Roberts Roots & Branches

As a young student in elementary school, we had to use a dictionary to look up how to spell a word.   It never made sense to me to “look it up” because all words were listed in alphabetical order; so to “look it up” you had to have a basic idea of how to spell the word to begin with and if I knew how to spell the word, then I wouldn’t need to look it up! Genealogy is similar; you have to know specific foundational  information to “look it up”.   To research, you have to know a time-frame  and a location. Without a small time-frame  and specific location, a person could be looking and searching forever in a million different places.   Computers have made these types of searchers easier, but if the search engines don’t find anything, then you really need to narrow your searches down to a particular time frame and a specific location. So, to “look it up” sounds easier than it really is; similarly in genealogy to “look it up” means you have some knowledge of time and place.

I was doing some research for someone and was having difficulty locating a census for a family.   I was finally able to locate the census using some creative search techniques in Ancestry, where I finally located the record.    I knew Family Search had the same record, but the surname had been indexed improperly.   After some creative searching in Family Search, I was finally able to find the census record.   As I examined the record I noticed the bottom of the census record looked much different in Ancestry as it did in Family Search.   It is the exact same image on the two separate websites, but I am not sure why the images are so different.   Is the photography of the original image what caused the bottom portion to be unreadable?   Was it the original image was damaged and it was digitally correct by Family Search?   I am not sure what or why the image is clearer on Family Search.   This is another lesson in why it is important to search different web sites for the sam

Joseph Jones(19) born 20 February 1862 married Letitia Roberts(9)

John Richard Roberts(8)  married Salina Parker(162) 19 February 1883

Andrew Hamilton(45) born 17 February 1867 married Jane Roberts(15)

Isaac Roberts(10), his sister Letitia Roberts(9) and her husband Joseph Jones(19) were the first three immediate Hugh Roberts(1) family members who immigrated.   The three of them boarded the S.S. Spain in January 1886 and set sail for their new adventures.   The three family members left Liverpool with hopes and dreams of their new lives in the United States.   Joseph and Letitia left their 2-year-old daughter, Maggie, with her parents, Hugh(1) and Margaret(2), in Hanley, England.   Letitia and Joseph were both 23 years old and Isaac was 22 years old. During their voyage, the three huddled together to keep warm during the January temperatures, shared tea and scones to eat and kept each other company to help pass the time on their journey.   During the voyage, Letitia(9) became ill.   As Letitia’s health declined, Joseph(19) and Isaac(10) were worried and scared.   The two men excited for their journey and adventure suddenly found themselves in a grim situation.   The young m

Rock Spring Rocket, 10 January 1930

There is more than just plain yarn In my afghan—for I see More than pattern, stitch and color In such blended tapestry. There is patience, so much learning, And an artist’s sense supreme; Hours and weeks of steady building To create the finished theme Of beauty, in this afghan, that My mother made for me. All the love and wisdom of her years She crocheted into its soul; Tender thoughts and special memories Were hooked in—row on row. There were homes and many loved ones, Passing by in dear parade, As her fingers fashioned lovely yarn Of “rosy-velvet” shade. Into this treasured afghan, that For me—my mother made. ---Pearle M. Olsen—Sanpete County Carter, Kate B, complied by, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, 1958, Lessons for May, 1958, page 525 Do you have a quilt, afghan, sweater or other article of clothing handmade by a loved one?

The childhood story of Hansel and Gretel tells the story of how two lost children were able to escape out of the woods by following the bread crumbs they had left when they first went into the forest.   The same is true for citing sources. Leave bread crumbs.   Leave enough bread crumbs that someone else would be able to follow your trail to your documents.   Leaving a good trail is a good source citing. Labels:   Citing sources, research   Leaving Bread Crumbs             In the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel a trail of bread crumbs is left to mark their descent into the forest.   Leaving a physical and tangible trail in family history work is just as important as doing the research itself.   Citing sources is similar to leaving a map to the depository of source information.   A map to the original source is useful to the finder of the information, other genealogists, and to the accountability of the overall research project.             One important reason for c

Read and apply! I picked up a book, “Blogging for Dummies” by Amy Lupold Bair on Saturday and two days later when I was supposed to work, everything closed down and I was snowed in!   I read the book, took some notes and recommitted to blogging.  Plus I got some great tips. I reflected throughout the day as I thought about my situation and wondered about my ancestors. How many of their plans had to be canceled because of Wyoming snow? How many of them got snow days while they were in school?       I guess I felt a little closer to them being snowed in while in Wyoming where it not only snowed, but it was 10’ and of course the wind was blowing. Have you ever gotten off for a snow day?

In May I wrote a post about trying to be better about posting and then…more happened! Grandma got ran over by a reindeer! I broke my wrist, and spent 4 weeks in a cast and 2 more weeks in a brace and now I am in physical therapy.   Good news, I can finally use the keyboard in a workable manner even though it is quite uncomfortable!   The other good news I can still use the microfilm reader with no pain, so I have been doing that! In the meantime, I have been reading several books and I have signed up for a writing class…more about that later.   I have been watching webinars about my genealogy software, and I updated my software.   I have watched several webinars including one about using Genuki, genealogy research and other genealogy related topics. I have developed a new research journal which tracks my time, includes a research log, notes from classes, webinars, tracks Facebook posts, ancestor birthdays, and writing time.     I have committed to being discipline