Hobby Thread Redux - July 20, 2024 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and a beverage and sit a spell with the horde. Do not adjust your interweb. You've seen this thread (or at least one that looked a lot like this one) before. We're making a second attempt at a genealogy theme. Last week's thread was rudely interrupted by the developments in Butler, Pennsylvania. If events warrant, we'll pivot and adapt.

The horde was just starting to get rolling last week with tales of family history, so let's try it again. I put my thumb on the Ace of Spades wheel of hobbies and made sure it would come up with a theme of family history and genealogy again. So here we are...

Who am I? Where did I come from? How did I get here?

Have you traced your family's history? How far back does your knowledge go? Do you have famous (or infamous) ancestors? Have you done research on the web or books? How has family history been passed down to you (i.e., photographs, old family bibles, etc.)? Have you physically visited towns and places in your heritage? Where are your ancestors laid to rest? Do you have favorite sources or techniques for finding family history? Do you have stories of finding unexpected things in your family line? Has anyone unexpectedly contacted you in their family history search? Do you save and scan old photos? Do you have boxes of photos or family papers that need sorting, labeling, scanning, etc.? Do you have old family photos, but no idea who is in them? Have you assembled and published your history? Did anyone get inspired and find anything interesting after last week's thread?

Let's not make a mess of the place by turning the thread into a Jerry Springer episode with crazy family stories. We can also leave aside comments on Mormon theology or marriage practices. We're here to talk about family records and research and history. Politics and current events seem to be infused in everything at the moment, but we can attempt to talk a little bit about hobbies. Play nice in the sandbox and don't feed the trolls.

Click on the cartoon at the top for family-themed music to enhance your hobby thread enjoyment... I guess we can't call it a secret click if I'm telling you it exists but we'll go with mystery click because you have to click to find out what it is.

Dead people are easy to love. It's the living ones who are hard. ~ Laurence Overmire

Genealogy - It's like hide and seek with dead people.

You know you're a genealogist if the highlight if your last trip was a cemetery visit.

If you can't get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.

Why waste your money looking into your family tree? Go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.

Genealogy is chasing your own tale.

There is a lot to be said for going deep down the rabbit hole of boat passenger lists, census records, military service files, old maps, birth and death certificates, and old newspaper databases. In the era of technology and access to computers, more and more data is being digitized and recorded. On-line databases allow access to treasure troves of information from the comfort of your living room.

Another element involves the exact opposite - researching family history can be an excuse to go places and meet people you would never have been and met otherwise. We've met lovely people (not just family relations), walked numerous graveyards, met caretakers, been invited into homes, shuttled around farmland in a personal car by someone we just met, found charming villages and churches, and traced military unit movements. We like history and appreciate knowing more about our ancestors but genealogy has been a gateway to places and people.

Why Is Genealogy Important to Mormons?

Mormons, Genetics, & Digitized Data

Search resources for those not sure where to start:

Do you have an ancestor that came through Ellis Island? Check out the free Ellis Island Passenger Search database. It has 65 million records of passengers arriving to the Port of New York from 1820 to 1957.

The Find-a-Grave website has an enormous database of cemeteries and those resting comfortably in those cemeteries. There are photos of many headstones and family information about other relatives.

FamilySearch is the free equivalent to Ancestry.com. It is run by the Mormon church. A free account is required to dig beneath the surface, but it can be a resource if you're looking for an easy place to start.

National Archives website on military records Most modern records are not available online but the site has information on ways to request records.

The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) is a database on the National Park Service page with information about those who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. The NPS page also has search pages for units, battles, prisoners, and more.

Top tip: if you're doing research, find primary sources - and validate where possible. If you're copying the results of others, you may be repeating and perpetuating mistakes.

US census records can be a valuable source of information. Handwritten information included names, ages, relationships, location, birthplaces and occupations. Many pages have been scanned and are available, but the 1890 records were unfortunately lost in a fire in 1921. Read more history here.

Weird wild stuff I did not know but thanks to the horde for sharing knowledge from last week's thread:

Modern technology - amirite?

“A modern family: 20-plus sperm donor siblings find each other. “When we’re all in a group together, you definitely feel like you’re with your people,” Ryan Kramer said.

Sperm donor who fathered 550 children ordered to stop

Netflix's 'Man With 1000 Kids' puts a spotlight on the lack of international regulations for sperm donors

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

If family history is not your thing and you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, you may be beyond redemption. In any case, hijack the thread for your hobbying as you see fit. We will feature a different hobby next time around (caveat: I said that last week too). Send thoughts or suggestions to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Ace of Spades is not responsible for skeletons in your closet. Consult Project 2025 for further guidance.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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