Military Research

Since today is Remembrance Day I thought I would wright a little bit about doing research for individuals who have served in the military.  I will be honest I haven't done a ton of military research.  One thing about the military is that they keep a lot of records.

My Grandfather was in the US Army Air Cor during WWII.  Most of the records and documents I have found about his military service were found on ancesty.com.  I found his WWII draft registration card and his military enlistment record.  As we do military research we should never forget to search what we have at home and what family members have.

This is a picture of my Grandfather in front of a junked B-17.  He served in England as part of the grounds crew as a mechanical engineer.  I got this picture from my Grandma several years ago.  I was also lucky enough to be given a copy of a person history my Grandpa wrote.  He wrote about some events that happened while he was overseas.  When I was a teenager I also got to hear him share some of his experiences in person.

One place that I haven't used much personally but I know has a lot of great information is 3fold.  It is a subscriptions site so there is some cost to it.  News paper articles are another great resource.  There are many ways to access these.  I do google searches.  There are some on Ancestry and I know there newspaper.com which is also a subscription site.

Another thing that I find interesting is to study the events my Grandfather was involved in.  It is a great way to understand and appreciate what my Grandpa went through and how it became a part of who he was.  You can't be involved in a war and not have it influence your life.

I have great respect and gratitude for those who have served in the military.  I am glad we have a day to honour and remember these brave men and women.  When we find one of our ancestors have bene in the military it brings these historical events closer to home. 

Using Facebook in Family history

           I use facebook in my family history all the time.  When I first started using facebook I mostly used it to collect information and pictures.  People post pictures and information about important events in their lives.  I collect pictures, names, dates and places when people post about weddings, births, missions, baby blessings, graduations, birthdays and all kinds of other events.  Facebook is one of the best places I know to collect information.

            Every once in a while I go through my family history database and see what information I am missing on my living relatives.  I then get on facebook and message the person I think would have the information.  It doesn’t always work.  Some people don’t respond but I don’t worry so much about the information I don’t get.  I’m grateful for the information I do get the technology that makes it possible to get information from people all over the place.

            I have been given the job of scanning my Grandma’s old pictures.  Most of the time she did not do a very good job of labeling the pictures so I don’t always know who, what where or when of the pictures.  One way I get the information I need is by posting the pictures on facebook to see if people can give me the information.  Other times I post the pictures in messages to people I thought could give me the information.

            One of my favorite things I do on facebook to gather, preserve and share family history is creating family facebook groups.  This gives families a more private place to upload family information, pictures and stories.  I really enjoy seeing what my family members add to the group.  It fun to see the comments that they make on the pictures and stories.  The fun part is that you never know what people are going to say or upload.  I have gotten a lot of great stuff.  My family enjoys it.  This is a way I can actually get my family to be involved in family history.

I just want to share an example of how well this has worked.

This picture was titled Elder JGP 1973.

Matthew-Jandy Barry We recognize that campus!

·      

Jarom Corinne Purnell He looks alot like Isaac to me!

Matthew-Jandy Barry That's what Matthew said! I agree. They could be twins with different hair color.

Cinda Spirig Yay Dad!!

Matthew-Jandy Barry Dad remembers this occasion and says it's not 1973. He was pre-mission here.

·         

Steven-Glenna High It may have been when he and Gay & David came down to pick me up after summer school (I think 71) and helped me with my French class and moved me out of my summer apartment. They spent most of a week there. That is when we stalled in the deep water in an intersection in Ogden and got hit by a car crossing the intersection.

            Another thing that happens when you post family pictures or stories is that it reminds people of other stories that they then share.  Sometimes it takes a while to get going but it can be a lot of fun and you can collect preserve and share all kinds of family history information.

Start with you

I have had several people ask me how to get started in family history.  I tell them it depends on what they want to accomplish, what their goal is.  This is true but there are some things that anyone should do when the begin doing family history research.
The first thing I tell people to do is to start with what they know.  Some people tell me that they don't know very much.  That's okay.  Don't worry about what you don't know, just write down what you do know.  When people start writing down what they know they are often surprised how much they really do know.
So start with yourself and record what you know.  Then do the same thing for your parents and your grandparents.  The next step is to go through any pictures, documents, letters, journals or other records you can find.  Once you get started you will be amazed at all the information you never knew you had.
The next step is to talk to living relatives.  Find out what they know.  They may say they don't know much.  Tell them not to worry about what they don't know.  You are looking for what they do know.  You may both be amazed at the information you get.  Sometimes the most important piece of information you will get is who they suggest you talk to for the information you are looking for.
I know that we go in looking for names, dates and places but gather the stories and pictures too.  These are what will make your ancestors real to you.  I don't know about you, but for me, one of the main reasons I do family history is to get to know my ancestors

My business

I am an experienced family history researcher.  I am starting my own family history research business and I am looking for clients.  I would welcome any interest or questions.  Take a look at my first two posts and if there is anything I can do for you just let me know.

