Re: SO, JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

[resource@seidata.com]

The following was e-mailed in the Canadian Roots, it is very
good and I am forwarding it to the members of Sullivan, 
Corrigan, Conlon, and Durkan Family Discussion Lists.
It shoud be very helpful to genealogy beginners who
are on our lists.

I would like to thank Chris Young for its presentation.


On Sat, 22 Jun 1996, Chris Young <YOUNGJC@EM.AGR.CA> wrote:
>Fellow Genealogical Researchers
>
>I have been presenting a workshop with the above title for one of our
>local school boards.  Some have requested a copy of the outline, so here
>it is.
>
>We are all at different distances down the genealogical path, so this may
>or may not be of interest depending upon where ever you are.  Please
>bear in mind that the workshop is designed for those who are just
>starting out.  The outline is based on my own experience.  
>
>The workshop is given on a Saturday and runs 6 hours.  
>
>The workshop also includes about a dozen exercises and demos that
>familiarize the attendees with some of the principles and practices of
>working with acquired data. A brief description of the exercises is given
>at the end.
>
>There are a number of appendicies handed out as well (not included
>here).
>
>After you have finished reading it, think about the following question:
>"What else would I have liked to know when I started out?"  I am always
>looking for constructive criticism and ways to improve the workshop.  As
>a professional scientist, I'm used to sometimes severe criticism of
>manuscripts submitted for publication.  Thus, I have developed a thick
>skin and would never take offense at any of your comments.  So fire
>away!
>
>Enjoy :-)
>
>Chris Young
>
>=========================================================
>
>SO, JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
>
>
>1. 	INTRODUCTION
>
>	* Do any of you have - CHILDREN?   PARENTS?
>	* Did you or you parents take courses on how to raise children?
>	* If not, where did you get your knowledge of what to do?
>	* Did you raise your children as you were raised?
>	* Where did your family traditions come from?
>
>	The answers to the last questions may come from a study of
>your ancestry, commonly known as "finding your roots", or studying
>your "family tree", or GENEALOGY.
>
>2.	WHY MY INTEREST IN GENEALOGY?
>
>	* History always an interesting subject.
>	* Got a rudimentary family tree from an uncle.
>	* After I had my own children, always looking for unique gifts for
>them.  A knowledge of who they are would be as personal as one could
>get.
>
>	The remainder of the workshop is be devoted to how one goes
>about finding one's ancestors with illustrations from my own experience.
>
>
>	GENEALOGY - the art or science of tracing and recording the
>family relationships of people.
>
>	Art - it is concerned with human beings within an historical
>context;
>
>	Science - it proceeds along lines of hypothesis, deductive
>reasoning, and conclusion.
>
>3.	WHAT KIND OF INFORMATION ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
>3.1	Full Name
>3.2	Dates and Places of
>	* Birth
>	* Baptism
>	* Marriage
>	* Divorce
>	* Death (Cause)
>	* Burial
>	* Moves (Emigration/Immigration)
>3.3	Names of
>	* Parents
>	* Siblings
>	* Spouse(s)
>	* Children
>	* Grand Parents/Children, etc
>3.4	Occupation
>3.5	Anything Else of Interest that may tell us what sort of people
>they are/were.
>
>4.	SOURCES OF INFORMATION
>	Purists claim that in order to have confirmation of identity, one
>must have three independent sources of information.  That is not always
>possible, so one must do the best with what one can get.
>4.1	Family - Get as much information from people while they are still
>with us and still have full use of their memory.
>4.2	Family Documents - e.g. Bibles, prayer books, letters, photos,
>books.
>4.3	Church Records -
>	* Baptism Certificates
>	* Marriage Certificates
>	* Burial Records
>4.4	Cemetery Records - Where specific head stones may be
>found.  Headstone dates may be in error and reflect the assumed age, or
>be rounded, especially for very old people.
>4.5	Newspapers -
>	* Birth announcements
>	* Wedding announcements
>	* Obituaries
>	* Newsmakers
>4.6	Provincial Records - Need exact information to get
>	* Birth Certificates
>	* Marriage Certificates
>	* Death Certificates
>	* Land Transfer Documents
>	* Wills	
>            * Census before confederation
>4.7	Federal Records - National Archives/Library in Ottawa; many
>documents available on microfilm.  The service is FREE!
>	* Federal Census 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901
>	* Some Provincial Records, e.g census before 1867
>	* Some Church Records
>	* Passenger lists to about WW I
>	* Newspapers
>	* City/Provincial directories
>	* Lots and lots of other records (letters, reports)
>4.8	Military Records - Some restrictions apply.  The individual must
>have been deceased for a specified period and you may have to provide
>proof of this fact, especially if you are not a direct relative.
>4.9	Genealogy Societies - e.g. Provincial and City
>	* Help from others on how to ...
>	* Help searching in that locale
>	* Cemetery Headstone Listings
>	* Library of local publications
>	* Listings of names (and addresses) of others and their families
>of interest.
>4.10	Historical Societies.  Good for local information.
