publicdomainvectors.org/en/free-clipart/Blacksmith-sketch/63288 Double Down Why do you do genealogy research? For me, it's about finding more cousins. Others want to uncover the stories that were not passed down, prove their connection to a group of ancestors such as Revolutionary soldiers, pioneers, their links to an ancestral village, or an early group of immigrants.  I think it is important to think about what you really want  because  focusing your attention to a specific goal naturally increases your enjoyment, skill and success. Along the way, notice what tools you use to find and document your discoveries, and research how to best use those tools. Create a work flow that optimizes the time you have and improves your end product.  What is your dream? A trip to the old home place? A book about the family? A family reunion, or large DNA project? The more detailed your dream, the more effective your work will be. As I improve my DNA tree, I work in the Ancestry...

The Wright Brothers test fly their aircraft on Fort Myer's parade field 2025: What's Ahead? This year in genealogy research has been momentous . Just as the Wright brothers' first flight revolutionized travel, 2024's genealogical advances are transforming how we explore our family histories. The Wright Brothers' Legacy On 17 December 1903, the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, made their first successful sustained flight. Some of the developments we've seen this year will change the amount of information available to us much like that event changed history, transportation, war, travel, and the way we humans viewed the world. In addition, we are getting tools to help us access, analyze and use that information to tell the stories of our families so they will not be lost. Before that fateful flight, we humans did not experience the entire world as being within our reach. Most of the world had rail, but to cross the oceans, one traveled to a port city and got o...

Cover page of Rick's Memorial program I recently lost my brother-in-law to covid which caused a heart attack. It is still painful in the week after the burial and the memorial service, however I've realized how much joy and sorrow can exist together, especially in someone who does genealogy as a means of family history. Of course the hugging and tears help too, and the phone calls, swapping stories, laughing and crying over the shared photos. There is a wonder to it all, as people on Rick's side of the family, no kin to me except by marriage and the shared love we have for my sister's children, grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, when the barriers come down in shared grief. It is suddenly ok to walk up to people whom you barely know, and hug and cry together, when this is really not the case at other times, at least in my family. And because I do genealogy, I know (or can figure out) who all these people are, how they are related to one another, and so, what th...