In addition to spending some time this week on my vacation doing some research, I've also used this opportunity to catch up on an ongoing project - the digitization of the piles of genealogy paperwork I've accumulated over the years.
I've been scanning everything and will be sorting and filing in digital folders so I will always have it at my fingertips. Additionally, having it digital will allow me to share the information with other researchers quickly and easily.
Today, I found myself scanning correspondence going back to 1987 !! Not only did I still have those letters and documents, in looking at them, I apparently hadn't extracted all the information into my database.
Once these newspaper scraps and photocopies of documents have been scanned, I have had to make the determination whether or not to keep or purge the documents. My guidelines have been - if it is a vital record copy, I keep it; if it is a photocopy from a book I am purging it. In addition, any printouts from census pages or other records that I know have been digitized at FamilySearch or Ancestry I am purging.
So far I've made it through a few boxes, with several more to go. The sad thing about having all of this information on paper is that I've found I've duplicated some efforts and likely paid for copies of information I already had.
In the end, this process will not only eliminate some of the piles of paper but will hopefully help me stay organized in my research.
Well, the people have spoken and the contentious election of 2016 is over - Donald J. Trump will be the next President of the United States.
Since this blog details not only my search for my ancestors, but the nuggets of my daily life for my descendants, I thought I'd better drop a line or two about one of the sea change elections of my lifetime.
We voted early this year - Indiana has had early voting since 2012 and our county had Saturday voting the two Saturdays prior to election day. The wait was about 30 minutes at the courthouse. It seemed like the turnout was high.
In a non-Presidential election year, I usually in the first two or three people at the polls when they open at 6 a.m. I'm an early riser, so that doesn't present any problems. But this year, I knew I would be doing research at the Genealogy Center on election day, so we cast our votes early.
I voted for Donald J. Trump for President.
Trump represents a change from the status quo, an unconventional candidate who is not beholden to special interest groups. He defeated 16 other experienced Republican candidates in the primary, and in the general faced one of the most unpopular Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton.
Trump also promises an agenda of "America First" which I feel this country needs after the last 8 years of a President who has weakened our position in the world. He has promised to re-negotiate the disasterous trade treaties and look at America's commitment around the world. This has really rubbed the establishment elites the wrong way - they fear their power slipping away. When you are attacked by not only the left but the right as well, you are probably doing something right.
While there's no need to go into all of the negatives for Clinton and the scandals and lack of justice by our own government's Department of Justice and F.B.I., as last night's results show - justice was delivered at the ballot box and we no longer have to deal with the Clintons.
Indiana polls close at 6 p.m. and per usual, was declared a Republican win rather quickly. We're a very "red" state, and one of the first ones called each election. It's the rest of the country that I worry about.
I stayed up watching the results come in until about 2 a.m. last night. At that time, Mr. Trump was leading and it appeared that he would be declared the President. The looks of shock on the faces of the media was precious. They just couldn't understand how their favorite candidate wasn't winning.
Throughout the campaign Trump highlighted the strong media biases which were confirmed by the Wikileaks emails. Since so many people only get their news from the networks or Fox/CNN, they are only receiving what those media outlets want you to know - and they only deal in soundbites and don't deal with the issues in any substantial way.
My Facebook feed today is full of people wringing their hands in fear of a Trump Presidency. I'm not sure what exactly they are afraid of - though I see things bandied about that Trump is a racist, homophobe, etc. He hasn't even been sworn into office and they are acting as if he will be rounding people up, comparing him to a Nazi, etc. The moment you start to do that against your political adversary, you loose the argument.
Time will tell what a President Trump will mean for our country, but I'm hopeful that America will be moving in the right direction.
I just hope that my other genealogy friends in the blogosphere and on FB will calm down and give the man a chance.
Yesterday, I drove to Indianapolis and attended the Genealogy & Local History Fair at the Indiana State Library. A native Hoosier, I had never made it down to the State Library - an impressive place that I'm already making plans to return to in order to do some research.
I hadn't heard of this Genealogy & Local History Fair before, and I'm glad that I came. Not only for the opportunities to learn from the speakers, but the chance to mingle with other genealogists and talk to the vendors/societies that were present. I picked up quite a few materials and applications for hereditary societies that I am eligible for membership.
The two speakers for the day were Jill Morelli and Ann Staley. Jill spoke on House Histories and Sanborn maps while Ann spoke on the Everyday Lives of our Ancestors and Using City Directories. Both of these speakers presented good research examples and keep me interested in their topics.
Though the majority of my ancestors seem to be rural farmers, there have been enough relatives that have lived in cities that I should be utilizing the resources of Sanborn maps and city directories more. Jill's talk on house histories has me thinking of researching my current house as well as the house that I grew up in, in order to find out more about the when it came into the families possession. Ann's talk on the lives of our ancestors and reminding us to put them into perspective with timelines gave me some ideas for how to knock down some brickwalls and learn what was going on in the world during the times my relatives were living.
I'm looking forward to continuing to branch out and attending as many conferences as I can to meet fellow researchers and learn more tips and tricks.
