The Angels, the Donkeys and the Prodigal Son

My recent post on the Transitional List about people who make other people feel bad about their genealogy.


Everyone was ______(insert appropriate term here)__________ in the beginning. For fifteen years I was alone in the wilderness and I did not understand source, much less evidence, but I had a lot of facts. But my house was built of cards on a foundation of sand. And then I learned that there were rules, but they were funny rules. They were rules you could chose to adhere to, or not. At first I stumbled among the petunias, but I found faith in myself and my ability. Misplaced as it might have been at the time. And then I gained courage, and I presented myself to the special people. And I found that my fear of them was misplaced. That they welcomed me, even with my arrogance and my bravado. And they helped me. And it was good. And I learned that genealogy is like the world, everything, almost, is a normal curve. That there are angels on one end and donkeys on the other, but that generally in the middle are people that help me and I help them, as I can.

I avoid donkeys. They tend to be stubborn, kick a lot, and believe they are the angels. But you know the angels. The angels have a funny thought. They think we all should be angels. The donkeys, they are afraid of you. You are competition. The angels love competition, because it makes us all better.

So when you think someone is being a donkey you have to examine the situation. Because what you think might be a donkey, really might be an angel helping you to become an angel. None of us is perfect, not even the angels. If you think you are perfect in your genealogy you might be a donkey in the making. You have to look at your palace and see if it really is a house of cards.

Genealogy is a wide field of endeavor with millions of people with opinions about things. Among them are people with badges. The badges are unimportant to you. A badge does not grant anyone special powers. A badge does not make a donkey anything other than a donkey with a badge. Angels don't need badges, but they like to test themselves and keeping a  badge is a good way to do that. But it does not make them a better angel. They are just an angel with a badge. And by definition, an angel does not know they are an angel. If they think they are an angel, by definition they are not.

So my advice is that if you pay attention to the first two chapters, live by the words source, evidence and fact, and recognize the relationship that exists between them you will be fine.

And the next time you are at a conference and you see a group of people that you think are people that understand the first two chapters really well, sit down and talk with them. And if they aren't having a meeting, you will be welcome. That meeting part is always a problem. But you will figure it out.

This is by far the easiest group in the world to join. It let me be a member in 1985 and it helped to make me a better genealogist.

So evaluate the criticisms. If they are donkey, chalk it up to mean spirit and move on. Dwelling on it just foolish, donkeys are every where. But if you can see their point then learn from it and move on a better genealogist. And that is what really counts, becoming a better genealogist.

Postscript:

A good friend said he was half donkey, half angel, but I think he is one of the seraphim. Six wings, only two working, flying around the angels and learning from them. That is what I feel like. Burning to learn more. Singing Holy, Holy, Holy. I think that describes him well.


And the ostrich, he is one of those also.


I hope I am one also.

I had so much FUN!!!!

I just spent a week in the National Archives as a tour leader for the National Genealogical Society First Annual (at least I hope it is an annual event) D.C. Research Tour.

I have to tell you that I had a blast. Twenty-four people all anxious to learn more about records in the National Archives. What more could I guy like me ask for?

It was so much fun that I thought I would do it again. Only this time as a Heritage Books tour. And in such a way that it would not conflict with the 2nd Annual National Genealogical Society D.C. Research Trip.

One of the problems with the D.C. trip, and I am not being critical, is that orientation to the tour occurred the night before the first visit to NARA. I think that can be solved by using a GoToMeeting format and having orientation a week or so before the event so there is time to let it rest and have time to think about it. And then of course have a quick check closer to the event.

Then my mind wrapped around the possibilities. Why not have about four lectures spread over the month before the event that dealt with the theme. So if the theme was Revolutionary War it might look like this:

Orientation
Understanding Revolutionary War Compiled Military Service Records
Understanding Revolutionary War Pensions
Understanding Pension Ledgers, Pension Payments, Last and Final Payments
Understanding Bounty Land
(requires internet connection, headset, and whatever else it takes to make GoToMeeting work on your end. Sessions will be recorded and available for download later)

Tour
Three days at the National Archives
Two days at the DAR Library
(meaning that I will be at each one of these places on the appropriate days and available for guidance and consultation)

Hotel and Food on you.
Transportation to and from facilities on you.

