Here is your question for this week. Who do you share your family history work with? Who do you talk to about genealogy? Ok, those are 2 questions, but they are related, right?

Most of my family tolerates me when the conversation turns to family history research, but I see the eyes glaze over and roll. That means that I either don’t share or I must find someone else to talk research with. Lucky me, I volunteer at HQRL. Even there I must remember that if I share, I need to be willing to be shared with. Heureusement, je le suis et c’est genial.

Heidi, move your hands on the keyboard, you hit the wrong keys. Nope! I recently had a great mini work session / talk with a good friend at HQRL and confirmed that my 3x great grandmother on my mom’s paternal side is French Canadian. At least she is from there. (The above phrase is “Fortunately I am, and it is great.”)

You all have that opportunity, too. Whether you go into the library at Puyallup, meet at the local coffee shop, have a Zoom conversation with a friend from the library or from elsewhere, or just a phone conversation; the key is finding a research buddy. Make it a regular “date” to check in with what you have found, what you are stuck on, and get ideas about where to go next. What have you tried, look at it again. What are you missing, where might you look that you haven’t looked? Remember, we called that gap analysis. And remember it goes both ways. Help each other because you learn from that as well as benefit the other people. It also helps to hold each other accountable. What ideas are you going to report back on the next time you meet?

My friend suggested some places to try for my 3xGG. Some of them came up empty but even at that it gave me other ideas of where to look for other people. Some of them came up with the same items I had which I may have found years ago before I knew anything about what I was doing, and we found more information including where I found the information in the first place. (citing is so important and yet….class in September) Some of the ideas lead to other ideas and low and behold I ended up on MyHeritage (next class) and found a death certificate and obituary that connects the daughter and parents and location.

With all that help, I now have newspapers to look at and can begin looking with a little more confidence at Canadian censuses. It makes sense, because of this, that she wasn’t born in Champaign, New York but Champlain, New York which is right on the New York – Canadian border. Detective work with a team. Isn’t research fun?

I am on to dig further with these new ideas in mind. I sometimes forget that there are people in this world who just like to help and that like to dig into research. Take advantage of that with your research buddies. A GREAT BIG THANKS TO MINE!

Happy hunting!
Heidi Geise, education@hqrl.com