The First Word #20: Taking a Turn at the Wheel

I’ve written about this and spoken on this before; helping out, volunteering, giving back to the genealogical community. We’ve all benefitted from the work others have done, either from compiled indexes, records look-ups or from service in a genealogical society. This year it’s my turn at the helm of the Boulder Genealogical Society, to pay forward what I’ve reaped in the past.

I was honored to be asked to be President of BGS over a year ago. (Well, to be honest, I was coerced, but that’s neither here nor there.) I have been a member of BGS since May of 2001, so after ten years, “they” (the nominating committee) finally caught up with me. I suppose it is time I had a turn at the wheel. I had been dodging the job for several years now by being “too busy” with things like being Quarterly Editor, Webmaster and the like. All joking aside, I believe that each and every one of us should spend some time filling a position in the society. Try it and see what you can give back over the course of a new year.

The new year season is a fun time for me. I am always excited by the new possibilities and changes each new year brings. It is always fun to think ahead to what might be new and exciting but also to look back and be grateful for the times that have passed. It is also a good time to take stock in your life and make some plans for improvements, always growing for the better.

I am glad that some things are behind us –– sad events like the Fourmile Fire and the passing of our dear friend Birdie Holsclaw. I am also looking forward to the genealogy projects I will get to work on (and maybe even finish). I am also looking forward to raising money for the Birdie Monk Holsclaw Memorial Fund through the sale of books from Birdie’s personal library. Looking forward at my term as President, I am exciting by the new possibilities and I hope to keep the BGS team moving forward and upholding our societal objectives:

• to promote an interest in genealogical research
• to collect, preserve and disseminate genealogical and related historical, biographical and heraldic data
• to encourage adherence to scientific principles of accuracy and thoroughness in research
• to champion advanced ethical standards
• to discourage and oppose incompetent and disreputable research
• to foster careful documentation
• to promote scholarly writing
• to provide instruction in the use of efficient mechanics

The past year brought a lot of hard times for our society but I believe there are always silver linings to every bad situation. Even though I dearly miss Birdie, I have gained a deep appreciation for what she represented to me in my life––a mentor, friend and cheerleader. I know that even though Mary Ann Looney (the Immediate Past President) lost her beautiful mountain home in the Fourmile Fire, it meant that I didn’t inherit a large box of presidential papers when the presidency passed to me!

This year, consider improving the genealogical community by filling an empty position in BGS, volunteering your time on one or more of the various BGS projects, writing an article for the Quarterly or sharing your personal research experience with us by giving a presentation to the society at a monthly meeting.

There are many ways you can give back. It is because of the time dedicated by other willing volunteers that much of your research and genealogical education has been successful. Don’t forget to pay it forward! After all, as Bernard M. Baruch said “We didn't all come over on the same ship, but we're all in the same boat.”

The First Word #19: Having an Evacuation Plan Means More Than Grabbing Some Binders

We have all been affected by the Four Mile Fire in some way or another. Whether directly, such as Mary Ann and Doug Looney’s loss of their beautiful home in Sunshine Canyon, or indirectly, like those of us who waited and prayed for our dear friends in the mountains. Having a natural disaster hit so literally close to home was a wake up call for many of us.

There is a group of us who go out for coffee after BGS meetings and discuss genealogy and other happenings in our lives. We’ve been doing it for many years now and have loosely dubbed ourselves “the coffee clutch.” Among us is Mary Ann Looney, so those of us in the group got even more detail about what it is like to have to evacuate at a moment’s notice. I know that all of us sat there thinking about our offices, binders, computers, photo albums and other paper items and wondered what would we grab if we had to leave in a moment’s notice.

At this moment in time, I would be, how shall I say it … well, screwed. My family history stuff is everywhere, in binders, folders, filing cabinets. Some of my documents have been scanned and are on my computer but less than half of them and definitely not a fraction of all of the photographs I just inherited. There are items spread over each of the 3 floors of my house! So, what are we to do?

