WANDERINGS FROM YOUR PRESIDENT
BY GAYLE STUART
No – Yes – Maybe – Could Be – Perhaps: Musings of a genealogist. When tracing ancestors, please stay within the lines!
When you are searching for more family members, do you ever wonder if the person is the right one? The above words are some you should ask yourself.
I know from working with patrons at the Family History Center at Elk Horn that there have been times when the wrong information has been followed. This can be very disappointing until we can get it straightened out.
The above is a reason why we need more than one source of proof when we are researching.
We are going to be gone for a few days and will be visiting with a cousin of Leo’s who has already told us she has some family questions. Years ago, someone in this family thought they had the right name of the great-great-grandfather in Scotland, but we have found who, we are quite sure, is the right one and it is not the name that was used earlier. This summer, three different relatives of the Stuarts have visited the Scotland farm from which their ancestors came. The people who live there will soon wonder how many more are going to be coming. I count 6 or 7 just in the last few years.
After we leave Denver, we will head north to visit with a cousin on my dad’s side, someone I have not yet met, who lives in North Dakota. This lady put together a book on the Larsen family several years ago. Over time, when I have been able to do some research, I have found a few things that I don’t think are right, but I will wait and see where she got her information.
Likewise, on my mother’s side, out of the blue, someone called a cousin of mine to find out more about our common great-grandfather. She did not have some of the right information, so my cousins and Leo and I are going to meet with her before we come home.
I’m sure that you all have run into families that use the same names for every generation. Sometimes, using a spouse’s name, we find the right person. Checking census can be frustrating also. I have one grandfather who aged only 5 years in a ten-year span and was the correct age on the next federal census. We sometimes run into names in the right families, but we don’t know where they came from; they could be middle names.
Now that I have tried to confuse all of you, “Happy Hunting.”
gbs