A Genealogy Meme

My new blogger friend, Lisa Swanson Ellam, had this genealogy meme posted on her blog, The Faces of My Family. It is originally from Becky Wiseman of Kinexxions. I thought it would be fun to participate.

The list should be annotated in the following manner:

Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (color optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type

1.        Belong to a genealogical society.
2.        Researched records onsite at a court house.
3.        Transcribed records.
4.        Uploaded tombstone pictures to Find-A-Grave.
5.        Documented ancestors for four generations (self, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents).
6.        Joined Facebook.
7.        Helped to clean up a run-down cemetery.
8.        Joined the Genea-Bloggers Group on Facebook.
9.        Attended a genealogy conference.
10.     Lectured at a genealogy conference.
11.     Spoke on a genealogy topic at a local genealogy society.
12.     Been the editor of a genealogy society newsletter.
13.     Contributed to a genealogy society publication.
14.     Served on the board or as an officer of a genealogy society.
15.     Got lost on the way to a cemetery.
16.     Talked to dead ancestors.
17.     Researched outside the state in which I live.
18.     Knocked on the door of an ancestral home and visited with the current occupants.
19.     Cold called a distant relative.
20.     Posted messages on a surname message board.
21.     Uploaded a gedcom file to the internet.
22.     Googled my name.
23.     Performed a random act of genealogical kindness.
24.     Researched a non-related family, just for the fun of it.
25.     Have been paid to do genealogical research.
26.     Earn a living (majority of income) from genealogical research.
27.     Wrote a letter (or email) to a previously unknown relative.
28.     Contributed to one of the genealogy carnivals.
29.     Responded to messages on a message board or forum.
30.     Was injured while on a genealogy excursion.
31.     Participated in a genealogy meme.
32.     Created family history gift items (calendars, cookbooks, etc.).
33.     Performed a record lookup for someone else.
34.     Went on a genealogy seminar cruise.
35.     Am convinced that a relative must have arrived here from outer space.
36.     Found a disturbing family secret.
37.     Told others about a disturbing family secret.
38.     Combined genealogy with crafts (family picture quilt, scrapbooking).
39.     Think genealogy is a passion not a hobby.
40.     Assisted finding next of kin for a deceased person (Unclaimed Persons).
41.     Taught someone else how to find their roots.
42.     Lost valuable genealogy data due to a computer crash or hard drive failure.
43.     Been overwhelmed by available genealogy technology.
44.     Know a cousin of the 4th degree or higher.
45.     Disproved a family myth through research.
46.     Got a family member to let you copy photos.
47.     Used a digital camera to “copy” photos or records.
48.     Translated a record from a foreign language.
49.     Found an immigrant ancestor’s passenger arrival record.
50.     Looked at census records on microfilm, not on the computer.
51.     Used microfiche.
52.     Visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
53.     Visited more than one LDS Family History Center.
54.     Visited a church or place of worship of one of your ancestors.
55.     Taught a class in genealogy.
56.     Traced ancestors back to the 18th Century.
57.     Traced ancestors back to the 17th Century.
58.     Traced ancestors back to the 16th Century.
59.     Can name all of your great-great-grandparents.
60.     Found an ancestor’s Social Security application.
61.     Know how to determine a soundex code without the help of a computer.
62.     Used Steve Morse’s One-Step searches.
63.     Own a copy of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills.
64.     Helped someone find an ancestor using records you had never used for your own research.
65.     Visited the main National Archives building in Washington, DC.
66.     Visited the Library of Congress.
67.     Have an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower.
68.     Have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War.
69.     Taken a photograph of an ancestor’s tombstone.
70.     Became a member of the Association of Graveyard Rabbits.
71.     Can read a church record in Latin.
72.     Have an ancestor who changed their name.
73.     Joined a Rootsweb mailing list.
74.     Created a family website.
75.     Have more than one "genealogy" blog.
76.     Was overwhelmed by the amount of family information received from someone.
77.     Have broken through at least one brick wall.
78.     Visited the DAR Library in Washington D.C.
79.     Borrowed a microfilm from the Family History Library through a local Family History Center.
80.     Have done indexing for Family Search Indexing or another genealogy project.
81.     Visited the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
82.     Had an amazing serendipitous find of the "Psychic Roots" variety.
83.     Have an ancestor who was a Patriot in the American Revolutionary War.
84.     Have an ancestor who was a Loyalist in the American Revolutionary War.
85.     Have both Patriot & Loyalist ancestors.
86.     Have used Border Crossing records to locate an ancestor.
87.     Use maps in my genealogy research.
88.     Have a convict ancestor who was transported from the UK.
89.     Found a bigamist amongst the ancestors.
90.     Visited the National Archives in Kew.
91.     Visited St. Catherine's House in London to find family records.
92.     Found a cousin in Australia (or other foreign country).
93.     Consistently cite my sources.
94.     Visited a foreign country (i.e. one I don't live in) in search of ancestors.
95.     Can locate any document in my research files within a few minutes.
96.     Have an ancestor who was married four times (or more).
97.     Made a rubbing of an ancestors gravestone.
98.     Organized a family reunion.
99.     Published a family history book (on one of my families).
100.  Learned of the death of a fairly close relative through research.
101.  Have done the genealogy happy dance.
102.  Sustained an injury doing the genealogy happy dance.
103.  Offended a family member with my research.
104.  Reunited someone with precious family photos or artifacts.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bannerman Family Mystery

