Happy New Year

Well, I did it.  I finally did it.  After taking a genealogy class about seven years ago, retaking the genealogy class last year, working with free resources at several local libraries. creating masses of paper, I did it.  I signed up for six months of Ancestry.com.

For any beginners, I actually recommend my method. Our local libraries offer a free library edition of ancestry and I also used the free site, Family Search. Both allowed me to download and make copies of census records, birth, marriage and death records, and even more data. This allowed me to compare information and make sure what I was saving actually applied to my ancestors.  

This is was even more helpful to me since my ancestors like to name people the same names over and over.  Pick a name like John Doe and you might have a grandfather, a father, a nephew, a cousin, an uncle; all in the census. I really needed to establish time lines to make sure the correct John was in my paperwork. 

By the time I subscribed to ancestry and began creating my family tree, I was able to sort through all the "hints" and find which ones absolutely apply to "my" family.  I have found several trees posted with information I know is incorrect. I am hoping to avoid this. 

I have only had the service since January 1 and you can tell how much time I am spending on it by the fact I still have my Christmas tree up! 

I am doing my tree privately for now until I am sure that everything is correct. I also need to merge some people - I saved some with different last names since we seem to be pretty flexible with how we fill out census forms and records. My husband's family actually used completely different last names and both Polish and American versions of their names with various spellings. They can be very challenging.  I believe my great grandmother's family was illiterate and every form I have ever seen has spelling her unique first name differently. 

Eventually I want to pay the help I am getting from other's research by posting photos. I am the family museum for all the old photos on both sides of my family and I know I have photos that no one else has. I have all the poses from a family photo shoot prior to the flu epidemic in 1911 including uncles, grandparents, great grandparents. There were several survivors in the bunch (not my great grandmother or great great grandfather) and I know there are descendants out there that would value these photos as much as I do. 

I also purchased DNA kits for my husband and myself. We have not sent them in yet; I am a little nervous about it.