The Genealogy Narrative

One of my main goals in publishing this blog is to transform dry genealogy data into a more meaningful narrative story of my ancestors, their times and their journeys to America. This approach lacks the academic rigor of a drier, more straightforward cataloging of historical records, but is far more readable. I try to strike a balance between these two approaches by including direct links to as many original documents as possible. This allows the reader to see the basis for my stories and come to their own conclusions if they so choose.

I'm pleased to see others taking this narrative approach to genealogy in order to appeal to a wider audience. Today the New York times has published a very interesting story on the family of Michele Obama. The article focuses on the discovery of a white ancestor in Mrs. Obama's tree. However, the trail of records is sparse and lacking for detailed information, as was quite common for black families after the Civil War. To fill these gaps the author includes stories of those who knew Mrs. Obama's ancestors. The article also includes a multimedia presentation with an interactive family tree and images of all the original documents on which the story is based. Cheers to the Times for taking this narrative approach to a genealogy story and especially for publishing the original documents. Too often newspapers publish stories on famous genealogies that only cherry pick interesting and often misleading details from a serious genealogist's work (i.e., headlines like "Obama and Bush and Cheney are all Cousins -- imagine the family reuinions!"). To see genealogy presented in the press in this professional and moving way benefits both the reader and the view of genealogy in general.

How I Research

Every genealogist has a different research strategy. Some spend hours in libraries and write to record keepers in distant countries on a regular basis. Others simply click paste together every tree they can find on the internet and (hopefully) sort out the mess later. I prefer accuracy over speed, but I also know that many people can't afford the time and effort needed to build a tree based entirely on original documents. So I thought I would share my quick and cost effective research philosophy and methods.

I am soon to be an attorney, and am now very used to billing my time. So I tend to analyze different research avenues based on how much time it will take and how much it will cost me. If there is only a slim chance that I will discover useful information, then I give the research a low priority. For example, a trip to Virginia or North Carolina to view colonial records might produce a copy of a will of an ancestor or some other useful information, but the cost is not worth this discovery. Many people have already researched these colonial documents, and so it is much easier to simply rely on a summary of the document that can easily be found online. While it is not as solidly reliable as the original document, it is better than simply relying on unsourced family trees. I think this strategy provides a happy medium between costs and accuracy.

With that in mind, here is how a typical research session goes. I start on Ancestry.com, where I keep my online family trees. I have a US records subscription through Ancestry. They offer a World records subscription, but their international records are too paltry to make this a worthwhile investment.

Typically I start my searches by looking at census records. Census records back to 1850 are very useful, as they list each member of a family and their age, allowing you to connect children with parents going backwards, assuming the names are not too common. Census records after 1880 also include the relationship of the person to the head of house (i.e., "daughter"), as well as the birthplace of the person and their parents. The most useful census of all is probably the 1900 census, as it contains the birth moth and year of each person, the number of children they have had, the year they were married, and the year they immigrated if applicable. I use ancestry.com to search census records because I like the options in their advanced search tool, but they are not the only source for this data. FamilySearch.com's Pilot Record Search now has census records from 1850 through 1920, all for free.

I never rely solely on census records to prove a family connection. Keep in mind that some people are always missed by each census, so you should never assume that you have found your ancestor simply because only one person with that name shows up in the location where your ancestors lived. Instead, it is best to cross reference census data against other sources. What records to use depends on the location and time period of the ancestor in question. For modern (20th century) ancestors I look for birth, marriage and death records. Availability of these varies by state. I am mostly interested in families from Missouri, Kentucky and Indiana. Of these, Missouri has the best records available online. Missouri's Digital Heritage Project has scanned death records from 1910 through 1957 (1958 is being added now and they need your help! Email archref@sos.mo.gov for more info!). They also have some useful 19th century records, including naturalization records and civil war service records.

A death certificate is a great place to find information as most certificates include such useful bits of info as the exact birthday, birthplace, parents' names and sometime their birthplace, and spouse's name. If no marriage records are readily available, then death certificates are the best way to learn the maiden name of a mother. And don't forget to check for the death certificates of siblings in order to confirm info. Keep in mind that death certificates are not filled out by the person who died, so the survivors might not always know the correct information. Comparing a few siblings can help sort out such inconsistencies.

