Friday musings

I seriously don't know why anyone reads this blog. Really. But they do, or rather you do, whoever you are. And thanks for stopping by even when I'm off doing something else I call life and can't do my blog. So thanks.

I don't know why but it warms my heart to look at the stats and see that so many people looked here and even left comments which takes a couple of minutes out of their day. So thanks to the comment leavers especially.

I miss writing this blog when I have no time to do it because of important matters. Sometimes, and this will sound outright silly, I even pop in to read it and mostly like what I see even though I have to resist the urge to edit and rewrite the whole thing. Reading my own blog might sound either vein or ridiculous but it's a way of returning my mind to the wonderful world of genealogy when time doesn't permit me to actually work at it.

I'm not one of those hyper-serious genealogists who would rather spend the family vacation visiting graveyards. At least I'm not right now. Maybe later again. I kind of envy those who do because I know that I'd be further along if I did. And, truth be told, maybe a tad guilty about that too.

Where I am investing my time, genealogy-wise, is getting Mom's stories into book form and then soon taking it to the local quick printer for printing and binding. Presently the photos are all being tweaked for contrast and crispness. They need to look as good as possible on my screen because when they go into the book and get printed they will lose some measure of quality at each step.

I've had a couple of friends who know what's what in the graphic design area take a look and they made some small suggestions that improved the look of it. Lucky to have their input. Now feel like I'm coming down the home stretch of the project!

After that's finished, I've promised a short article on my/our experience with DNA testing for the Old Pike Post, the newsletter of the Allegany County Genealogical Society. Mom and I have written a couple of other articles for them and I look forward to doing this one too. I enjoy writing because it helps me organize thoughts and stories in a useful way instead of them simply rambling around my noggin.

Because I now have an appointment with the metabolic genetics clinic at UCSD, I feel more free to spend less time researching my rare inborn error of metabolism and devote more time to these backlogged genealogy projects. Did I tell you about this? I found out about a problem that's been bothering me for years, no decades, and was left undiagnosed, through a 23andMe DNA test. It was the first clue as to what wasn't working on me. I'm missing one little enzyme! Too bad the FDA has told 23andMe to stop giving health results. They could be helping so many people if they were free to.

And to the good, I did get out a Winter 2014 edition of "What Virginia Knows", our family history newsletter. It does take a chunk of time but it's so worth it to keep family history stories alive and share new finds such as the photo of my second great grandmother. Now all the Kelly cousins know what she looked like.

There's so much more to share. I feel like genealogy happens all around me even when I'm not paying 100% attention to it. A second cousin found me through this blog recently and I'm so glad to be in touch with her and her son who is working on a genealogy project for school. Genealogy is family... and it lives in us now.

Nancy Ann(e?) (Troutman) Workman (1826 - 1882)

My second great grandmother.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/02/friday-musings.html

My Newbie Status Revoked?

Am busy collecting tidbits of information about my 5th GGF Nehemiah Newans and weaving them into a narrative of his life. I've constructed a timeline (see tab at top) that's been indispensable for ready reference as I plow through information that may or may not be relevant. That was a good and useful idea.

That done, up pops the desire to weave a narrative out of it, put flesh on the bones so to speak. So off I went to do that. But I got bogged down with the story of General Braddock and set the project aside for a while. Best to let it cool off.

When I returned to the project I saw how big it was, and rambling too. Who'd want to read that mess? And that was the purpose: to have a document that captured what I'd found out, citing sources, enfolded in relevant history, for others to read. It had to be readable. That was job one! Cousin bait, descendants bait... whatever you want to call it.

In writing there's a maxim: I didn't have time to write you a short letter so I wrote a long one. Long essays and letters usually suffer from TMI Syndrome... too much information. Therefore I knew if I could write a cogent short story about Nehemiah's life, it would be less daunting to flesh the short one out  than it would to simply try to build a skyscraper of a document.

Funny thing is that at about the fourth draft of the short story I saw that it was really the little book (see tab above, Ancestral History, etc.) that drove the engine of the narrative. So that's the way it went.

When the short story was finished and Mom gave her seal of approval, I thought what the heck, I'd send it off to the newsletter editor of the Genealogical Society of  Allegheny County, Maryland.  What's the worse that could happen... they'd say no thanks. Harriet couldn't have been nicer! She replied to my email pretty fast and my article is going to run in the Old Pike Post.

So... is my newbie status in question as I'll soon have a published article? No, I don't think so. I think "newbie" is a state of mind... I really don't know very much about this genealogy stuff. I'm just doggedly persistent with way too much focus on one tiny detail at any given time. I have no clue, mostly, as to what I need to do next. I get lost in the forest of the trees and can't see what's what. And citing sources is the bane of my life. Yup, I'm still a wet behind the ears newbie!

Thank Goodness for Small Genealogy Groups!

At Mom's urging, I joined the Genealogical Society of Allegheny County Maryland and now - for my $12 a year membership - receive their newsletter, by snail mail mind you, The Old Pike Post. It's a labor of love, you can tell right away, and I'm so glad to have it. The Post usually starts off with a longish story from a member about their search for ancestors. Even though mine haven't been included just yet, it's a fascinating read! How the mystery of tangled family names gets solved in each issue is a whirlwind story:)

Mom received her issue before I did and commented that the listing at the back of the latest issue included a couple looking for a group of my ancestors: Eckhart, Gormer, Kelly, and Natolly. I grabbed up my issue and the highlighter, noting their email address. Mom tried it and it bounced. DRAT! So she's off to mail them a note. She's good at stuff like that from back in the days when everything was done by snail mail. When she mentioned sending them a note I was, like, du'h....

So me, being an internet-based person you might say, got on the web browser trying to find the afore mentioned couple. No luck on that with google searches but then got the idea to try family trees on Ancestry. No luck with that ... ah, truth be told, didn't even get very far. And here's where FOCUS comes into play... I drifted off chasing Moses Porter instead. How did that happen??!! No focus.

But never mind and look at that... I lost focus just then writing this post. Started off saying thank goodness for small, labor-of-love, genealogy groups. And bringing it back that's where I'll leave it:)