Cost: $225

What do you think of the concept?
What themes should be considered?
What facilities should be visited?
What have I forgotten?
Would you go?

Help me, please.

C.

Executions on file

Whenever there is a question of a hanging I like to look at

 Executions is the U.S. 1608-2002: The ESPY File

on the web. Google it.

My experience with the file is that it has always been a good. I have found every hanging I was looking for.

My Favorite NARA record group

It might come as a surprise to most of you that my favorite National Archives Record Group is RG 217, Records of the Accounting Officers of the Department of the Treasury. Why would a military guy like me care about Treasury records?

Well first, I'm not really a military-only kind of guy anymore and one of the reasons is this record group. It seems that all the hidden away, hard to find things, in genealogy that touch on the federal government in some way also touch this record group.

I first came across this record group as a young genealogist, when I was the consummate collector of finding aids. I have probably the largest collection of NARA finding aids outside of the National Archives (unfortunately hidden away in boxes, so many boxes, except for the ones I use all the time) and I was always on the lookout for one that I did not have in my collection. I was such a pest about it that one day an archivist introduced me to The Archivist (John W. Carlin) and she stated that I had the largest collection of finding aids outside the Archives. He was not impressed and neither was I. If you are a lover of records you have to be a lover of finding aids. You know the kind of item you would want to fall asleep with at night. Actually most of them make great sleeping pills.

Well this finding aid had a problem. For some unknown reason his finding aid was published on microfiche. Obviously a government conspiracy to keep genealogists away from the records (just kidding). It made it very difficult to read the finding aid in bed, and although I own (somewhere) a microfiche reader I was not about to carry it on the MARC train into the Archives. It was problematic and their appeared to be only one solution. I had to transcribe the microfiche.

That is not as outlandish a concept for me as you might imagine. In 1994 I had transcribed and annotated and even indexed the Preliminary Inventory of the War Department Collection of Confederate Records, RG 109 because I found it difficult to use. One of those books that is always in reach that I will talk about at some other time.

So I began the task of transcribing the microfiche. In the process I met and talked on several occasions with archivist, William F. Sherman, the author of the microfiche finding aid which was also know as Inventory 14. An inventory is what the archives staff compiles when they are fairly confident that they have accounted for all the records in a record group and that it is unlikely that more is going to show up. Finding aids extant before that moment in time are "preliminary.". Inventory 14 was originally published in 1987 in microfiche with a hard-copy introduction and it is still available today. In 1997 I published my revised version with annotations and what I considered to be a better index. It is never far from my desk. Not sure which box the microfiche version is in.

It became clear to me, in 1995 or 1996, that lots of stuff was missing from this inventory and for me the hunt was afoot. It turns out that there are two kinds of things in the Archives, described and undescribed. Described usually means it has been looked at, we know what it is,  and this is what it is and there is this much of it. Undescribed usually means it has been looked at, we think we know what it is but we are not going to tell you yet but we will tell you how much of it there is. When it was all said and not quite done (when is it ever done) there were over 500 items that were undescribed and not in the inventory. My timing was excellent. The move from the Records Center at Suitland to Archives II in College Park, Maryland had uncovered Accounting Officer records not in the inventory and this resulted in a rather long list of undescribed materials. John Vandereedt, a since retired archivist, was very helpful in making me understand it all. He has had that pleasure more than once over the years.

I once researched around a person in the Archives and all he cared about was Civil War raincoat contracts. I told him one day about Undescribed Entry 313. Raincoat Contracts. 1 box.  I saw him once more after that. He said thanks and I never saw him again. There is an interesting entry (remember the undescribed only have titles, they don't have descriptions) in Entry 299. Lighthouse Letters, 1790-1835. 2 boxes. One day. And then one, Entry 303. Account Report of William Blount, Governor of Tennessee, ca. 1812 - 1856 (was he governor that long???). 1 box. Actually I had not noticed that one before, something else to look at.

Enough for today. Now that you know the history of it, we will talk of the great of it the next time.