If the ancestor did not live into the 20th century, then the best source for information is usually legal records, including wills and deeds (land purchase records). Obviously wills usually name the children of the deceased. But wills are rare, and deeds are a good source if no will can be found. Deeds often record gifts of land made by someone to their children prior to their death, as a way to avoid probate, so often these records will also mention family relations. Even if they do not specifically spell out the relationship, they can be a strong indication that one exists.

Finding these records can be a challenge. The online availability of these records depends on the location. Often google searches for "will book" or "deed book" plus the name of the county will bring up at least partial results. Sometimes local county pages for the US Genweb project or the Genealogy Trails project will have these records transcribed online. Ancestry.com also has some counties (mostly in the former colonies) in their subscription database. If the records are not to be found online, try contacting your local Family History Center. These centers provide access to microfilm records collected by the LDS church. The catalog of records available from the FHC can be found here. Try searching by county and state name.

Finally, if you are completely stuck and cannot find any records online for an ancestor, try genealogy message boards. It is likely you will find someone at least researching the same family. E-mail them and beg for help. They may have copies of the records you need. It worked for me, and I'm always happy when I have a chance to return the favor and help people who e-mail me for help. If you are in need of research help, e-mail me. You can find my e-mail address by clicking on "view my complete profile."

Accessing Ancestry.com

On the left-hand side of this page you'll see links to my trees on Ancestry.com. This is where I do the bulk of my genealogy research. Ancestry.com can be annoying because it will constantly bug you to sign up when you go to view links. So I thought I would create a generic account for the family to use.

You can access any of the trees using the following account:

Login: Rootsandall
Pass: frankfamily

My family trees on Ancestry.com:
Frank/Dickson/Beasley/Harrison Family Tree

Sullivan/Hickey/Gruenewald Family Tree

Ebelhar Family Tree

The site can be a bit hard to navigate, so here are a few tips:

When you first click the link, you are taken to the Overview, which shows recently added photos and stores as well as other statistics. The best way to start is to pick a person and go to their specific page. In the upper right hand side of the page is a search box. Type a name in there (i.e., "Forrest Frank") and it will instantly give you search results. You can also just search by last name or part of a name. Select a person and it will take you to their personal details page. This lists all the events in their life as well as their relations.

There are two ways to navigate to other people from here. On the left are the person's parents and children. Clicking on one of them will take you to their page. There is also a small + below the parents that you can click to go directly to siblings.

You can also navigate by clicking on the 'Family Tree' tab just above the person's name. This will give you a visual of the tree going back 5 generations when possible, a useful way to see your own ancestors. Click on different people in the tree will move you up or down the tree. To get back to the personal details screen for a person, click on that person and then click the 'People' tab.

Finally, you will often see a little leaf icon notifying you that hints are available for the person you are viewing. You can only access these hints (as well as the results of searches) if you have a paid account. However, you can see the hints I've already attached to people. On the left hand side of the person's details page will be links to census forms and other data. You can click on these to read the details or see a scan of the original document when available.

I hope that is not too confusing. I can help anyone having problems using the website, just email me or leave me a comment and I will be happy to help.

Digging for Roots

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sanh.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today.

-- Inaugural Address of President Barack Obama, January 20, 2009.


Hello and Welcome!

The above quote pretty much sums up why I am interested in genealogy. The stories of our ancestors make us who we are today. Their life stories, both famous and obscure, rich and poor, remind us of the significance each life has on the rest of the world.

I have created this blog in order to keep my family updated on the findings of my genealogy research. Most of the posts will be updates on research into particular family lines. I will post updates and interesting stories I find on the families I am researching. Along the way I will also post on other subjects related to genealogy. I am especially interested in efforts to digitize ancient records and make them accessible to the public. I will post on these efforts as well as tips on the resources available on the internet that I have found most helpful in my searches.

Here are the main family names I will am researching:

My father's family:

• Frank
• Dickson
• Beasley
• Backer
• Shelton

My father's family is from Callaway County, Missouri.

My mother's family:

• Sullivan
• Hickey
• Gruenewald

My mother's family is from the St. Louis, Missouri area.

My wife's father's family:

• Roberts
• Westerfield

My wife's mother's family:

• Ebelhar
• Riney

My wife's family is from Daviess County, Kentucky.

You can keep up to date on my findings for all of these families by subscribing to this blog's rss feed. Thanks for visiting, and I wish you the best of luck in your own searches.