Category: Musings

The Book of Me

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One of the first tasks of a genealogist is to write their life story. I never realized the importance until I compared it with the amount of information I wish I had about my ancestors. I have decided to include a project called “The Book of Me” on my blog to discover more about myself, and perhaps help me become a better interviewer and family historian in the process. The project will span over the course of about a year with a series of weekly prompts that I will provide answers to in the “About Me” section. I hope that I can inspire others to follow me on what I believe will be a fascinating journey.

Brick Wall

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Posted September 3, 2009
The past few months have been very frustrating for me. I seem to have hit every brick wall there is as far as my family is concerned. I thought about trying to research one of the other lines of the family, but I have limited information on the Allens or Baxters. Maybe I will try to contact the Pattersons and see if they have any info to share. I have not heard back from any of the mailers I sent to possible Neal relatives in Ohio. My fingers are still crossed!

Update!

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Posted May 21, 2009
I haven’t had time to post a lot lately, but here’s an update on where I’m at. I decided to try to contact possible living relatives. I’ve been using sites like Zabasearch and Intelius and they have really been helpful. Unfortunately, you do have to pay do read the entire record, so I’ve been using the relatives listed to try to match them up. I still need to find some sort of confirmation of my grandfather’s businesses in Bronzeville. He owned a record store and a dry cleaners. I can’t find any official records and I was told that I should try City Hall, but those records aren’t organized at all. My hope right now is that someone from my contact list in Ohio writes me back. My fingers are crossed!

First Post

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Posted December 17, 2008
I try to do some research on my family everyday and I find something new everytime I look. I would like to have a daily post just to remind myself, if noone else, what I have accomplished so far and what I have to look forward to. This way I have a diary that I can refer to when I feel like I’m getting nowhere! I know many genealogists can relate to that! When I first started I was using a free trial to Ancestry.com and I had no idea where to start. I put in my last name and found nothing. Then…bingo! I realized that my grandfather’s name was misspelled in the 1930 census and the rest is history!