Roberts Roots & Branches

The (unofficial) Day of Listening. After your turkey dinner, I hope you had a chance to visit with family, share stories, and then record the stories and your thoughts!

A relic is something that is from the past; sometimes an object similar to a souvenir or memento.   An heirloom or a family treasure is considered a relic. The Wikipedia explains, “The word relic comes from the Latin reliquiae , meaning "remains" or "something left behind" (the same root as relinquish ).”(1)   Relics are fragments of the past kept to remind the future of what once was.   Relics tell stories about someone; their life, their practices, customs, or their beliefs.   A relic is something that is kept in remembrance of someone such as a keepsake or memento.   What relics do you have in your home?   What stories do they tell?   What memories do they evoke?   Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary suggests the following synonyms:   “echo, ghost, vestige, shadow, trace.”(2)   Heirlooms and keepsakes are an echo of the past, a ghost or presence of someone who once lived, a vestige or trace or hint of a person’s life, an...

Do you ever have questions while watching "Who Do You Think You Are?"   I have.  I wonder: do the celebrities get copies of the research including any documents that were found are the reactions genuine and in real time who (the tv show or the celeb) chooses which line to follow for the show who pays for the travel what if the researchers hit a brick wall do the researchers prep the celebrities before they are filmed what if the family secrets are too dark to tell (so far none have been and there have been some dark history revealed!) has a celebrity ever backed out because they were ashamed or embarrassed by their ancestors has the show ever researched two celebrities who were related have family members of the celebrities ever nixed the research process because of personal issues dealing with their ancestors why do some celebrities get driven while others drive themselves Some of the above questions were answered in an interview by Thomas MacEntee with...

Everything you wanted to know about "Scanfest" is here on AnceStories , including simple and basic scanning procedures.  AnceStories also includes how to "chat" with other genealogists who are scanning! August Scanfest is on the 24th.  Here is some incentive to   scan those  photographs  and  documents!

Summer is an excellent time to visit your State Historical and Genealogical Library.   Air Conditioning?   Well, no.   Not even the cloistered quiet of the scholar's retreat.   Our doors are open to the sounds of boys and girls discovering the uniform of the great Bobby Feller or seeing for the first time the handwriting of the Father of their own country. Be a pioneer.   Come away!   If you are looking for an ever-so-great uncle in Pennsylvania, we offer you a welcome, a chair and armloads of books.   If you want to follow the activities of General Grenville Dodge in summer, 1864, we know just where to find the right manuscripts.   If you want to brouse, (sic) why not read again the story of a certain Judge Charles Mason and Ralph, the slave, in old Debuque. A very wise president in our own century reminded American:   “A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is tryi...

My second New Year's Resolution is to gather and add all the letters, notes, awards, certificates, talks, and any other things I can find to my husband's history.  Since he didn't leave a history, it will be these things that I will piece together and create the story of his life; just like I have done for my ancestors! [ after I am gone, my children will thank me, that it is all organized! ] I am entering all letters, talks, and anything else I can find.  I even came across his college papers which, I just had to cut and paste on the computer, to enter them into Personal Historian. [ I found a talk he gave back before we were even old enough to date!!! ] I am taking the originals and placing them in acid free sheet protectors and then putting them all in a binder. [ what is scary is these papers are already starting to turn yellow! ] How are your family history resolutions coming along? [ and yes I am still writing the newsletter, volunteering 20 hours a week at...

To find personal answers:   If you are experiencing a difficult situation, you will be able to sort out your concerns and feelings and see them from different perspectives.   Set personal goals:   There are so many possibilities and choices in our life.   Record your goals and the steps you want to take to achieve them and then record the journey.   It is in the journey that you will find growth. Write about personal shortfalls:   Explore how and why you keep doing the same things over and over.   Write about patterns you create in your life that are not working for you. Write about fear:   Everyone experiences fear.   Write about your fears and how you plan on overcoming them. Write about success:   Where have you succeed in your life and explain that experience, the journey, and the feeling of success. Write about positive experiences:   Write about what is good in your life and has been good in your life. Wri...

I have been debating on if I should share my goals for this year; I will because maybe it will inspire you! Over the years I have sporadically kept a journal; I have written in bound journals, notebooks, on the computer, and on my IPad. I decided it was time to "pull it together" and step it up, especially since it was at last year's RootsTech when Brother Brimhall asked, "What do you wish your ancestor would have left you?"  A journal--that's my answer!  That has been my answer all year long and it is almost RootsTech again and I have not done it!  [regret, regret, regret]  So, it is my New Year's Resolution--keep a journal! New Year's Day, I gathered up all my writings.  I had journal entries on my various flash drives, pieces of notebook paper and on my laptop.  I added all of these sources to my Personal Historian program; most of it was cut and paste.  I was genuinely surprised at how much I had written, but when it is scattered it doesn...

While searching online trees and Family Search Tree, it can be very frustrating at the amount of errors and inadequate and incomplete information contained therein.   Many trees are messy with numerous submissions and changes on the most basic of fields; such as an ancestors name or place of birth.   About ten years ago, I copied my grandmother’s typewritten and handwritten legal sized pedigree and family group sheets.   Just recently, I re-analyzed these records and realized how much time it took her to type in each name and source.   As I thought about the information she had collected and added to these papers, I realized she “paid” for long distance calls, sent letters and requests through the United States postal system, and traveled to search books and films.    There was no internet, email, databases, or personal family history software programs to generate these forms for my grandmother. Just as previous researchers, my grandmo...