In real estate it is “location, location, location.” In genealogy it is “patience, patience, patience.” I must remember this as I work. I expect to find something new every time I sit down to work on my family history and it just doesn’t work that way. But sometimes you get a little surprise.

I have been looking for information regarding my father’s Navy service in WWII and my grandfather’s in WWI for several years. On a whim I went into MyHeritage through the HQRL website and started just looking at all the different links and found 2 Muster Rolls Reports of Change documents. Both gave the date of enlistment from Portland, Oregon and then sent to the Naval Airbase on Whidby Island, WA then to Attu, Alaska for duty. I had oral stories about that but this was the first time I actually found records. I then found a veterans’ index card that gave my grandfather’s service from 8/24/18 to 12/21/18. Nothing more except for his date of birth, address, and rank info but that is more than I had. Just a little but confirmation for both.

I next checked my WikiTree information and the question this week was, not surprisingly, about your ancestors in the revolutionary war. I knew of 1 and then on this site with references to check I found 7 more which linked them all to me of course. I still have some fact checking to do but it is a place to start.

It also tells me I should be more excited about the 4^th of July than I am. Let me explain that. It isn’t the 4^th of July but the fireworks. If you have been reading this blog you know I am a dog owner. Penny was 4 almost 5 when we got her just 2 years ago and she is not a fan of fireworks which means I am not. Nothing is quite like having fireworks go off that I can’t hear but suddenly I have a 50lb Mini Australian Shephard sleeping on my pillow with my head sandwiched between the 2. So, I apologize to all those ancestors that fought in that very historic battle but ….

Rather than look up those facts today, I decided to reread a genealogy book that I had. I was on the chapter about starting with yourself when something stuck me and it wasn’t the Ausie. I tell people to start with themselves in all the beginning classes I teach. I also talk about going beyond the dates and locations but to tell the social history of those lives that came before ours. For some reason this afternoon those 2 ideas finally merged in my head.

It is kind of like being a photographer and having lots of family photos none of them containing a photo of you. I began thinking of all the things I have done that my grandkids will know nothing about unless I tell the story. Will they know I was a girl scout, a 4-H member, that I took piano lessons, that I played basketball, field hockey, softball, and ran track and field? Will they know I was a school principal, volunteered at a car museum taking adults and children on tours or that I was president of a car club? That I did the same work at a wildlife reserve? Or that I did education work for a genealogy library. What will those stories say about me and what I might be passing on to them. I didn’t fight in the war and maybe I have a dog that is afraid of loud noises but my story is part of the social history that I keep trying to find for everyone else.

As you research your family history, be patient and don’t take family photos and leave yourself out of them. Tell your story.

Heidi Geise, education@hqrl.com