Beyond Fiction

Well, here we go again. This time Randy has challenged us to write about three things that we have done right in our genealogy research. I’m starting to enjoy the challenges so I think I will take this one on also.

#1 - Keeping my master documents in a separate place. - Early on in my research I chose to make copies of master documents (birth, death, marriage records, etc…) and then put the masters in a separate binder so that they would not have to be bothered again. This has saved me on more than one occasion! Many times I find myself looking for a document and can’t find it. It’s nice to be able to know where the master file is and be able to make another copy!

#2 - Asking my family for help in getting a website started. - After several years of research I began to desire to put my information online. At the time I was really strapped for cash and couldn’t figure out how to do this. (I didn’t want to use a free service!) For one of the few times in my research I was able to get the nerve to ask for help. I sent a letter to everyone I could think of in my family who would want to donate to help out. I was amazed by the number of folks who donated and became interested in helping! The website has generated contact with so many new cousins.

#3 - Convincing my mother to let me scan her pictures. - This one is a big one! My mother has pictures that go back a long ways. She would hardly ever even let us look at them, much less take a couple of them. Of course, it helped that I moved her in right next door to me so I was able to take a few here and a few there and eventually I scanned everyone of them! Now if I could just get them all sorted!

There you have it! I’m sure that my 3 will differ from others. I know I have made many mistakes in my research but I do think there were a few good moves also!

Thanks again Randy!