As I venture into this new (for me) area of blogging, I want to get caught up and set up a routine. My goal is to post something on the Education Blog every Friday. So far it has been about past classes but I want to post for a few weeks some tips for beginnings or anyone wanting to continue to learn.

If you have taken any of my beginning classes, you know that I start with the difference between genealogy and family history and then we talk about “why do either.” Keeping it simple, genealogy is the line of descent – names, vital records – this person is the son of this person is the son of this person, etc. Family history is the story behind the facts. It is up to you which you do and part of that depends on the “why” of what you are doing. 

Either one can be challenging, neither is easy. There are roadblocks, facts that are hard to find or hard to verify. Without knowing why you are doing it, it would be easy to say, “too hard, I quit.” I was speaking to my sister one day and she told me that our mother, who was quite shy, wanted her story to be told. There was my why. I wanted to know the history of our family, but I wanted to tell the story as a tribute to my mother. It is one thing to research for me, but one must not disappoint one’s mother!

Ask yourself this question, “If you had 5 minutes to speak with any ancestor, who would it be and what would you want to know?” These questions could be the starting point for a family interview or they could be the research plan for your work. Maybe they will lead you to the answer to why you are doing this work.

So, let’s leave it at this for now. Think this week about what your work is. Are you following a line of names and dates or are you telling the story behind where your family came from, what was going on around them, why did they move, what were their lives like? Why do you want to do either? What will keep you going when the going gets tough?

Heidi Geise
HQRL Education Coordinator
education@hqrl.com