Saturday, December 24, 2016

Wishing you every blessing this Christmas and New Year...

Friday, December 23, 2016

New Year's Resolutions

A recent article in Family Tree Magazine encouraged me to be serious about some things that have been on my mind.  I always say I'm not doing the resolution thing this year, but these resolutions are a little different.  Hopefully they will help me to do a better job on my family research.

1- Research regularly. I often find that my effort is spotty.  I'll go great guns on my research, then my other life gets in the way.  Weeks or months have passed and I haven't done anything.  Even worse, I forget what I was doing and where I ended.  I spend too much time getting back on track.

2- Cite your sources.  Initially this didn't seem to be all that important, this was just a hobby for my own enjoyment, right?  Now that it is a more serious business to me I find myself going back and trying to document.  That job would have been much easier had I done it along the way, not to mention much less embarrassing when I have to contact people who've shared information with me.

3- Organize.  Need I say more? Pictures, records, letters, on and on... Not to mention the back ups I should do on my documents, pictures, family group sheets, and pedigrees.  It would be terrible to lose all those.

4- Continue to learn. I don't know near enough about so many things.  How do I use my DNA match information to further my research?  What other resources are available to me in my specific areas of research?  Do I know enough about the locations and events that were part of my ancestors lives?  Have I learned enough from elderly relatives about their lives?  The questions are endless.

This list could continue, but in the way of all resolutions, the more there are, the less chance I'll be successful with any of them.  Hopefully, this will spark some goals for you as well in the coming 2017.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Merry Christmas and a ThankYou

This post is a bit personal, but I really need to share a few things.  The photo was taken at our chapter Christmas party.  It shows a group of absolutely wonderful people.  It has been a tough year for me, and I haven't been able to make it to our monthly meetings.  They have kept me in the loop with emails and have been a huge encouragement for me.  These people work SO hard to help our chapter grow and donate untold hours to push forward the research on our Germans from Russia ancestors.  This is my chance to publicly thank all of them for the many things they do.  It was a great party by the way. Here's wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and wishing you all the blessings you deserve. You are truly my people...

Friday, December 9, 2016

German Proverbs, continued...

As fast as laws are devised, their evasion is contrived.

Argument is a sieve for sifting truth.

Each of us knows best where his own shoe pinches.

Many who build castles in the air cannot build a hut on earth.

What is sport to the cat is death to the mouse.

Little folks are fond of talking about what great folks do.

No one is luckier than he who thinks he's in luck.

No answer really is an answer.

He who deals in onions no longer smells them.




Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Merry Christmas

The Christmas party will be held at the Community Presbyterian Church at 245 South 200 East in Springville, on Saturday, Dec 10. Pat and Shirley can set up Saturday morning. They have the building from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm. They have all the paper goods for the table settings. There are nine  70” round tables. If everyone helps with setting up and cleaning up it will go very fast, so please pitch in.