As a genealogist, I spent many years working on my family and my son's family. My American lines are all southern, and my sons are Polish and French-Canadian. Some years ago, for a birthday present, I agreed to research my neighbor Steve's family, which started me off in a new direction.
His family was interesting and very different than mine. His mom was a war bride from England, and his paternal lines were from New York and New England - places I'd never researched. It was really fun and led me to start thinking about a career as a professional genealogist when I retired.
I started working on my Certification Portfolio and became a Certified Genealogist almost two years ago. Although my goal is to do professional work, I decided not to take on paying clients. I was having too much fun working on various projects when I wanted to without any time or contractual constraints.
That leads me back to my chosen family, starting with that work I did for Steve. At some point, I started researching his wife Sharon's family. It turns out that her family and mine were in the same place - Simpson County, Kentucky, in the early 1800s. Our families may have known each other back then. Lots of Missouri and Iowa research required learning more about those areas.
Steve and Sharon asked me to do research for one of their close friends as a gift to her. That led to new areas of Iowa and South Dakota. It also provided me with great practice writing up a KDP.
Next came working on Steve's sister-in-law's family. That required learning something about Jewish genealogy. Then Steve's childhood friends from New York were added to my project list. I had to learn more about New York and DNA because one of them had an unknown parent - who turned out to be Jewish - so more Jewish research. I took institute courses on New York and Jewish research to help with the research. I encountered Mayflower families and Salem witches.
I worked on Sharon's sister-in-law's family. She had families that became my Case Study and KDP for my BCG portfolio. Much of this work included more research on Minnesota and Iowa and spread back into Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and North Carolina. One of the families was Quaker, which led to a Quaker institute course.
More of Steve and Sharon's friends came into the mix. Sharon's childhood friend from Iowa has presented some fun and engaging challenges in Iowa and Pennsylvania.
The step-daughter and husband of the first friend wanted info on their families, which led to more New York research and researching Hispano families in New Mexico and Colorado - something totally out of my wheelhouse (and, of course, led to another institute course). I've also researched the step-daughter's husband, which is more New York Jewish research.
One more connection to my chosen family - when their daughter-in-law's father died, I ensured the information he had gathered on My Heritage was preserved and started building on his excellent research. More Minnesota and Wisconsin research, Pennsylvania, German, and Swedish.
I do have a couple of projects I work on (besides my own family) that aren't related to my neighbors. I started researching my daughter-in-law's family, which included Minnesota relatives. This was more work in Minnesota, a state I've lived in for many years and hadn't researched. Turns out she's distantly related to my neighbor Sharon.
I work occasionally on another neighbor's genealogy problems, especially mystery parentage in early Virginia for someone connected to Daniel Boone. I've worked on a friend's family after he asked whether he was related to someone in early Minneapolis history. He was distantly related, but that led to more Minnesota and Iowa research and has included learning about Loyalists in the Revolutionary War. and hotels on Lake Minnetonka.
My list of projects I can work on at any given time is long, and most of it connects back to my Chosen Family - who happen to live next door. Because I've taken on these projects, I've learned so much more about doing research, writing, resources, etc. I've expanded the areas I'm comfortable researching and have grown as a genealogist. And it all points back to that original birthday present years ago. Thanks, Steve!!
-------------------------------------------------------------
This week's #52 Ancestors prompt was Chosen Family.
No comments:
Post a Comment