In the 1970s there was a recording released by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the Seminary program. I am a convert to the Church, being baptised when I was 20 years old; so I did not go to Seminary when I was in high school. The one song I remember now was, "Like Unto Us", so the Savior said.... This song really made an impression on me to consider the relevance of the scriptures to us in our lives in this day and age. I am in the habit now of asking myself about how the lessons the people in the scriptures learned (or not) I might apply in my own life.
Marc and Angel Hack have a blog with lists and
the one I just reviewed had 40 thought provoking questions to help us order our priorities for our lives. These are questions I am going to use in my journal entries. But they are not just questions for me - they are questions everyone might ask, and especially our ancestors who faced life-changing decisions. I can imagine the hard questions our ancestors must have asked as they gave up - whatever - to move forward to a better life.
One of the blessings of doing genealogy research and learning more about my family's history is that I am gaining more understanding of their challenges. Sympathy, too, and love; to know you is to love you. How well do I know my living family? It is a matter of ordering priorities again, reflecting that where your heart is.... Researching and learning about our ancestors is one thing - they may be elusive, but at least they hold still & don't talk back & give you a hard time getting to know them. Sometimes that's not the case with living family members. Sigh. Does the Spirit of Elijah help work miracles turning hearts in families on this side of the veil, too?
Yes.
Doing Genealogy Daily
It is one thing to do some genealogy research daily; it is entirely another thing to blog about doing it, daily! I meant to blog daily about doing genealogy, because I knew I would be working on genealogy daily, however...I may revise that to a goal of blogging weekly about having worked on genealogy daily. Hmmm?
Today is Monday, 6 Feb 2012, and today I have been learning more about my father's uncle, Vice Admiral Stanhope Cotton Ring, USN. His brother, my grandfather was Rear Admiral Morton Loomis Ring, USN, Supply Corps. Uncle Stan was a
Navy Pilot. 'Pretty amazing accomplishments in his record. I am looking for a Bob Fish who wrote a life sketch for my father's uncle in 2011.
If someone finds
this blog while searching for Stanhope Cotton Ring, I hope they will check in with me.
Saturday is my regular shift at the Central Point Oregon Stake Family History Center. Maybe we are calling them FamilySearch Centers now. We have a
facebook page. Here is a link to our FamilySearch Wiki page.
CPOR FHCI have watched DNA/Genealogy stories, but never thought I would have occasion to use it. A cemetery I was adding names to on
findagrave.com had this story in the news from last year about DNA.
DNA samples of unidentified bodies for possible futre matching?I have a running To Do list in genealogy - stuff for my own family research, and stuff to do helping other people.... This weekend I tried to listen to sessions from the RootsTech 2012 Conference from
rootstech.org.
If I do this once a week, I need to keep a better log of my activities. Maybe my commitment will be to blog ...more often.... Sigh.
2 Feb 2012 Native American Research
I was looking at a PDF of the images of a microfilm roll of the applications for membership in the
Chickasaw Nation. Around 1906 is where I was browsing. I typed a surname in the search box. It returned an announcement that this film had not yet been indexed - check back later. What that means is that the search function will not work yet. The images on the PDF were rough. Maybe the original pages were darkened and difficult to read, or the filming was tough. Better than nothing? I know that census images available through Ancestry.com are different and at times better when viewed on HeritageQwest - AND Vice Versa! Thank goodness we do have alternative choices. Archive.org are holdings through the National Archives. I am learning about Native American research, primarily tracing heritage to people who were enrolled as tribe members from the
Dawes Rolls era. It will be a great day when indexing catches up. I really believe that networking is a big key in cracking this nut.
www.familysearchindexing.org Is still where it's at! They are working on a few projects in Oklahoma for Native Americans. You can go to the Projects Tab there and see what all is in the works (and volunteer to help with Indexing), and you can also see completed projects. I was fascinated to see the Partner Projects, too. Genealogical Societies may have a particular set of local records that they would like indexed and they can approach FamilySearch about it. FamilySearch will help them get it all set up online so that their members, and other volunteers, get it done. FamilySearch sets it up to host it online. [That's my understanding. Does your society have a pet project you would like indexed?] As record indexing projects are completed they become available to search at
FamilySearch.org
There is so much going on in genealogy
There is so much going on in genealogy these days! Maybe there was before, but nowadays we can find out about it - Instantaneously! I believe there is a movement abroad making interest in your family history even a stronger impulse than it has been before now. And I believe it will continue to grow! Because it serves a purpose that fulfils the Lord's will.
This is an interesting interview and
article - that touches on the many people who are responding to doing something to forward the research capabilities for genealogists online - the volunteers who do
Indexing.
I needed some packing paper to crunch up to mail a box. I saved several sheets of scrap paper to read, rather than recycle - there were genealogy links, and a story about Elder Richard G Scott's talk invoking a blessing on genealogists. <
Look here >
This address was at another RootsTech Conference. - RootsTech2012 starts 2 Feb!
Here are those two links sheets that I also rescued from being packing material. One has a handwritten note that only about 1/3 of them [still] work. That may be part of the challennge of this endeavor - to log in when the website is still up, and the info you need is available! ?Like Brigadoon?