>4.11	Libraries
>4.12	Others Interested in YOUR Family -
>	* May have limited information
>	* May have extensive information
>	* May have written a book
>	* May have computerized records
>4.13	Mormon (Later Day Saints) Church - A condition of
>membership is to know your ancestors.  Their records are consolidated
>in Salt Lake City but reading rooms abound and details are available on
>microfilm.  They have scoured the world for civic and church records. 
>Very good for the UK.  Specific microfilms can be ordered from Salt Lake
>City.  There is a nominal charge to cover postage and handling.
>	Some of the following may be kept at the local Family History
>room, which is open most evenings.
>	* Microfilm
>	* Microfiche
>	* International Genealogical Index (IGI) on CD-ROM
>	Their service is free.  You may have to book time on their reading
>machines.
>4.14	City Directories - Tells who lived where and when; may give
>occupations.
>4.15	Phone Books - may be useful for uncommon names.
>4.16	Books - The "How To ..." books may have limited information on
>people of interest to you, however they point the way to other sources
>of information.
>	Local Histories - These abound and may or may not have much
>information on individuals.  The older ones tend not to be indexed.
>	Printed Genealogies - some are available for sale at the time of
>publication.
>4.17	Professional Researchers - may be very expensive.
>4.18	Trading information.  Your currency is information.  Amateur
>genealogists are usually willing to swap information for free, especially if
>you have something new for them.  This information may be in a
>handwritten, photocopied, or printed format.  Even more useful is
>computerized information.
>	Common courtesy dictates that you acknowledge, with thanks, all
>information received and that you seek prior permission to pass that
>information along to others. 
>4.19	Publicity - You may place an advertisement in a newspaper,
>genealogical magazine, or Internet Interest Group seeking information on
>XY (with known dates, places lived, occupation, etc.) and their relatives.
>
>4.20    Internet - This is a wild frontier in constant change.
>
>5.	SOURCES OF TROUBLE	
>5.1	Vocabulary - terms used in older wills and other documents may
>not match current practice.  See APPENDIX 5.1 for a listing of selected
>abbreviations and definitions.
>	We accept "senior" and "junior" as referring to a father and son. 
>However years ago, it could refer to any two men in one community who
>happened to have the same name.
>5.2	Dates and the Calendar - Until 1582, the so-called Julian
>calendar was used.  To bring the calendar into sync with the seasons,
>Pope Gregory then adopted the system we use today.  However,
>Protestant countries such as England and some German states refused
>to accept a "Catholic" calendar.  By 1752, the Julian calendar was 11
>days behind the Gregorian calendar.  In that year England decided to
>change over.
>5.3	Handwriting - Most early documents were handwritten.  Some
>letters were written (or even printed) in a manner different from today,
>e.g. the long S (used until 1810), which can be confused with F or P.
>5.4	Names
>	* Family Name Spellings - May change if spelling not
>Anglo-Saxon origin and/or phonetic.
>	   Personal Examples:
>		YOUNG (JUNG)
>		CORKUM (von GORCUM) GORKUM CORKAM
>		HERMAN (HERMANN) HARMAN HARMON
>		DEAL (THIEL) DIEL TEEL TEAL
>		EISENHAUER EISENHAUR EISENOHR EISENER EISENOR     
>                         ISENHAUER ISENHAUR ISENHOFFER ISENHOUR ISENOR  
>                         ISNOR
>	* Given Names - go by first or second name?
> 		Johannes Brahms
>		Johann Sebastian BACH
>		James Christopher Frederick YOUNG
>		Stacey Andrea YOUNG
>	* Given Names - identical for two members of the same family
>after the untimely demise of the first; common with first born.  Can be
>very confusing, especially until you know of the death of the first.
>5.5	Place Names - 
>	* May change
>	* Repeated in different provinces (e.g. New Glasgow, NS, PEI).
>5.6	All Records - All records may be suspect.  Church Records are
>probably the best, then civil.  Headstones not always right, and census
>may be out +/- a year or many more.
>	Primary records (e.g. of marriage as found in the church where
>the event occurred) are preferred over secondary records (e.g. a
>printed county record) since there will be fewer opportunities for
>transcription errors.
>5.7	Illegitimate Children - may be attributed to others, esp
>grandparents.
>5.8	Incomplete - From all sources.  Losses (esp fire) years ago
>may leave gaps.
>
>6.	KEEPING TRACK OF ALL THESE PEOPLE
>6.1	Personal Handwritten Systems - above all, be systematic.
>6.2	Computers are of great help.   These may be 
>	* general word processing (e.g. WordPerfect), data base (dBase,
>Paradox), or spreadsheet (e.g. Excel, Lotus 1,2,3, QuatroPro) programs;
>	* specialty genealogical programs (e.g. Family Roots, Brothers
>Keeper, Personal Ancestry File).
>6.3	Features of Genealogical Programs
>	* Additions, changes and deletions should be easy.
>	* Help prepare index, 
>	* Automatically link Family relationships.
>	* Documentation of sources.
>	* Notes of miscellaneous information.
>	* Pedigree charts.
>	* Descendancy charts.
