Friday, December 30, 2011

The Best Gift I Never Got

I had a "real"-ish post planned for today--something sparked in part by something I read on one of the blogs on our little corner of the Internet. Fridays are one of my days off so I figured I had all day to work on it and get it "just so," instead of starting in the morning and then rushing home after work to finish it up in time to post three minutes before midnight and then spend two days editing the typos out of the post (as I did most of the rest of this week).

Instead, what happened was I spent most of the day enjoying the gift Cranky Ex-Boss Lady's daughter gave her for Christmas, which was a 6-month membership to Ancestry.com. Neither of them have internet access or even a computer at home, so part of the "gift" is kind of from me, as I will be doing the "legwork" of researching their family histories online. As of yet, CBL has not gotten me the list of names she wants to begin with, so I've been taking advantage of the unlimited access to research my own family tree in every direction imaginable.

It's astoundingly easy to get started and crazily addictive once you get going. Within a few hours, I was four or five generations back on multiple levels of my tree. While most of the records available are just-the-facts statistical type things (dates, names, locations), occasionally you can get a glimpse of a little more--height and weight on draft registration cards, surprising household compositions from various census records, etc. This afternoon, I saw the signatures of two great-grandfathers whom I never met on their World War I draft registration cards.

I also discovered that my father's father's mother's mother's father had moved in with his daughter and son-in-law after he was widowed. During the 1900 census, he was 72 years old. The census information shows that he arrived in the US from Wales in 1860, that both his parents were born in Wales. Then comes the Occupation column under which someone wrote, "Old man."

I realize this internet thing has been around for a while now, but it's still amazing to me that it's possible to sit in my desk chair, in my pajamas, in my teeny, tiny Western New York town and look at, say, the Welsh census from 1841--not just the figures, but a photographic image of the actual pages.  It's so amazing, in fact, that I am thinking of asking Hubby to log on to my/CBL's account to change the password so I stand some chance of accomplishing something "real" tomorrow.

14 comments:

  1. Haha .. that's awesome!! I'd love to find out my family's whereabouts (trust me though, ancestry.com isn't that advanced yet). Lucky/Poor you. I'm sure you'll have fun..even if it is someone else's family ... Well I hope so anyway.

    I passed by to check if you had a blog button, to add to my blogroll, and then I noticed you had me on yours. *melts* thank you. :) Hope you have a wonderful night!

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  2. It's odd, but I have no interest whatsoever in my ancestry. I am, however, very interested in listing "Old Man" as my occupation whenever possible.
    *gratird - I think the meaning of that one is all in the pronunciation!

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  3. I'm not much into geneology, though I have spent time looking up my ancestors online. It's so cool to see those old paper and signatures. A great link to the past.

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  4. That is so cool! I have spent hours with my Grandparents, sorting photo's and listening to stories, and love that I can look at a picture from their album and not only know who it is, but know a story about them. Family roots are so interesting!

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  5. It may not have been a "real" post, but I can actually envision myself taking steps to doing something I have never even thought of before, and that is looking at the information my mom has been compiling for at least 25 years. I just never had any interest. I do, however, like to see what others constitute as real and what? fantasy posts? Nicely done.

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  6. MAsked Mom, you are just beginning...Ancestry.com, as cool as it seems now, is a teeny, tiny baby step! My father was obsessed with genealogy. Nobody in my family could stand listening to him go on and on about dead people they'd never met, and I found that sad, so even though it didn't really interest me either, I took the time to listen to him. And I found myself getting sucked in. Not so much my the places and dates, but by the process. And the names, for some reason. I like names.

    Enjoy your (unexpected) quest!

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  7. I was just saying that it's as much (or even more) about the process--the challenge--as it is about the actual information and the connection to my distant past. And I definitely can picture myself going further. It's weird to me how urgent it all seems.

    And Mark, I don't know about fantasy, but I was in something of a hazy daze when I wrote this one. ;)

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  8. I am with S Stauss on this one - I don't have much interest in way dead ancestors (maybe the ones who are just a little dead might be interesting) but I do want to want to be listed as Old Person whenever possible - and that is doubly funny since I don't EVEN LIKE GETTING OLD!
    and how do you do that blogroll thing? I want to do that but I don't know how. Help?

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  9. sebtown--From your blogger dashboard, select the "Design" tab, which brings you to "Add & Arrange Page Elements." In the layout section's top right corner, there is an "add a gadget" button. You want "Blog List." It pretty much walks you through the rest--and automatically links to the latest posts from everyone. You can customize the heading and its placement on your page. Handy gadget. :)

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  10. Masked Mom! Cool! I did it! Thanks so much. I have been to that layout place before but never did the edit thing. It's a start and I know Marky would not approve of the EP's! but I like them!!!!

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  11. I shouldn't say he doesn't APPROVE - its not that kind of thing. He just doesn't use them..... needed to clarify that. :)

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  12. I love piecing together ancestors. I started on ancestry.com to figure out my husband's history (which has been fascinating!) but even with my family's limited American history, I am enjoying tracing the extended family stuff. I like being connected to things bigger than myself...and I also love the names, as someone else said.

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  13. Heavens to Murgatroyd! The things I learn every day of my life. Thank-you MM, for the wonderful tutorial, and thanks, JT, for the clarification. You are right on point.

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  14. I've occasionally wondered if paying for ancestry.com was worth it. Now I'm thinking it just might be! Genealogy can certainly be a slippery slope.

    A few years ago, I was helping a friend research his ancestors who'd come over from Russia by way of Ellis Island. The Ellis Island Foundation website is AMAZING! I was so excited when I found the ship manifests with his great-great grandfather's name on it.

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