Genealogical Theories: I am collecting them

It does not take long to examine the genealogical literature for genealogical theories. There just really aren't any. So I have been putting some universals together.

The first one that comes up is the Law of Inbreeding.

Everyone alive descends from an person who married their cousin, which thankfully (or not, if  you have ever printed all of your pedigree charts and found that 63 of them were the same set of ancestors) explains why the population of the world is not much larger than it is. If we were not the descendants of inbreeders our population would not be 6 billion, but more than likely in excess of 6 trillion (if one couple in 725 had two who had four who had eight, etc.). But that is not how it works. For years inbreeding has gotten a bad rap, but truly without it the world would be rather cramped, even in places where it takes 60 acres to support a mother cow and her calf (I sat next to a cattle vet from Idaho on the trip back from SLC).

So the deal is to find out to what degree you are inbreed.  I haven't figured that out yet, but there has to be math somewhere that can define it.

I mentioned John Woodson before, in five generations I descend from him five different ways, once through John "Tub" Woodson and four times through Robert "Potato-Bin" Woodson. Two first cousin marriages in a row on Robert's side into the Parsons increased the numbers.

How many of us have calculated how many times removed we are from our spouses. My parents are twenty-fifth cousins (not a provable connection) twice removed. I gave up trying to explain it to them. That probably means that there is also the Limited Law of Removed which might be that no one except a genealogist understands the concept of cousin relationships, but I have to work on that one someday.

It is hard for me to be serious today. A root canal yesterday and I threw my back out moving a bookcase right after that. Fortunately, tomorrow is another day.

STOP IDENTITY THEFT: A call to action

To all my genealogy and non-genealogy friends and family. Please sign the petition at http://wh.gov/khE This is White House petition which requires 25,000 signatures before the administration will respond. It deals with the pressing problem of identity theft and the IRS doing its job, instead of blaming others for their failure to identify fraud.

Please get your friends and families to do the same.

 

 

 

An Absolute Must Have

There are just some books that outshine all the others. North Carolina Research, Genealogy and Local History, Second Edition edited by Helen F. M. Leary, CG, FASG is like that. Books come in four classes of location for me. Close means I don't have to get out of my chair to get to it. Near means I have to stand up, but not leave the room. Far means I have to get up and leave the room. Shed means I have to drive five miles to the storage shed. I keep Helen Leary close. The book and the person in my heart. She has taught me so much over the years. She is someone that every genealogist can learn from. My understanding is that she is working on a book of lectures. I do not know when it will be available, but I promise to let you know. I know that it is a book that I will be buying.

Focus, Craig, focus. Because I live in North Carolina I use this book often, so often that I have two copies one close and one near (in my wife's office where it is her close copy) if that gives you some idea. But this reference is mistitled. It really should be Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Genealogy: Using North Carolina Examples.

Part I deals with Research Techniques delving into the issues of evaluating research data, designing research strategies, and among others reading handwriting and abstracting.

Part II deals with county records meaning marriage, divorce, vital, wills, estates, land, tax and fiscal, and the various courts, military and pension, school, business and others.

Part III deals with state records meaning census, marriage, divorce, wills and estates, land grants, higher courts, and military.

Part IV deals with federal records such as those in the National Archives relating to census and the military.

Part V deals with private records, be they family, cemetery, church, newspapers, and business.

Part VI deals with nonwritten records such as oral histories, photographs and artifacts.

There is an appendices on Long Distance Research, terms and abbreviations and genealogical organization and compilation.

To say the least this is one of the most comprehensive genealogical books in the market from the perspective of what you can learn from it.

I am sure that many of you already have this book, but then there might be one or two of you who don't and it is worth the post to bring it to your attention. It is an absolute must have (and over time you will learn that my concept of "absolute must have" is only a couple of handfuls of books). If you have this book you might post your joy (or lack of joy for that matter) with it. Or you might mention your favorite near titles. It would be interesting to see. Mentioning Evidence, Evidence Explained and the Chicago Manual of Style will not give us insight into your thoughts, since it is my hope that we all have those near.

0936370106    601-5616   $55.00 plus tax and shipping


Heritage Books, North Carolina Genealogical Society, Maia's Books, and Amazon.