Genealogy Do Over Week 3: Technologically Inadvanced

I tried so hard. I really did. I wanted to overcome the mental block that I had with Excel. I wanted to finally be able to say that I understood how the program worked and that I conquered Thomas MacEntee's research log. But alas dear folks, once again the technology has beaten me. 

I guess that I could make excuses that the concept was above my understanding. Or maybe I could say that the template was too detailed for me and became cumbersome. It was the template's fault, not mine. 

I could say all of this and make convincing arguments to the point that you would agree with me that technology was a waste of our time. You'd sit there scratching your heads wondering why on earth you thought Microsoft programs were the bee's knees. You'd be ready to throw that expensive piece of machinery that you use to read this blog right out the window. 

But part of this do-over is looking deep within ourselves and making changes to how we handle our genealogy. I wanted to be the person that gave up the pen and paper and turned to the computer to handle every last part of my genealogical research. The practical part of my brain said that it would save time and money to use the computer. It would save trees since I wouldn't be using so much notebook paper. But the emotional part...Why was it so hard to give up the old-fashioned way of handling things?

It very well may be that all my life I battled a learning disability and learned at a young age that as long as I wrote it out and organized it the way my mind worked I could remember it and succeed in my endeavors. My brain just cannot wrap itself around concepts that I cannot fully understand. How does Evernote search our tags to find the note that I wrote? How does Excel expand the boxes as I type my notes into them? I know how pen and paper work. I know how my brain works. And I am used to it. 

So what if I can't work with technology the way Thomas can? At the beginning it was made clear that we would evolve as genealogists by the time we were done with this challenge. Maybe me evolving is accepting my limitations and that certain things will never work for me the way I would like them to. Maybe it is knowing that it is ok to do things the old-fashioned way. And just maybe, by the end of this challenge I will have figured out how not to beat myself up over my disabilities and I might just learn a lesson or two about myself that I can carry over into my everyday lifestyle. 

Genealogy Do Over Week 2: My Life is a Chaotic Mess

Sorry for the delay in postings. A family emergency has kept me off the blogging site. But I am back and I promise to make a better effort to update regularly. With that said...my efforts at week 2 in this wonderful challenge. 

The self-interview started easily enough. Where and when was I born? Who was I born to? The beginning was like any other but it would get more complicated as time wore on. 

The questions were getting harder. Where and when was I baptized? Did I source my dedication into the baptist church that my birth father had done, or did I source the baptism I received through the Catholic church before my adoption. Of course I would include my adoption, but did I make a family tree for my adoptive family or my birth family? Did I talk about all four sets of grandparents, or just the two sets that were integral to my upbringing? And never mind all the name changes I went through in thirty-one years of life. I had some choices to make and they were not easy ones. 

After much soul searching and wondering. After many nights of prayers asking for guidance in how I should proceed I finally came to realize that which family I focused on would be determined by what my research goals were. Since my first and foremost goal was to connect my family to members on the Pequot and Mohegan tribes I knew that my biological family had to take precedence over the family that raised me. 

I know that at some time in my life I will be ready to tackle the adoptive family lineage. But as long as I have separate DNA from the parents that I knew growing up I will focus my energy on the family that I didn't know. The family that has always been the white elephant in the room. 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge: Week 1: Fresh Start

A fresh start. A new set of eyes. A clear head or a clear mind. That is what is needed for my brick wall ancestor, Lucy Ann Williams. What is known about her is very little but there is just enough information to make her dangerous to my addiction. But I have become blinded and keep beating my head against the brick wall. 

The problem begins with her birth date. What is known is that she was born around 1817 in Connecticut. The next time I see Lucy is when she is marrying Joseph C. Bentley in Groton, New London, Connecticut on 19 Nov 1835. I know that she has a couple of sons (Franklin Horace and William and that there may be one more son) and that there is a daughter Ann L. Bentley (also referred to as Annie V., Ann V., Annie L.) I can find her in census records from 1840 until 1870. And then she dies on 13 Apr 1871 and is buried in Preston, New London, Connecticut at Gates Cemetery. I have even been to her headstone. Here is where it gets weird. There is no death certificate for her in Preston. She lived in Preston her whole married life. One might assume that she died there. 

Where does the fresh start come in? Well, to me, I have become blinded by the little known facts about Lucy Ann. I have listened to my aunt and uncle (who are researching our line also) fight about who her parents were and whether or not she was an American Indian as lore states. I have let them convince me that there is no known parents because she was born on a reservation. Truth is, there is no proof of that yet. So I would think it is prudent to say that I must start at the beginning, or at the end. 