I’ve decided to look at the bright side of Mary Ann’s loss. I’m not trying to make light of her situation, but how fortunate to have this glaring example of why we need to be more organized! (Probably Mary Ann would say that she’d rather have her house than teach the rest of us a lesson, but, let’s work with the hand that was dealt.) I know we have all heard about the importance of backing up our data or having a plan for distributing our research but here are my ideas:

• Disseminate your research to cousins, aunts, children each time you get a portion researched so that they have copies you can reclaim should something terrible happen.
• Create a website or blog documenting your research so that it is “out there” rather than in just your computer which could be destroyed.
• Scan all of your documents, photographs and other papers so they are on your computer or external hard drive that is easy to grab if you need to.
• Back up all of your data and store off site. You could put everything on CDs and give them to your genealogy friend or a relative who lives in a different town or state. Better yet, put them in a safe deposit box. I prefer to back up my computer with an automatic online backup service such as Mozy. Then you don’t have to remember to do the back up and the files are stored in “the cloud.”
• Have all of your genealogy in a centralized location, maybe in binders that are easy to grab if necessary. (I’m thinking a fire-safe filing cabinet or better yet, offsite at a bank vault, but that might be a little impractical.)

These are just some of my thoughts brought on since the Four Mile Fire. I know that I am going to try to digitize as much of my paper items as possible over the next several years as time permits. I’m definitely going to write more of it up and send copies to interested parties, so that my research is “out there” where I can get to it someday. I’m also thinking I may put those irreplaceable photo albums in a fire safe. (Seth, put a “large fire safe” on my Christmas list.)

First Word #18: The Loss of Our Genealogical Mentor and Friend: Birdie Monk Holsclaw, 1948 - 2010

When I began attending meetings of the Boulder Genealogical Society, I didn’t know what I was doing. I had only really began researching my family history a few months before but I knew that I needed help and guidance in order for my research to be effective. So when I found the Boulder Genealogical Society, I was elated. Upon meeting Birdie, she almost immediately took me under her wing,very quickly became my mentor and friend.

After meeting with Birdie a few times to work on various projects, I really felt like I was the center of her attention. She wanted to know what I was working on, was quick to give me tips on how to get through some brick walls and was always, even at the end, sharing her discoveries in technology and the internet. One day, when we were looking at some of my research, I was sharing with Birdie my love of obituaries, showing her how many I had collected and we were discussing them in detail. Her words would change my genealogical life forever: “You should do a program on this. You can do that.” From that simple statement was born the program “An Obituary Obsession”, which to this day is one of my most popular programs with genealogical societies in the area. I had never even thought about being a speaker until Birdie mentioned it. It was almost as if she had given me permission to see a door that had opened up for me.

We worked on many projects together. Some of the most fun and productive times we had were those spent editing the Quarterly together. She and I would meet, most of the time at Buffalo Wild Wings in Longmont, not only because we both liked the food, but because they stayed open until 2 am. We were often there until after midnight, not only proofreading and editing, but also sharing research breakthroughs and ideas, and of course Birdie would show me some new gadget or website that she thought would be very useful for genealogy. We would sometimes have lengthy discussions over the proper use of a comma, or the proper placement of quotes, over definitions of words and if we’d used the right one. She taught me the difference between a dash, an en-dash and an em-dash. (And if you don’t know what they are, she taught me to use the Chicago Manual of Style to find out.)

Birdie truly cared about the Boulder Genealogical Society. I know when she was busy and couldn’t make a board meeting, she would give me strict instructions to bring up certain points on a topic up for discussion, or to begin new discussions. She wanted to be involved in many of our committees and projects. She taught me how to look at the bylaws and standing rules and assess them for needed changes. She taught me about parliamentary procedure. She made boring things fun and important at the same time.

My personal story about Birdie’s influence is not unique. On Birdie’s FaceBook page and at her memorial service, I read and heard many other stories like mine. “Birdie convinced me I could speak.” “Birdie always shared the latest technology with me.” “I served on a Board with Birdie and she was serious and fun at the same time.” And yet Birdie made me, and many others like me, feel like the most important person in the room. She just had that way about her; always present and giving you her undivided attention.

