Coming Soon...

PHOTOS

Soon I will be posting some of the photos of our ancestors which I have in my personal possession. Should you have any pictures you would like share, simply email me, and we will work out the details or download the photos to your computer, and email me with an attachment of the photos you would like to share. I will only be posting photos of those who have passed-away, so as not invade the privacy of the living, unless you would like to share pictures of yourself and your family. You may gain direct access to my email address by *clicking* on the antique typewriter to the right, here on the main blog page.

Do not forget, if you would like to know a bit more about me, visit my personal blog, by going to "All Things Wonderful." I would love to have a visit from you! : )

Regards and the Best to You,

A Question of Sources: Fact or Fiction?


I realize genealogists 9 times out 10 times want just the facts, however, there is more to individuals' lives than just the facts. Names, dates, and places are fine and good, but we cannot discount, based upon the extensive research of others and that which we do ourselves, the occurrences and incidents in life which make us and them living, breathing beings.

If a fiction writer, writes novels based upon their research which is fact, should that work to be discounted? It is my humble opinion it should be taken cautiously, but not totally discounted. It has been my personal experience after reading a number or fiction works based upon the lives of my ancestors, as well as reading factual data, where there is consistency in both fiction and non-fiction, therein must lie some truth. Where there is consistency there perhaps should be inclusion of that data within your family history. I realize to perform research in both the fiction and non-fiction genres is time consuming, and you will not want to note every detail of every individual, but do not discount information which is available to you.

My advice is to choose a particular family within your line which holds some appeal to you. Which family you choose is strictly your personal choice for your personal reasons. Check the basic on line sources, Rootsweb, Ancestry, Google surnames, etc. and see what other researchers have discovered, and connect with them if you feel comfortable.

If the particular family your are interested in has biographies published and fiction works published, read them, and note where the data is congruent and consistent. Make certain when reading fiction, you check the author's bibliography. Most novelists will provide a bibliography in their books for you, particularly historical fiction writers.

Go to your local library armed with your bibliography and see if their holdings contain the sources for which you are searching. If you local library does not carry a particular source, they may be able to locate it in another library within their system. If push comes to shove, you may have to purchase them, which I regularly do (my personal library is multiplying by leaps and bounds due to this).

When reading fictional works about your chosen family, enjoy the book. Approach the novel not as strictly research material, but as you would any other piece of work you would read for the sake of reading.

Be forewarned as well, you may not like everything you read, some of the material you will find on particular ancestors is not at all pleasing. You may not be happy to discover your ancestor, Lord So-and-so murdered his brother so he could gain his land. This type of discovery is not all uncommon, but it is part of your history, and you must take the good with the bad.

I believe at this point, this is all I am able to share. Should you have any questions, please email me, I would be more than happy to help you!