Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Like a dog with a bone

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One of the reasons I frequently feel overwhelmed with my family history research is that there are so many different lines to explore and people to research. I’ll often jump from one to another in the course of a research session.

But for the last few days, I’ve been focusing on one person, my father’s paternal grandfather’s father, George Washington Adams. I can’t seem to verify his birth date and death dates and his name is common enough that there quite a few red herrings out there. I’ve been trying various online sources and scratching my head over this. I’ve made some assumptions along the way that I realize might not necessarily be right. I think I’ve found his Civil War records and if I’m right on that, then that’s him living in the National Home for Disabled Soldiers on the 1930 census.

Usually when I get frustrated, I move on to another ancestor. But this one has kept gnawing on my brain, like a dog gnawing on a bone. I haven’t been able to move on.

But I think I found him listed on an index of Illinois deaths from the Illinois Death Certificates Database. I have to write to the Vermilion County Clerk to request his death certificate, but the index included the death certificate number, which gives me hope. When it arrives I hope that it will confirm that this is my guy. We shall see.

Now I just have to wait for the death certificate. (I mailed the request this morning.) So I’m going to put George Washington Adams out of my mind and move on to another family member. I think giving my brain a break from this little frustration will do me good!

Setting my genealogy goals

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One of my favorite things about December is goal setting. I take stock of the year and how did on the goals I set the prior December. And then I create new goals for the coming year. I do this for my organizing business every year, but this will be the first year I’ve set specific goals for my family history research.

I think having goals will help me get past the overwhelmed feeling I sometimes get when I think about my family history research. I think I’ll also create a running wish list, a place to capture research subjects or activities I’d like to do at some point. That will help with the “what should I work on today?” question that comes up from time to time.

I’m going to spend some time honing my genealogy goals over the course of the month, so these might change. But right now, the goals that occur to me are:

  • Take a research trip
  • Meet some of my new-found cousins
  • Attend at least one genealogy-related conference
  • Learn about and take advantage of local research opportunities
  • Do family history research at least twice a week
  • Post to this blog twice a week
  • Increase the readership of this blog

I’m noticing that none of these goals are related to actual research results or the research that I want to accomplish. And that’s okay with me. I’m a big believer in doing things a little at a time and rewarding effort, rather than results. I don’t know where my research is going to take me and I’m really enjoying the journey. So my goal for next year is continue with the research and enjoy the fruits of my labor.

I love a mystery

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I think one of the reasons I enjoy genealogy research so much is that it makes me feel like a detective. The mysteries can be frustrating, but solving them is oh so satisfying.

Today’s mystery: the death date of my great, great grandmother, Antoinette Garlock Brown. I thought I had it nailed. She died in Missouri in 1922, so I had easy access to her death certificate. (In fact, I blogged about finding her death certificate in a blog post called Those Darn Nicknames.) The hand-written death certificate lists January 9, 1922 as her date of death. The filing date is listed as January 11, 1922. It didn’t seem ambiguous to me.

Today, I found a photograph of her headstone at Find A Grave. It clearly states her date of death as February 9, 1922. It’s etched in stone, so it feels very official. I also have a yellowed newspaper clipping of her obituary, which was found among my grandmother’s belongings after she passed away. It, too, lists her date of death as February 9. Unfortunately, that clipping doesn’t show the date of the newspaper nor the name of the newspaper.

When I squinted harder at the death certificate, it started to become a little more equivocal. It looks like the undertaker wrote the bulk of the information, but the medical examiner is the one who filled in the dates. Under age, the undertaker wrote 66 years, 5 months, 26 days. Since she was born August 13, 1855, that would make her death date February 9. Is it possible that the medical examiner got his months mixed up and no one noticed?

I spent some time trying to locate any other record of her death, so far to no avail. I searched for an obituary to try to get a newspaper date (if that obit appeared in January, clearly it would be wrong). It’s hard for me to imagine that both the obituary and the headstone are wrong. But it’s also hard to imagine the medical examiner not knowing what month it is.

I’m bound and determined to solve this mystery. I can’t wait to find out what the answer (and perhaps explanation) is. And when I do I’ll report it here!

Making connections

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Brown family, before trip to Nebraska, 1922

1922. My grandfather, Crawford Brown, is the boy on the left. The family drove that car to Nebraska from Missouri shortly after.

So far, for me, genealogy has been a fairly solitary pursuit. That’s kind of how I like things. I like to go at my own pace and I tend to stick to myself.

That’s not necessarily a good idea, as I discovered this week. On Sunday, I was contacted through this blog by my mother’s first cousin, Jerry Brown, who, along with his sister, Judy, has done extensive genealogical research. We corresponded a little, and then he introduced me via email to a whole bunch of Brown cousins, including some who live in the area I’m hoping to visit on a research trip, and they’ve been reaching out to me. (You can read a couple of the comments I received from them in the comments on this post.)

It’s been wonderful–what a friendly and loving family. They shared reminiscences of my grandparents (their aunt and uncle) and also shared some amazing family photos, including the wonderful photo above, which was sent to me by John Laflen.

The Browns have been so wonderful, it makes me want to reach out to other parts of my family, too.

If you’re reading this and you’re one of my Brown cousins, thank you! I look forward to meeting you in person. If you happen to be related to another part of my family, please feel free to leave a comment. I’m so glad that Jerry Brown did.