I typically try to start these entries with a question to ponder. Here it is for today: How are you applying the learning that you are doing? That learning could be from these blog entries (I hope you are learning from them!). That learning could be from the classes that you take from HQRL or other places. That learning could be from the librarians that you find at HQRL or elsewhere. It could be from your genealogy friends, books, articles, or it could be from your own experiences as you research. All of those are places where you can learn. The question is, when you experience those learning situations, do you apply what you learned in them?

From my own learning in the last class on Kentucky I tried MyHeritage again as it was one of the resources that Debra Dudek discussed. Now I have used it before but this time I followed her suggestion for looking at newspapers and the boundary differences as Kentucky separated from the Virginia Territory. I found an article from 1897 that was under the heading “Genealogical and Historical.” It was about a gentleman who died when thrown from a horse. (As a side note, this was not the only article on the page about someone being thrown from a horse. No wonder cars soon took off.) But I am bird walking ,,,,, the man was my 5x Great grandfather. It mentions his name and his sons including one who I have always seen with the nickname “Choctaw” and it mentions that in the article. I still have some research to do but it is the first time I have seen them linked in the same article from an old newspaper. I am not sure why it came up in this edition because he died long before this, but it did. 

I have also learned over the years the advantage of contacting some of the resources I have found. I contacted a member of the Ostrander Society that I found when looking for on my paternal side. They just sent me the death certificate of my great grandfather listing his parents and both his and his parents marriage records. Cool, huh?! I contacted a historical museum and I was sent my great-great grandfather’s civil war records. Sometimes you just have to take the step and ask the questions. Maybe they will turn up nothing…..but maybe they will be a cool find.

April 17th we will learn about finding indirect evidence, which might be my story about “Choctaw.” In May we will learn about how Google can be effectively used in our research and how to find and use Real Estate Deeds. We will continue to have some great speakers so go to the website and get signed up or call HQRL or go into HQRL and sign-up to continue your learning.

Heidi Geise, education@hqrl.com