Birdie’s illness and passing really got me thinking about how much I’ve learned from her and how important it is to be a mentor. She was a natural mentor and collaborator, always interested in what everyone had to say, what they were working on, how they were going about it. I don’t know how Birdie managed to stay on top of things and even ahead of the game when it came to everything she talked about. She always seemed to know about the newest, latest and greatest things before anyone else did. Hers is an example we should all strive to follow, from the way she presented herself in meetings to the way she interacted in personal conversations, from her seriousness to her humor.

The last time I saw Birdie I had the chance to learn one last thing: to say to the people you love the things you need to say. When Birdie came in to meet that last time, she gave me a big hug, told me she loved me and that she was glad I was able to come. Of course, we got online right away to look at a project she was working on. Oh Birdie, you will be forever missed and never forgotten.

First Word #17: Haiti Got Me Thinking

Have you ever found yourself up against a brick wall? I don’t mean in your car, I’m talking about in your research. If you haven’t then you haven’t been doing this very long and believe me, you’ll know what I’m talking about when you find one. It is that dead-end that you can’t seem to get past in your research. I’m at a brick wall in one of my lines. Well, several, but one in particular that I’m working on in earnest. I’ve written about my Mitchell ancestors before. I had a fun time trying to locate their tombstone in the Wellsville, Missouri cemetery. Now, I’m trying to locate the marriage of Thomas Carroll Mitchell and Angeline Higdon.

I know where they “should” be. They “should” be in Barren County, Kentucky sometime before 1850. I found them in the 1850 census married with no kids, in their early 20s. The box that says “Married within the year” was not checked. So I am guessing they were married approximately 1847-1849. The records for Barren County, Kentucky exist for that time frame. I looked at them the last time I was in Salt Lake City, in 2005 and did not locate my ancestors. And to top it all off, I have found very little indication as to who either of their parents are!

Well, that is a bummer to say the least. Don’t you just hate it when your research does not go according to plan? Sometimes we jokingly say that our ancestors were brought here on the “Mother Ship” rather on a sailing ship across the ocean. It would seem at times that our ancestors just “showed up” suddenly in the records and where they came from or who they descended from is a complete mystery!

The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti got me thinking about some of the possibilities for these unexplained or difficult-to-find answers. I’ve watched news stories regarding the orphans in Haiti. It was estimated in one NPR article I read that more than 20,000 children lost their parents in the disaster. In many cases relatives or neighbors are caring for the children. In other cases, they are fending for themselves. One group of boys formed a group and live together in a park. They do odd jobs to earn a little money and they wash out their clothes every night. They share what little food they have to survive. The article went on to say that slowly social workers are making their way through the crowds to document who’s living where and to offer services to children such as these boys. There is much concern over how to keep track of all of these children as well as to try to stop such unsavory things as child trafficking, kidnapping and unlawful adoptions.

What if something like this terrible disaster (or even a small disaster) happened to our ancestor? Fire, flood, tornado, earthquake, hurricane, illness–the possibilities are numerous. If our ancestors’ parents were killed in some terrible way, who took them in? And were there any records to indicate where that child came from? If suddenly there’s another child in a family and the age doesn’t necessarily line up with previous information, this may be a possibility. Records may indicate “adopted” but more likely, the child(ren) were just absorbed into the family, especially if they were taken in by relatives. It is quite possible that no records were created that document times such as these. Also, the children could have taken on their adopted family’s name. This alone could bring you up against a brick wall in your research.

As I watched numerous news stories about these Haitian orphans and thought about how the chaos would affect genealogical research in years to come, it caused me to reflect on how similar situations would affect our ancestors. I am going to keep this in mind in the future. One thing you can do is read newspapers for the area and time your ancestors lived and note any disasters that may have occurred. This may break down some of those walls.