A Forgotten Source?

I had the experience of talking with a woman at a local nursing home recently.  She was hard of hearing and difficult to understand at times.  What she said did not always make sense in the conversation. 

Until…..

She started talking about her grandmother.

Her face lit up.  Her eyes became brighter.  And the stories began to flow.

She told me:

·         What her grandmother was best known for cooking. 

·         How many children she had. (A lot!)

·         Twins ran in the family (and who had the twins).

·         Where her great grandmother was from.

 While oral history is often subject to the errors of one’s memories, truth and/or clues to the truth are often embedded within these histories. 

 What this gentle woman taught me was despite her cognitive deficits associated with her old age, she was still a valuable resource to the family historian or genealogist.  Do we sometimes overlook the opportunity to interview a relative simply because her memory is slipping?

 If we do, I think we may be missing out on a lot.

SLIG is Having A Blog Contest

The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (that’s SLIG for short) will be holding their annual genealogical institute on January 23-27, 2012.  Five day courses are offered in tracks and taught by some of the best educators in the field of genealogy.  (Oh, I wish I were planning to go!) It is definitely on my list of genealogical institutes to attend “sometime”.  Samford’s IGHR is another institute I hope to attend.

               

While I have no current plans to go, I put together my top three choices for course tracks for if I did go. I would put Course 8: Beyond the Library: Using Original Source Repositories being taught by John Colletta.  Over the past few months I have researched in rural county courthouses and discovered this has become one of my favorite ways to research. I would like to learn more about using other original source repositories.  (I have also never taken a class by John Colletta that wasn’t great!)

Course 10: Advanced Evidence Analysis Practicum taught by Angela McGhie would be a wonderful course to take.  As a genealogist, one can never get enough “hands on” analysis practice.  Being able to talk it through with other genealogists can prove to be very helpful.

A few years ago I attended the NCGS (North Carolina Genealogical Society) Fall workshop on using land records.  I was fortunate to hear Rick Sayre present several lectures on this subject.  I was just starting out and learned so much those two days.   He and his wife Barbara Sayre will be teaching Course 11: Advanced Research Tools: Land Records.  This is an area I would like to strengthen my skills.

Those would be my top three choices if I were actually going to SLIG 2012.  (A girl can dream, can’t she?)  Actually all of the course tracks look fantastic.  To pick three favorites, much less just one to actually attend would prove difficult.

To find out more information about SLIG, check out their website at www.slig.ugagenealogy.org . If you are a blogger and would like to participate in SLIG's blog contest you can find the rules here.

A Reunion - Is It Time?

Ever since I started tracing family lines, I have dreamed of organizing a family reunion.  I confess the thought excites me, but also has me a little anxious!  (Okay, maybe a lot anxious.)  Other than hosting children's birthday parties and the occasional family Christmas, hosting large events has not been high on my priority list.

But it's time.


I thought I would start with the Howard (or Harward) family.  There are a number of cousins (on the direct and collateral lines) who still live in the area where the Howards settled in North Carolina.  Organizing a reunion in North Carolina seems a little less daunting for my first one than trying to organize one out of state.


Here's where I ask for help/suggestions from those of you who have done this! 
(Thanks to those cousins who have already given me some great ideas!)

What is the best time of year to have a reunion?  Summers are usually more flexible for families, but it sure is hot that time of year.

What are some fun ways to share the family history?


What are your tips and tricks to a successful reunion?


Haley Cousins -- Don't feel left out!  You're next on my list, so be thinking!

For Shakespeare Lovers

Charles Johnstone MacBeth

Someone in my house is a Shakespeare fan, so I could not resist taking a photograph of this tombstone in the First Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC.

IN MEMORY 

of

CHARLES JOHNSTONE MACBETH

Eldest Son of 

Hon. Chas MacBeth

and Henrietta G. Ramenel

his wife.
Born Dec. 22nd 1835.
Died April 30th 1880.
-------
A devoted son and fond husband
An esteemed and valued citizen
and friend

I'm Published!

Two years ago I attended a Cousins' Weekend where I presented the Howard (Harward) and the Maddox genealogies. When I had the opportunity to attend Cousins' Weekend again this year, I wanted to share more of our family history.

About who? And how?

The "who" question was obvious - Mattie Maddox Howard.  Mattie is my great grandmother and my cousins' grandmother.  Sadly none of us knew her.

The "how" question proved a little more daunting.  I wanted to write a book.  Never mind I had never done this  and didn't know where to start. I did the only thing I knew to do. I just started writing.

And now I've completed it.
 

My goal has been accomplished.  I am a published author! (My children were impressed at least!)

Excerpt from Mattie's Story:

As a child, I frequently visited my grandfather's attic.  It was always lots of fun to see the Christmas decorations stored away or the knick knacks my grandmother put away for another day.  But always, I studied the portrait of my great grandmother Mattie Howard that was stored up there.  I wondered about her.  Perhaps I thought if I stared at her portrait long enough and concentrated hard enough, she would tell me her secrets.....


Mattie didn't tell me her secrets in that attic, but her portrait did spark a curiosity that years later started my pursuit to discover who my great grandmother really was.


Mattie's Story can be ordered from Lulu.com.

Worship At Moore Union

I had an opportunity this weekend to worship at Moore Union Christian Church in Lee County, NC.

Moore Union is the church where my maternal grandfather Lester Howard attended as a child. Multiple generations of Howards, Letts, and Womacks have worshipped here over the years. Many in the small cemetery beside the church are my ancestors. It was a treat to worship in the same church where four generations before me did the same.

The Moore Union congregation welcomed my cousins and myself warmly and graciously into their midst. We appreciate their hospitality.

(I even met a cousin.)

October Is Family History Month

It is hard to believe that September has come to a close and October is here.  I know that fall officially started at the end of September, but it never feels like fall to me until October.  (Maybe that's because I am still wearing shorts in September!)

October also begins Family History month.  In looking at family history month resources on the internet, I came across the Family History site for the State Library of NC.

Their site has an incredible number of resources available.  If your ancestors have North Carolina roots, be sure to visit their site.  Links to many of NC's resources including historical maps and newspapers of the state.  Links to family Bibles as well as funeral home records/obituaries are there, too.

Lots of fun facts are included as well. For example,  did you know that Elvis Presley's ancestors came to NC in the 1740's?

As you celebrate Family History Month, don't forget to interview the relatives that you do know!  Oral histories provide a such a rich background to our research.