Image
Among the many old photographs originally in my grandfather's possession, there is one that has haunted me and has remained a mystery all these years. The photograph is of three children with their names and ages typeset at the bottom of the photograph. “William, 10 years, Robert 8, and Maggie Bennerman, 4 Years Old.” Who were they? My grandfather was not able to identify them, though his memory was remarkably sharp and accurate until his death at the age of 96. I first noticed this picture and the others that my grandfather had in 1989 when I embarked on the adventure of genealogy. Since then I have traced all of my father's ancestors at least back to the early 1800s (and a lot beyond). But I never ran into the Bennerman name, anywhere. Not as ancestors of mine, not even as neighbors. I am lucky enough to even have a name to match the faces in the photograph in the first place. Early in my research, I visited the Tampa stake of the LDS church and I mentioned the Bennerman na...
Read more

Friday Faces from the Past: Moorefield

Image
I am perusing through old photographs from my paternal grandparents side these days. In essence, I have been visiting Kentucky although really only in my mind. Things like this come and go in spurts. I have not looked at the research I have done on these lines in a number of years but every now and them something draws me back. What pulled me this time was an email from a gentleman who saw a photograph on my blog that was taken by Randolph in Cadiz, Kentucky (see the photo here ). This gentleman informed me that he and another local historian were doing research on this photographer who did work in Cadiz from about 1893 to 1913. He wanted to know if I would share an electronic copy of the photograph and also asked if I had anymore photographs taken by Randolph. I hunted around and found one more. This is a photograph identified by my grandfather as "My daddy's first cousin [John Willis Watts], Otis Moorefield." Otis Moorefield (1875-1958) Until I put the two tog...
Read more

Ellicottville Serendipity

Image
Old embossed medicine bottle "Glenn N. Alexander, Pharmacist, Ellicottville, NY" Hanover Town Historian Vince Martonis wrote an article in 2022 for the Greater Buffalo Bottle Collectors Association ( GBBCA ) newsletter about a series of events regarding an old whiskey bottle from Ellicottville. These events ended up bringing him full circle to a connection with an old friend who has since passed. Some years prior, Mr. Martonis told me about the bottle which had a label indicating it was filled with rye whiskey from M.E. Dinneen of Ellicottville that I wound up purchasing from a local antique market. I ended up bringing it to Bryan Scharf at Ellicottville Distillery and we hatched a plan to have a reproduction bottled and labeled to commemorate the town’s bicentennial in 2020. In contacting me for further details about how that all came about, I mentioned Bryan’s last name to Mr. Martonis. He wondered if Bryan was related to his friend Don Scharf, a former fellow member ...
Read more