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Small World Moments
How often we run into people we know in random places in the world, including at a giant conference like RootsTech with 15000 in-person attendees, has got me thinking about small-world experiences. Several of mine have happened in Scotland.
My dear friend Susanna Kearsley and I live across Canada from each other, but three times, we've utterly coincidentally been in Edinburgh at the same time. We've spent some wonderful days researching novels and family history there, both in the archives and wandering cemeteries and streets of the city.
This photo was taken on one such day, when we'd spent the day location hunting for one of Susanna's novels and were on our way to dinner at Fishers in Leith.
I often think about the small-world encounters our ancestors may have had and what part those experiences played in their lives. I wish I could sit down and talk with them and find out!
Genealogy Tip - the FAN Method
While we may never know those stories about our ancestors, we can often find out more about them, and even break through brick walls, using what genealogist Elizabeth Shown Mills calls the FAN Method.
When you're stuck, look around to your ancestor's friends, associates, and neighbours. Looking into the people connected to our ancestors can help build a fuller picture of their lives and help identify them on records when you're not sure which of several similar-named people who, for example, got married around the same time and place, is your ancestor.
Use census records to find neighbours, check witnesses to marriages, godparents if given on baptismal records, etc., to help create a picture of the community in which your ancestor lived and maybe fill in some gaps in what you know about them.
That's it from me for now. More soon!
Kathy |
