Why Is It?

Why is it that genealogy, as fun as it is, can sometimes be challenging and at the same time enlightening?

1. Why is it that all the women in a family married brothers and named their children some of the same names? There are three boys named Noah, all born in the same place within a few months of each other. Couldn't they be more creative with the names? They should have realized how difficult this makes genealogical research!

2. Why is it that the death certificate indicates an ancestor died in 1922 and the tombstone is carved as 1923? Couldn't somebody read or remember?

3. Why is it that when I call ahead, the courthouse is still closed? Do they do these things on purpose? Surely the furnace won't break down or the basement flood the day I drive 500 miles to get there!

4. Why is it that genealogists have to buy different genealogical software to get one that seems to be perfect only to learn that something else has been released that is even better?

5. Why is it that on the 1880 US Census a 75 year old man is shown with no occupation and yet his wife who is age 73 is shown as a housekeeper? I know that answer ... a woman's work is never done!

6. Why is it that when you get to the library to do research, you discover that the notes you need are still at home? Solution: take your laptop or iPod Touch or iPhone!

7. Why is it that the web page you really need is no longer there? Refer to my latest blog at Genealogy Lines.

8. Why is it that the cemetery you have never visited and are now in is covered with poison ivy, most of the tombstones are broken and you have to walk through fifty years of fallen leaves to find them?

9. Why is it that the person who has the family records you need has died and the records have been thrown into the dumpster by their relatives.

10. Why is it that you can't get your great grandmother's death certificate because you don't know her maiden name? Duh ... that's why you need the certificate.

Why is it that I'm so addicted to this frustrating "stuff?"

You Go Genealogy Girls #1 .... Ruby

Well Planned Gone Wrong

What You Go Girl #2 didn't tell you about the Nebraska State Historical Society visit in May of 2008 was that we had to abort our original plans of doing research all day. We lasted until noon. The library-research room was unbearably hot. There is nothing worse that two energetic genealogists falling asleep on the job! In the transition between winter and spring, their AC was apparently not working.

This happens and then you have to punt or have a back-up plan in place. Fortunately we had other things to do, but it did cut our time short at the Nebraska State Historical Society building.

These things happen. I have gone to a courthouse that was unexpectedly closed because everybody employed there was attending a famous local's funeral service. Of course, these instances usually involve the small town courthouses. Even so, these instances change the schedule completely. In this case I read the sign on the door and waited it out at the town clerk's office until they opened after the services. Apparently the town clerk decided not to attend the services! Some small courthouses close all offices over lunch break. If you are there, you leave also ... or if you arrive shortly before lunch, your research just begins when you have to leave.

While it pays to have that back up plan in mind, it also pays to laugh and chalk it up to a great learning experience. The two of us laugh at a lot of things ... we'll tell you more about those instances as we go along. You Go Girl #2 snapped this picture of me last May hugging a tree ... perhaps a family tree!

You Go Girl #1, Ruby