Multi-generational Birthday Photo

LeMaster family, Evansville, Indiana, 5 Nov 2022

A week ago, I was able to spend my birthday in a manner that I don't believe has ever happened - with not only my daughter and grandchildren, but with my parents as well.  As we gathered for a breakfast in Evansville, I was able to convince the waitress to capture the moment and create a memory - a four-generation photo.

Likely it has been twenty years since my daughter and I have been together on my birthday.  The fact that we were able to meet on the actual day and have all of us together makes the family historian in me smile.  Bonus for me was to see my daughter on her birthday weekend, as her birthday is two days after mine.  I enjoy a lot of mileage out of the corny 'dad joke' that she has been my favorite present.

We were able to spend some time together, enjoy a meal, spend some time shopping and hearing all about school with the grandkids before returning home.

I've always been intrigued by multi-generation photos and now I have a pretty good one to capture a moment in time when we were all together.
 

Locality Guide Planning

Writing out locality guides as an aid for future research projects has been another project goal for my genealogy research this year.  Using a locality guide to document where a particular record set exists not only helps keep you on track but also can point to potential new sources.

Excellent resources for building a locality guide can be found at FamilyLocket or GenealogyPants.  

I started out by taking my pedigree chart and making a Google sheet of my surnames, their location (county/state), year settled, any notes and an indicator of whether or not I'd created a guide.  My paternal LeMaster line, for example, starts with me currently residing in Grant County since 2001.  Prior to that, my direct line had been in Madison County since 1968, was in Delaware County in 1967, and Jay County since 1854.  My maternal Wright line has been in Madison County since 1867. Anywhere it was possible to have created genealogical records should have a research guide.  

My Indiana roots go back quite a ways, particularly on the maternal side, but as I chart out these localities that I can use for later research, it didn't take long to list out places in Ohio, Virginia, New Jersey, etc.  The great thing about the locality guides is by understanding the history of the local area you can get a better feel for where your ancestors lived and what records they might have created.

Even those counties where there was not much family activity will have locality guides because eventually they might come in handy when a new branch is discovered or when I've helping someone else out research a particular area.

I'm modifying the templates and suggestions used by others to make the locality guides relevant.  Including maps of the townships and neighboring counties has been helpful in getting a sense of how the area was settled. Documenting the hours and locations of the libraries and archives will make my future research trip planning easier and not such a 'shotgun' approach.

Noting any record loss that occurred in the county will be quite helpful in understanding limitations on research in those counties.  

New Year for Genealogy

Well, 2021 is now in the rear-view mirror and I'm sure most of us are glad to put it behind us.  Whether or not 2022 will be any better remains to be seen.  With the COVID pandemic still in full gear, we might be in for a bumpy ride.

Did you make any New Year's resolutions?  For genealogy, I didn't make any resolutions for 2022, but I can report that I've already started the year out on a positive note.  

Currently, I'm managing to maintain my working schedule, as previously outlined.  Spending part of each day on a different task - DNA, census records, or writing up projects will keep me from getting bored with the research and add to my overall understanding of my family.

In 2021, one of my goals was to work on lineage societies.  I continue to pursue those, but am on a holding pattern with two of them.  One is because I am awaiting that last document from the State (who is apparently slowed due to COVID), and the other application is pending review.  My impatient nature can't stand the waiting.

Here's hoping for some great finds and updates to this blog in 2022.