A CASE FOR LOOKING INTO THE FAMILY HISTORY - 2/15/14

 -- AND AN EXAMPLE AS TO HOW TO GO ABOUT IT

I only "knew" Patrick Stewart by his marvelous acting artistry -- particularly, his portrayal of "Captain Picard of the Starship Enterprise." I always sensed his deepness as an intellectual being but never expected the chance to look further. Thanks to this fascinating video glimpse, I appreciate his obvious humanity even more -- and admire his tenacious detective work, looking into his father and seeking to understand the family circumstances that shaped their lives.

Entertaining as all this is, it is also highly inspiring and enlightening to see how much might be learned about our family's past, which could still be highly useful -- witness the sharing of the information with his brother -- which helped them all finally make sense of the difficulties they experienced at the hands of the "shell-shocked," heroic man who came back from bitter war to resume function as a responsible father and human being -- after enduring serious physical danger and psychological damage.

Much can be explained, if we but look -- and are sufficiently lucky and acute to find and interpret a trail of evidence to help solve life's puzzles.

To the creators of this video, thank you for this beautiful work -- I got far more out of this than I expected. And, I can only admire Mr. Stewart that much more. What an exemplary human being! How glad I am to be living during his time on earth.

See for yourselves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZRMGQ-Au4A


David Nelson



All Original Content © 2014 , The MENTOR Enterprises / ELMS, All Rights Reserved -- BUT, I hereby waive those rights, to this extent: You may freely copy and pass this along, if you think it will do some good -- as long as it's free of charge, unchanged, and you include this statement.

FAMILY HISTORY: Search Census - FREE - till 9/3

1.  PURPOSE

This is to announce an immediate short-term opportunity which you may not want to miss.  Act fast.

In the coming months, I hope to help further develop City-wide discussions on building up the precious family history in every home that wants this.

2.  BACKGROUND

We've never had a better opportunity, since humans were human, to manage the huge mass of information that stands behind each and every one of us.  

From the beginning of time, vital information has been lost everyday, as beloved family members became ancestors, before answering questions of great interest to future generations.  

This unfortunate trend continues to this day, but is fast-diminishing with the advent of new technology, which turns the rather difficult into the rather easy.

This very subject is starting to heat up, here in Pittsburg.  I think you will be hearing more and more, before too much longer.

3.  THE BASIC OPPORTUNITY

Meanwhile, here is a Free opportunity offered by the prestigious Ancestry.Com site.  Until September 3, you may search the entire US Census data base.

Here is their main link:  Ancestry.com

Here is their blog link:  Blogs.Ancestry.com

4.  FOR FURTHER READING AND BASIC RESEARCH

Here is a Wikipedia discussion of Genealogy

Here is a Wikipedia discussion of Family History

Here is a Google search on the field of Genealogy

Here is a Google search for REVIEWS of FREE Genealogy Software 

(so you can decide which best suits your needs)


5.  FREE GENEALOGICAL SITES ARE AVAILABLE TO GET THE FAMILY-HISTORY ARCHIVING-PROCESS STARTED

For those who feel they can't afford to pay -- yet -- for free software to help manage family histories, there are free alternatives.  Later, when you can afford to upgrade, you will have already captured and preserved a great deal of priceless information.

Don't let money worries stop ANYONE from doing this important service for yourselves and for all the generations to follow.

Please see the industry reviews link, above.  They'll tell you all about the free sites.

6.  TIPS ON USING ANCESTRY.COM

Tips from Dena Jordan*, Pittsburg

1.  A few things to know while you are embarking on this exciting adventure:

• 1). When you type your ancestors name in, don't expect for the spelling to come out the way you spell your name today, census takers weren't all that literate and they spelled it the way they heard it.
• 2)  If the spelling is different, look at the siblings' first names for a match of what you have heard through family oral history.
• 3)  When you look at the race of your family member, don't be surprised if some are black, white or mulatto, the census taker used the 'eyeball' method of determining your race. 
• 4)  When you find your family on a census, either keep a memo of EVERYTHING on the line their name is on or print it out for further research. 

2.  Ancestry.Com is the best out there unless you plan on making a visit to the ancestral home (mine being Warren, Bradley County, Arkansas or New York or Harlem, New York) and I don't plan on making any visits to either place too soon.

3.  When you go to "rootsweb.com," once again, join the mailing list to your county of research, the people there are very friendly and they love to pat their own backs when they know they have helped you out, especially if they're paying for something like Ancestry.Com, they figure, why waste it.

4.  And, when you get information, cite your source, give credit to where credit is due, plus the fact, some of the information might be incorrect, you want to have 'back up'.

5.  Happy Hunting, and if you need help, please don't hesitate to ask..that's what we're here for, at least I am. :-).

6.  Remember to start with yourself and work backwards, you can always add your siblings, children and grandchildren later, what you want now is your parents, their parents..as far back as you can go.

7.  A good tool to have is a 5 generation genealogy chart. You can download it on rootsweb.com for free.

Dena*

*[Dena can be reached at the FaceBook page "Remember in Pittsburg when ..."]

MORE TO FOLLOW

David Nelson,

Editor and Publisher