Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:
It's Saturday Night Again
-
Time For Some More Genealogy Fun!!
Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings assignment for us today is:
1) We all need, and usually enjoy, a little help from our genealogy friends. This week's challenge is to share a time when a genea-friend helped you find a record, or even solve a mystery. It could be a recent help, or something from long ago.
Here’s mine:
Like Randy, I have had many people help me, especially early
in my genealogy research efforts. I have a shout out to Susan Swindell, who
took me to Sutro Library in San Francisco for my first effort in census
research, using microfilm. She patiently listened to my efforts after that answering
my questions and giving suggestions.
She also led a genealogy roundtable for many years from her house, meeting on the second Monday of the month. This was a place where we brought our successes to share and our problems to ask for help. Many of us also took yearly trips to the Family History Library (now FamilySearch Library) in Salt Lake City. She was also the de-facto genealogy leader, who everyone looked to for research help.
During the pandemic, I hosted the roundtable on Zoom and we met weekly. There were weeks when we had 12-15 people on the call. The best part of the meetings was members who had moved out of state could participate in these Zoom meetings. Susan retired the in-person monthly meeting and we just meet on the fourth Mondays on Zoom.
I have also hired researchers to pull documents for me. There are many counties that FamilySearch did not film all of their records and of course there are many collections at the National Archives that are still in paper form. My best research puller for items in Washington, DC (Archives I) and College Park, Maryland (Archives II) has been Sandy Rumble (rumblesoft.com). I have paid for pulls of homestead records, Civil War personnel and medical records, and pension files.
I am planning a trip to Texas later this month and two researchers in Erath County have been especially helpful, telling me what is available at which record repository. Pre-planning a research trip makes for better success.
After thirty years of doing genealogy research, I have found help in many places and from many people. Genealogy meeting presentations, webinars, seminars, institute classes, and all the people who post on Facebook. Thank you very much!
Good luck with your research on your Texas trip!
ReplyDeleteThank you. It's time I write up my mother's side of the family.
DeleteYou have had a well rounded list of helpers through the years. The genealogy community is terrific for helping each other.
ReplyDeleteIt's been what I enjoyed most about our local genealogy society.
Delete