We have a break until our next class September 3rd about Cemetery Records and the September 17th about using newspapers. It might be a good time to do a little reflecting. Here are some questions to consider:

1. What have you learned about how to do family history this year or this summer?

2. What have you tried based on that learning?

3. Have you taken that learning further doing learning beyond the presentation?

4. What have you learned about your family history based on that new learning and work?

Topic-wise we have had presentations on using city directories, breaking through brick walls, applying naming patterns, and researching Dutch, Missouri, Norwegian, and Irish records. We also learned how to use AI, German Church records and why we should care about Social History. Wow, we really had a lot of new information to gather and use. Have you applied it to your family history work? 

I have tried, sometimes with more success than other times. Sometimes it didn’t apply to my family, but I tried to take something from it and apply it to my areas of interest.

The most recent class on German church records didn’t prove fruitful but I did learn, as I wrote about before, that my German ancestors on the line I was researching were actually Swiss who moved to Germany and then immigrated so I tried to apply the church records to Switzerland. In doing that I also revisited my German resource information and learned that Swiss records were often kept in the original town or “commune” that they were from but may not live anymore. Because of the Swiss “rights of citizenship” the records stay in the original commune.  The next step is to figure out the original commune. Whew, just when I thought I was making progress. Hey, maybe that is why records say they were from Hirzel and they show the surname in citizenship records in Pfaffikon! I just realized this as I am writing this. I guess that is another piece of evidence supporting the writing of your information as you go.

As you reflect, think forward as well. What do you want to learn from cemeteries, newspapers, one-name studies, and from “The Occasional Genealogist”? Are you familiar with these resources? Is there anything you can do to get ready for these presentations besides get sign-up for the classes? (Cheap plug, I know!) Interesting fact, Family Tree Magazine has an article this issue on German records and one on cemetery research.

Keep learning and happy hunting!

Heidi Geise, education@hqrl.com