First I must ask myself why she got married in Groton by a Justice of the Peace. Her husband was from Preston and her childhood home has nothing known about it. Did she live in Groton? Did she travel to Groton to get married? Why did she choose William Williams, JP as her officiant? Was there a relationship to her family? Was it her father? I believe that the answers to my question lie in Groton's town hall where I must do hands on research. Also, marriage customs at that time would be beneficial to research. 

I also think that it would be prudent to study the censuses for the 1820 and 1830 census year. I need to create a list of all possible parents for Lucy and spread my search out to the surrounding towns. I need to make sure that I keep detailed logs of what I have researched, where I have researched, and the results of my queries and research. I am finding that I am going over the same ground again and again as my notes are not organized nor have I cited any of the sources that I have come across for her. 

The fact sits that Lucy Ann and I have become interwoven in my desire to learn about her and her life. She runs through my mind a lot, in fact most days as I sit down to research I type her name into all my databases in the hopes that something new might have been added for her. I constantly question all my conclusions, drawing up new questions and ways to find the answers that I desperately seek. It is now become clear to me that I must set all research for Lucy Ann aside and begin at the beginning as though I was looking at her for the first time. 

Genealogy Do Over: Week 1...I Have Taken the Challenge

GeneaBloggers.com Genealogy Do Over

As many in the genealogical community know, Thomas MacEntee challenged us to do a do over of our research. Week one is drawing to a close and I thought this would be a great time to share with you my progress in this challenge. The first part of the challenge was to set research aside. This was an easy challenge for me because I don't have a lot of research to date. I have names and that is pretty much it. I hate admitting it, but I was a "clickophile" when it came to my research. For me it was easy to delete all my trees and psyche myself up to start again.

The second challenge was Preparing to Research. This was a little more difficult for me as I really needed to think about what it was that I was doing wrong and how to start again. It was suggested that we write down some research "warm up" exercises and so I came up with this list:
     (1) Fill out a research log before engaging in research
     (2) Clear my desk of everything but the absolute must haves according to the second part of this exercise
     (3) Put my phone on "do not disturb" mode.
     (4) Set timer for the allotted period of research time that I scheduled
     (5) Close my eyes and take some deep breaths to clear my mind
     (6) Turn on my laptop and boot up Evernote and the website (Ancestry, FamilySearch, etc.) that I planned to use to focus on my research goals.

The second half of this challenge was to make a list of the "Must Have Items When Researching". Because I am a very literal person I had to put some obvious items down, otherwise I would not be able to focus. I have this running checklist in my head, so of course the obvious has to be checked off or my mind will wander. My list consisted of:
   (1) "Professional Genealogy" edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills
   (2) "The Genealogist's Address Book" by Elizabeth Petty Bentley
   (3) Evidence! Citation and Analysis for the Family Historian" by Elizabeth Shown Mills
   (4) Pens and pencils, erasers, refill lead for my pencils, and white out
   (5) Blank research logs
   (6) Research log for the ancestor I am researching
   (7) Laptop
   (8) Blank forms to fill in
   (9) File folder for ancestor

The final, and third part of this challenge was to set some "Base Practices and Guidelines". These would help us to become better researchers. This was the trickiest exercise for me because it meant truly looking at my research practices and admitting to myself that my practices were far from acceptable for a novice or someone planning on becoming a professional. By writing down these guidelines that I needed to follow, it made me realize just how far I really am from being prepared to work on my BCG application. It was heart-wrenching for me but it needed to be done and I needed this eye opener so that I could become a better researcher. My list consists of:
   (1) I will schedule specific set hours into my calendar for research. Those hours will only be used for research. I will not take naps, read, go on Facebook, or do housework in my allotted time.
   (2) I will begin at the beginning and work my way back. This means starting with myself and citing all sources for my vital statistics. This will also include my husband and my children and their source citations. Only when this has all been filled in properly can I go onto the next generation.
   (3) I will follow the 3 Golden Rules of Genealogy per the geneabloggers.com website. These will include:
        (a) Track all work, including dead ends, negative evidence, and non-productive searches
        (b) Cite sources, even if in a rudimentary manner to note the "what, where, when" information about a record
        (c) Make the "first pass the only pass" which means slow down and spend as much time as needed on a document or source and wring out of it every bit of information.
                                            ***The last three points were taken word-for-word from geneabloggers.com and belong to Thomas MacEntee. I only borrowed them to insure that I followed these rules to a tee.****
   (4) I will not be a "clickophile". Unless I have researched it, verified it, and cited it, it will not get added to my tree.
   (5) I will take all family lore and online public trees with a grain of salt. Until I can prove it, it is a "hint".
   (6) I will not take my aunt's research at face value unless it is sources and verified.
   (7) I will learn to better manage my time. I will utilize my time wisely to accomplish as much of my set goal as possible.
   (8) I will only work with one line and one generation at a time.