My Family History Experience

Classes, Conferences and Expos

Lethbridge Family History Conference

-          2014

Logan Family History Center Conference for three years

–     2010

–     Two Legacy Classes

New Familysearch

- 2013

-Two Rootsmagic classes

-Personal Historian

Roots Tech for three years 2012, 2013, 2014

–     2013

–     Several classes on writing and recording personal histories.

–     2014

–     Class on how to get children involved in family history

–     Class on Blogging.

Several class at the Logan Family History Center.

–     Rootsmagic

–     writing personal histories

–     getting youth involved in family history

Family History Expo in Logan 2009

–     Rootsmagic

–     Legacy

–     Scottish research.

Online classes on familysearch.

            Beginning English Research (four parts)

Volunteer and Work Experience

-Temple Ready

-Family History Centers

            -Billings

            -Logan

                        Besides the on hands experience this included weekly, monthly and                                    quarterly training.

            -Cardston

-Phylis Smart

            -Imputing Data into PAF

-Jennifer Lugo

            -Research

-Blaine Worthen

            -Research

            Helped Design organization system for media folder, logs, numbering system and              paper work for family history.

            Supervised and taught others how to do research and how to use the system I                    helped design.

-Charlie Zisette

            -Research.

            Helped his family get names ready to go to the temple

-Chelsee Killorn Griffiths

            -Research

            -Organized the research

-McKenzie Asay Griffiths

            -same as above

gave the research, including the database, research log and media fold along with the instructions on how it is organized and how to continue the research, to her for Christmas.

Started the same project for another sister-in-law, McKenzie Asay Griffiths for Christmas this year

-Family History Coordinator and Consultant in three different wards

            -Taught the Family History Sunday School Class many times.

-Ward Indexing Coordinator

-Working one on one with several individuals of various ages to help them in a wide variety of areas of family history.

Teaching Experience

-Rootsmagic Class at the Cardston Family History Center

            2 four week sessions.

            2 three week sessions

-Family History Sunday class in a mid-single adult ward for about 2 years.

-Presentations on family history at family reunions to encourage people to get involved in family history any way they can.

Strengths and Skills

-Programs and Websites

            Roots Magic, PAF, Legacy, Ancestry, Family Search, Findagrave, Familysearch                -Familytree

-Areas of research

            Utah, Vermont, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, England, Early LDS Pioneers,                            Alberta, and a little bit in England.

-Organization, Sourcing and Documentation

            See examples of my organization system and the instructions

-Gathering information for and putting together personal histories.

            Grandpa and Grandma Griffiths' histories

            Grandpa and Grandma Purnell's blog (glenandonna.blogspot.ca)

            MWG Family and Glen and Donna Purnell, and Jesse Jr Griffiths facebook group pages

Why I Do Family History

I have been doing family history for about 20 years.  I started when I was a teenager.  In the winter time my family would spend a lot of time at my Grandpa and Grandma's house.  As a teenager I didn't find much at their house that was terribly entertaining.  I did love to read and soon discovered that my Grandma had a file that contained histories of her ancestors.  I enjoyed reading the stories of these amazing people.  At the same time I discovered that there was also a file that contained pedigree charts and family group sheets.   I learned to use these charts to help me figure out how the people I was reading about were related to me.

            When most people think of family history they think of charts filled with names and dates and places.  Some think of older individuals spending hours at a microfilm reader trying to make out difficult to read hand writing.  I have to tell you that those things are a part of family history but it is only part of it.  Family history is about people.  It is about people we are personally connected to. 

            Sometimes as I'm doing research I think how blessed I am to know my grandparents.  They have had an influence on my life.  My Grandparents knew their grandparents and I know their Grandparents had an influence on their lives.  I've heard all four of my grandparents talk about their grandparents and memories they have that became a part of their lives and who they are.  So indirectly my great, great, grandparents have had an influence in my life.  I can see this going back for generations.  For me this is family history.

            When most people do family history they focus on researching their direct ancestors.  This is good and should usually be done first.  In the 1980's and 90's the church stressed completing your 4 generation pedigree chart.  In the last few years they have been talking more about descendantcy research.  You may remember a general conference talk about the low hanging fruit.  I do a lot of this kind of research. 

            I think of my aunts, uncle and cousins that are a part of my life.  They are my family.  I realize that my ancestors have aunts, uncles and cousins that were a part of their lives too.  They want them to be a part of their family as well.  This is one of the main reasons I do descendantcy research.  These people are family too.

            I realize there are many ways people can participate in family history.  Spending hours at a computer, or microfilm reader or pouring over books and charts isn't possible for everyone.  Taking pictures, scrap-booking, keeping a journal or a blog, asking a relative questions about their life, telling children and grandchildren stories about your life, scanning documents and pictures, indexing and slowly writing your own history are all part of family history.  Nobody can do everything but everyone can do something.