Ancestry Musings

Exploring "The Old Trunk"

2011-04-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

Today I read "The Old Trunk" (1888) by Powhatan Bouldin Jr. This guy is my great-great grandmother's fourth cousin (mine four times removed). I find it a very interesting look at colonial life in Virginia as well as a great resource for genealogy. Everyone should be so lucky! (You can read my book review HERE).

I do want to share a quote from page 25 that I think is relevant to anyone researching their family. It is a description of going through that old trunk:

"This old document, is so tatters and torn, and the ink so pale that it can scarcely be read, but we pore over it with the interest of the explorer in the Holy Land. Indeed the contents of the Old Trunk are [mementos] of the past, which have been dug up, as it were, from the stream of dumb forgetfulness; and fortune has been as capricious in her dealing with them as she is with individuals. Now, we draw from the Old Trunk a paper so dimmed by age as to be scarcely legible; presently we come across another of greater antiquity, with every word as plain as when it was written. So, to-day, we meet with a young man whose frame has be wrecked upon the shoals of time; to-morrow with an old man who retains the vigor and buoyancy of youth. Here is a female just verging upon womanhood, from whose cheeks the rose has faded and gone; there is another, the mother of a numerous offspring, who is beautiful to the last."

He really captured it, right? So amazing!

Can't Wait to Read

2010-12-30T03:54:00.001-08:00

...the two books I just found out were authored by my 4th cousin, 4x removed. His name was Powhatan Bouldin. He's a distant relative on my mom's side of the family. As far as I can tell, his family was into politics, military, and other important jobs. Luckily, even though the books are more than 100 years out of print, archive.org has the copies available. They have two books:

The Old Trunk (about a trunk of important papers belonging to his family)
Home Reminiscences of John Randolph: Of Roanoke (obviously about John Randolph)

I hope to delve into these books sometime soon to see just what kind of a writer this guy was. Thank goodness for public domain!

Saving the Most Important Documents

2010-12-06T08:48:00.000-08:00

I know that sometimes I can be a paranoid Polly, but recently I have been shopping for ways to save my most important genealogy documents. I have also been looking for ways to save things for my blogs and websites. I looked at many models of network hard drive so that I can save things for both work and my side projects in the same place. I think this can offer me just what I want in a storage device.

Sharing a Postcard

2010-09-22T09:47:00.000-07:00

I bought a postcard about a month ago on eBay. I didn't buy it because it was for genealogy, but because it was a postcard that originated from where many of my family members did. However, I do think it is important to share because it may help someone else in their genealogical search. Here are the scans of the front and back:

The postcard was written to a Mrs. Theodore Powers in Vermont from a woman named Linda [?] Ann.

Anticipation

2010-05-31T06:29:00.000-07:00

The anticipation is nearly killing me. I finally bought FTM 2010, Platinum edition. It came in the mail Thursday, but have not been able to use it yet. I want to install it on the desktop that can handle all the requirements, but right now I only have access to my laptop until I move (6 whole weeks away...). And after a very serious computer virus scare a couple of weeks ago, I don't want to compromise the functionality of the laptop. So since I'm sitting here staring at the box, I wanted to know if anyone else uses this software and what you think of it. Any thoughts?

Software Switcheroo

2010-05-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

It's hard to get back into the game after straying from my genealogy project. Though I still use free versions of genealogy software, I recently switched from My Heritage software to the free version of Roots Magic. I did this because for some reason, I couldn't get My Heritage to open after my external hard drive switched drive letters all of a sudden (that put a hiccup in iTunes as well...). After that, I tried reinstalling it on the drive, but it kept saving files to my C drive. I wasn't having any of that, so I made the switch. Roots Magic seems to work just as well for me, at least until I can afford to purchase Family Tree Maker 2010.

No significant work was lost in my transition, so I'm grateful for that! Let's hope the transition from free to paid software goes the same way.

Quick Update

2010-03-01T07:56:00.001-08:00

I've added a couple more family history themed articles to my portfolio. Check them out under the Genealogy Articles heading on the right side of this page. More updates to come soon!

Wild Branches

2009-11-12T07:05:00.001-08:00

According to my genealogy software, I have 4363 names in my family tree. Only problem? Now I have to buckle down and find the documents, photographs, records, etc. for each one. And this includes info for the newest little branch on my tree, my nephew Parker.

Finally some progress

2009-09-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

I was at a loss on my family genealogy for awhile. I had a ton of sources to sort through, no (free) access to some of the most needed sources, and absolutely no clue where to begin. But I have finally found the solution and it was right in front of me the whole time: just take it one person at a time. Easy enough, right?

Unfortunately, this decision didn't magically create a starting point. Instead, I had close to 1,200 names to choose from. I decided to start with the person that I have some of the most primary source for, my great-great-grandfather on my dad's side, Levi Mathew. It is so interesting how many newspaper and county sources I have for him, but I only have two known photographs of him.

I'm putting all of his information into a biography with pictures and all that good stuff. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a book, newsletter, or other type of genealogy project. If I ever get it done to my satisfaction, I'll post it here.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

I think this says it all...

New social media tool just for genealogists

2009-07-10T06:33:00.000-07:00

I have a few ways of receiving new genealogy information. I get this information from a couple of email newsletters, a Yahoo group, and Twitter. All of these resource exploded with information yesterday about Genealogy Wise, the new social networking site for genealogists. I had a little trouble at first trying to sign up for an account there, but once I was able to, I did. It seems like it's going to be a great new resource for sharing information. I cannot believe that this site is still in pre-launch. From what I have read, this site doesn't official launch until July 17th.

I'm still exploring it to see what I can find. If you want to join me on my journey, you can add me as a friend through my profile page

My orginal goal

2009-07-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

Starting genealogy was not just a random thought for me. The reason I got into this in the first place was for two reasons: to find out who may be in many of the family photographs I have, and to also find more family photographs that may be in someone's possession. For instance, the picture that I use as part of this blog heading is a complete mystery to me. I have asked some family about it before, but I don't think anyone recognized the place.

And no, it's not some fantastical, trippy land. The photo was either exposed to a lot of light or something was wrong with the negative when it was printed. Originally, it was a deep blue sky and an orange color where the yellow and red tones appear. The way you see it now was after trying to to use an automatic color fixing tool on Picture It! And that circle to the right? It's not the sun or the moon. When looking at the original photograph, it is either a rust stain or a cigarette burn. But I love the way this looks, and even though I'm not sure who took it, where it is, and why it was significant, I will have an easy mind knowing that some day I may figure it out. And if not, it's still a really groovy pic!

We're on the road to yesteryear

2009-06-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Ancestry Musings, a blog dedicated to my adventures in researching my family history. I have been researching my family for the past eight months and I have quickly fallen in love with genealogy. Although I am a writer by trade, I am looking to study genealogy and become certified in this type of research. But for now, I'm fascinated with discovering my own family.

From the research I have conducted so far, my family has roots throughout the United States and around the world. Somehow they all ended up together in Northwestern Indiana within the last century. Like any other family, they lived, laughed, loved, and suffered tragedies. Some of this can be seen in photographs; other information is provided by newspaper clippings and storied passed down through the generations. I have chosen to honor these people by knowing all I can about them and sharing their story.

And so the journey begins...