family is at least from Kentucky which is something that I've heard all my life; which brings me to my next point.

Talking with your elders and writing and recording what they have to say is very important. I wish so much that I had talked with my other grandparents before they died about where they came from and the relatives they knew growing up. Fortunately I still have one grandmother left who will be turning 88 yrs old this month that still has some great memories still in tact. When I talked with her a few weeks ago I got some great basic information from her about her parents and grandparents that I would have never known if I had not sat down and talked with her. As a matter of fact, I am going to go see her today to see if she has any pictures or any other information she has stored away that I may find useful in my research. I'm also going to show her what I have done so far in my research and look forward to seeing her reaction when she finds out what I've discovered. I also am hoping to get some pictures and video of her if she will allow me to do so with my new camera. That is also something that I wished I had done more of is taking pictures of my grandparents that are no longer with us. Geneology is really something that your family needs to be open enough to discuss if you are to get valuable information, as well as memories, that you can research.

Another great resource that I have found in how to research my family is the Youtube videos done by people who have great experience in the field. Something that was very surpising to me was to find these series of videos by this young girl who has been doing geneology research for quite some time already despite her young years http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCYjz611kcU I was shocked at how interested she was in the subject of geneology and how professionally she keeps her research. For some great tips on how to do the research I highly recommend watching her videos as well as any others you can find. One of the sites that she recommends using in researching is the site http://www.cyndislist.com/ which I had never heard of before watching her videos. It has a great collection of information on where you can find great information.

Also, in looking through the free message boards at ancestry.com and other sites I found my granmother's cousin who was looking for the same information I was looking for. It was very exciting once I contacted her about some of her research to find out that she was such a close relative. I was also able to find a distant cousin from my granfather's family that I have had several communications with and I look forward to finding other relatives in the future. Come to find out, my grandmother's cousin has a lot of valuable information regarding my granmother's mother's family which she said she would share with me to give to my grandmother which is something I am very excited about. The internet can be a great valuable tool now a days in finding out things about your family and the history of where you came from. Using it to find relatives you didn't even know you had and the historical records you would of had to gone miles to find just a few short decades ago has made it much easier for future generations to discover their heritage.

On the next blog: I'll discuss how my visit with my granmother went and share some other ways I found the information I have so far.

Please post comments: If you have any advice or suggestions on where to find good geneological information please post a comment on this blog. Also, if you find any of my geneology information matches anything you might have in your geneology research please don't hesistate to comment and ask for any information I might be able to help you with. Thank you.