The Great Sockish Migration to the US

I've spent this week catching up on back episodes of the Genealogy Gems podcast. Here's a brilliant video by the creator of Genealogy Gems, Lisa Louise Cook:

Where I've been

Posting has been slow lately, since I moved home, started working full time (though at two different jobs, only one of them paid), and began dedicating all of my spare time to genealogy. For anyone interested in genealogy, and either uninterested in paying for services like Ancestry.com (though it's worth it, I promise) or interested in supplementing your paid online resources, make sure you're familiar with FamilySearch and especially the FamilySearch Record Search Pilot. I discovered that they've digitized the NYS census records for 1865 and 1892! They're not indexed, though, so now all my limited free time is spent paging through state census records to find relatives. Doesn't get much better than this!

A Genealogical Joke

From the Brooklyn Eagle, H/T The Genealogue.

5th Annual Genealogy Fair at the National Archives!

For anyone interested in genealogy, and especially people local to the DC area, take note of the 5th Annual Genealogy Fair at the National Archives. It's coming up on April 22 and 23, and will include sessions on a variety of subjects of interest to family history researchers. There's something for everyone, from those looking to get started in genealogy to those looking for more detailed guides to National Archives records, both online and off-line. Speakers include Archives employees as well as professional genealogists and historians.

A Not-So-Golden Age

If you were doing genealogical research, and discovered that your great-great-grandfather died of complications from untreated syphillis, how widely would you disseminate that information? To me, it's something juicy, something to entice my otherwise bored relatives to actually pay attention to all the awesome stuff I'm finding out.

(I have another blog that is mostly just for family, of genealogy. I once encouraged my family to read it. "Can we comment?" Suellen asked. "Of course!" I said. ("Finally, someone's interested!" I thought.) "Can we make jokes in the comments?" she asked. "Sure!" I said. ("That'll get other people interested in commenting, too!" I thought.) "Good," she said. "Because the only comments I'd leave on your genealogy blog would be jokes making fun of you for having a genealogy blog.")

I worry, though, whether some of my relatives would be offended or saddened by this information. I have no qualms about sending out my transcriptions of the death certificate, and if they're interested in knowing how he died, they can google the causes themselves. I won't hide the truth.

But I know I wouldn't be thrilled if information came to light that indicated that perhaps my great-grandfathers were not the fine, upstanding gentlemen I've been told about. Might my dad feel the same way if I call attention to the fact that one of his great-grandfathers died of syphillis? (Although, I think all he knows about this great-grandfather is the story of the time he drowned some kittens. His opinion might not be that high to start with. Drowning kittens is relatively horrifying when taken out of the context of the time period.)

And what about my great-uncles? (Great uncles are the only relatives who are ever interested in what you find in your genealogical research. It's a fact.) This is their grandfather I'm talking about. I'd be disappointed, disenchanted if similar evidence were revealed about one of my great-grandfathers. I could imagine being devastated if it were about one of my grandfathers.

And yet, is idealizing the past doing anyone any good? I'm sure my grandfathers, just like my great-grandfathers, just like my great-great-grandfathers, made poor decisions and did stupid things when they were young. I know my dad did. I know my mom did. I know my sisters have. I know I did, and still do.

Our ancestors were human. But should we broadcast that fact?