Close to Home: a Genealogy "Go Over"

Winter Sunshine colored by by Midge Frazel, 2015-2016

Close to Home: a Genealogy "Go Over"

As I participated in the genealogy-do-over last year (in the pioneer group) to help me manage my Scottish records, photographs and gravestones, I have anxiously awaited the production of the new workbook ($3.99) that Thomas MacEntee has produced. (Kindle edition) (PDF edition) Further information can be found here. Thomas has taken a year's work of feedback and lengthened the time for each part of the do-over and produced videos in a YouTube channel for us to learn from. A very good deal for $3.99. I purchased the PDF format (so I could print pages as needed) and moved the PDF into Kindle format for easy reading on my iPad.

I was not idle while I waited, as I purchased recommended (type in the fields) genealogy forms and organizing sheets to be ready. Last summer, I returned home to take some more photographs of places in my childhood. I firmly believe that photos both heritage and contemporary are needed to tell a story. 

This past month, I reviewed a previous blog post and re-wrote it to fit my purpose. I will be writing about my experiences in this blog and in my other blog, Granite in My Blood. You will have to read them both to get the full picture.

I will be researching, writing and gathering artifacts in Evernote and Pinterest but I will not be reporting on them daily. 

My project will be called Close to Home and fits into the second classification of Thomas's book which is a "Go-Over". 

Close to Home Project Description

Researching the first five generations from me has taken the most time in my life as a genealogist. It is my firm foundation and should be as organized as as it can be before I am no longer living. 

The first time I learned a what genealogy was I was shown my maternal grandfather's family Bible. From there, I was shown photographs of past generations and heirloom artifacts that I would someday inherit. 

There was no one but me left to inherit. This was my New England family and there were a lot of surnames for me to investigate. From that point on, I began to learn about my maternal grandmother's family from the photographs she inherited. 

Some years later, I asked my father about his family and he and I quickly discovered that my paternal grandparents information was not held with just one generation like my maternal family had done. My father's oldest sister had a few photographs and much to my surprise I had older members of his family that were living that I didn't know. 

It has been a sixty year journey of discovery for me.