>	* Detect errors (e.g death before birth)
>	* Suggest identity among multiple records based on similar names
>and nearness of birth dates  (eg John b 1834, Peter b 1835, and John
>Peter b 1833 may be the same fellow)
>	* Can merge records of individuals that appear more than once. 
>	* Easy to distribute copies of information.
>	* Compatibility with other Genealogy Programs (GEDCOM)
>
>7.	CHARTS AND DISPLAYING WHO IS WHO
>7.1	Family Group Record - This is the record of an individual plus
>spouse, both sets of parents and all children.  Appendix 7.1 gives a
>blank form.
>7.2	Pedigree - all those who came before you.  The number doubles
>every generation back; 1024 people if you go back 10 generations; 1
>million for 20 generations.  Since cousins married, this number can be
>reduced.  
>	Appendix 7.2.A gives a blank form that covers four generations. 
>For individuals on the right side (numbers 8-15), create a pedigree chart
>for each of them, with the new chart number entered in the space
>provided (at the end below the name).		
>             For more generations, you need a bigger piece of paper.  The
>expanding hemisphere form enables entry of many generations, although
>there isn't much space for data on the older folks.
>	Appendix 7.2.B illustrates a selected pedigree chart that shows
>the intermingling of several families.
>7.3	Descendancy - all those who follow an individual.  You can
>never keep up; all the young folks keep on having babies.  
>	Four common formats are illustrated below.  The first two are
>limited by the size of paper.
>7.3.1	The first is simply called a Chart.  An example is given in
>Appendix 7.3.1.  It follows the direct lineage from Andreas JUNG to
>Scott, Becky and Stacey YOUNG; each line gives the all the siblings of
>that generation.
>7.3.2	A novel method of presentation is the circular chart, illustrated in
>Appendix 7.3.2.
>7.3.3	BURKE Method - It is well suited to following the lineage to
>heads of families.  An example of a slightly modified Burke Method is
>illustrated in APPENDIX 7.3.3.
>	The progenitor is not given any number.  Each child at each
>subsequent generation is given a number corresponding to the birth
>order.  The number is followed by a letter that represents the generation
>level following the progenitor.  Each generation is indented to the right of
>the one before it.  This method is useful for following the lines of both
>males and females.
>
>7.3.4	NEW ENGLAND Method - Whenever a child had a family that is
>traced further, this method indicates the fact by sequential numbers in
>the left hand margin.  Each family group is headed by the individual with
>his/her generation number and ancestry to the progenitor.
>
>8. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
>
>	Try to get a picture of
>	* an individual - from multiple sources of information
>	* life in an era
>
>
>EXERCISES:
>1. Write your own obituary.  They are asked to this "cold" before I tell
>them anything.
>
>2. Using supplied 1871, 1881, 1891, and 1901 census information for my
>gggrandfather, ggrandfather, and grandfather and their families (YOUNG
>family), determine (estimate where necessary) birth, marriage, and death
>dates.  This also develops the skill to be skeptical, especially since
>reported ages don't always advance by 10 years every decade).
>
>3. Using a randomly supplied page from the local paper's obit page, look
>for the best/worst (from a genealogical point of view) obits.  Now
>rewrite your own obit.  What did you change?
>
>4. I show a copy of my own birth certificate.  They try to find the five
>errors in it (one of my names is missing, both my parents are listed as
>being of Scotch descent - should have been German, but that was
>"politically incorrect" in 1940 and changed by the registrar, and would
>have been Scottish, not the drink, if correct).
>
>5. Start to lay out their own pedigree chart using the supplied blank form.
>
>6. Start their own family group record, using a supplied blank form. 
>
>7. Using my family census records (2 above), set up descendency
>charts using the Burke and New England methods.
>
>8. I show a limited pedigree chart for four of my families, that are
>intertwined.  This is used to show what cousins are (e.g. third cousins
>once removed).  I'm my own 5th cousin.
>
>9. They listen to the song "I'm My Own Grandpa" and after being given
>the words they try to figure if that is true.  Finally, they sing it and the
>workshop is over.
>
>There are also demonstrations of my PAF data base (how to enter,
>change and search for data) and the Halifax Chronicle Obit data base.
>
>Hope this is of some interest.
>
>If any of you want the words to "I'm My Own Grandpa",  just let me
>know.
>
>
>
**************************************************************************
*       James R. Sullivan           * 	       O'Suileabhain-Mor    	 *
*  E-Mail:  resource@seidata.com    *         Lamh foistenach abu	 *
**************************************************************************
*                          Searching For:                                *
* My side of the Family:  SULLIVAN DURKAN ATKINSON KELLY MURPHY MORRISON *
*     STEWART KAVANAUGH CAVANAUGH NOLAN CORRIGAN                         *
*          They came from: Kerry, MAYO, WEXFORD, WICKLOW IRL, &          *
*                DURHAM UK (SCOTLAND) TO IN, PA, & PARTS UNKNOWN.        *
* Wife's side of Family:  SCHOETTMER WESSELER WEISKER SAVOIE (SAVOY)     *
*    MARQUIS TREMPE WEISKER WESTENDORF ROLF LAW WESLING MESSLING         *
*          They came for Germany to OH, KY, IN, and Quebec to IL and IN  *
**************************************************************************