I've been trying to research my genealogy for a few years now with varying degrees of success. The project languishes for months, then I get a little information and add it to Geni.com, and then nothing happens for awhile. I made the mistake of signing up as a "PRO" on Geni and as far as I can determine you don't get a lot for the money. I was hoping there were some searches I can perform but so far all it lets me do is search for relatives in my email contacts. I already know who my relatives are there. I did get a bright red "pro badge". I signed up for the free Ancestry.com account also. They apparently have more research tools for their "PRO" account but they are much more expensive. Besides I don't need them anyway. After getting my library card I asked the woman at the information desk how I could start researching my family tree. She led me to a computer and showed me the library quick links. They have an account with Ancestry.com that allows me to access the searches through the library computers. Handy.
I found some interesting things while searching a newspaper archive site also available on the library computer. I found out just enough information to think that David P Glass, a veteran of the Spanish American War, may have been my great, great grandfather. I need to do more research before I can be sure. Some dates don't quite add up.
I also discovered my maternal grandmother's date of birth and death which had been missing. It was nice to get those blanks filled. I found both grandmothers' social security numbers which might come in handy, especially if I want to change my identity.
I learned that my paternal grandmother and her sister, Edna Rope, were quite the social butterflies. Their names popped up in several newspaper articles through the 40's and 50's as participating in church socials and potlucks. My Dad's aunt Edna was also made an Amrou Caldron, or something like that, in 1957. I'm not sure what it is but it's got something to do with the American Legion.
All in all it was a pretty interesting afternoon of research. I'm hoping to practice and get a little better at it.
As mentioned in the title, this is also my 300th post here which seems worth commenting on. Here's to 300 more.
2 comments:
For a list of what Geni offers its pro subscribers, see http://www.geni.com/pro
Anon, thanks for the link. I had actually looked at that before. It's still a little disappointing. The statistics are interesting but don't really help me find relatives.
I'm hoping to play around with the search feature and contact some people that may be related. I also like the similar profile feature but so far that hasn't produced any meaningful results.
In fairness, Ancestry.com's more expensive pro account has proven to be just a little more helpful and I'm glad I didn't end up paying for it (of course I'm a cheap SOB)
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