I am sure that as I get further into this Genealogy Do Over my guidelines and "warm up" exercises will change and evolve as I change and evolve into a better genealogist. In the meantime, I feel that this is a great start to my do over. From here on out, on Wednesdays, I will be updating my blog to include my progress in this challenge. I would love for you to use the comments section to include your own progress in the challenge or even a link to your blog about the do over challenge. I am a firm believer that there is strength in numbers and that with a little support from each other this challenge can make us all better genealogists and more aware of what we are doing wrong or what can be improved.

Gary Albert Butts-the man behind the woman

Is there someone in your life that has made you who you are? Someone that has helped shape you, who has inspired you, who has given your life a purpose and a reason? Well, meet Gary Albert Butts, my father and the man that made genealogy a living, breathing part of my daily life. 

My father was born on 5 Jul 1941 to Burton A. Butts and Arline E. Guillmette. By all accounts my father's birth was unremarkable except for one thing. The man was born with only one side of his brain fully functioning. During pregnancy, the baby wasn't moving and doctors told my grandmother she had a tumor. So they gave her medication to shrink the tumor. Nine months later my dad was born and the doctors realized they made a mistake. 

Sadly, My father died before I was two on 22 Jan 1986, the day my oldest sibling turned three. I don't remember much about him but the stories about him really drove me to find all that I could about his family. As an adopted child I didn't get to learn about my family history until I was in my early 20s. At that point I knew that I had to find out everything I could, to honor my dad. To begin with, I knew I had to find my biological family. This was easier said than done because I had to go to the agency that handled the adoption, in this case it was the state of Connecticut. I had to write letters, have interviews, psychological evaluations, and more interviews before the state felt that I was sane enough to look for my family. And then the waiting began as they attempted to make contact with the people that shared the same genes as myself. Valentine's Day 2006 found me with two phone calls, one from my biological mother and the other from my biological aunt, my dad's sister. 

Long story short, I met my aunt who was doing our family genealogy and was labeled the family historian. None of her children were interested in what she was doing, but I had just found genealogy by myself while waiting for the search to be over. And so, my aunt passed along her information about my dad, my dad's family, and our ancestors. And I was instantly hooked. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, I still thrive to bring life to my ancestors to honor them and to honor my father who made family his entire life. Money meant nothing to this man. His children were his sole focus. I will always be proud to call myself Gary's daughter. And even though my heart breaks every time I think of him and what he and I both missed out on, I know that he is proud to call me his. 

Who is Buried in the Butts Plot and Why the Submarine?

The front of my grandparents' headstone. Burton Adelbert Butts was my paternal grandfather and Arline Elaine Butts was my paternal grandmother. Between the two of them they had six children and my grandmother had a son from a previous relationship. What is not shown in this photo is that their youngest daughter is buried in this plot after having been cremated. Gail Butts Drosses is buried with her parents. 

The back of my grandparents' headstone. As you can see a submarine has been etched into the stone. I have had multiple people ask me if my grandfather was in the Navy and why he doesn't have a flag on his stone if he served in the military. The answer is that he was not a naval man but worked for Electric Boat building the submarines. My grandfather even helped build the Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine. His job was a pipe-fitter where he worked on the oil system for the sub. Family lore says that he designed a special kind of oil-system that is still in use on the subs to this day. 

Another reason that there are sailboats and submarines on his headstone was because he was a Merchant Mariner. Unfortunately, my grandfather got out of the Merchant Marines a year before the branch was considered to be military. Had he stayed in for another year or two he would have been in the time frame to be recognized as a branch of the military and could have been buried with military honors. But that's another story for another day. 

Woodman of the World-My First Headstone Find

My first Woodman of the World headstone. I have been researching since 2006 and this is the first one of its kind that I have run across. I spotted this beauty at Egypt Cemetery in Egypt, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The last name on the stone is Solt.

This is how I spent the first day of 2015. I decided that cemetery photos was a great way to start the new year in the hopes that the momentum will continue and I will find time to go to more cemeteries and get more great photos to share with each of you. As my life goal is to become versed in cemetery research so that I can pass my knowledge along to the genealogical community I figured that spending as much time in cemeteries as possible would be a good idea. I will also be looking for books on cemetery research, cemeteries in general, and talking to monument makers and funeral home directors to learn as much as I possibly can.