Passing It On

Let the confetti fly: It’s Family History Month!

Today is the first day of Family History Month. That’s a big deal to personal historians and to a growing number of Americans. During a recent series on the family histories of its anchors, NBC’s Today Show recently proclaimed researching family history as the No. 1 hobby in America.

Family History Month began in 2001 when 84 U.S. Senators co-sponsored a resolution that sailed through the chamber, recognizing that 60 percent of Americans are interested in their own family’s history.

The value of saving family stories for future generations is sadly often realized only after a loved one has died and those stories are lost forever. But  even in families where stories are meticulously documented and preserved, new and unexpected material is often uncovered. Just this week, for example, I learned that my grandmother’s marriage to my grandfather wasn’t her first marital journey.

To mark Family History Month, a group of personal historians here in central Iowa has joined forces to present a free Open House from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19, at the Urbandale Public Library. More information will be forthcoming in a few days in my newsletter. Send me an e-mail if you want to subscribe to the newsletter.

Meanwhile, Kimberly Powell lists 10 ways you can celebrate Family History Month here.

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail.

Photo: Calvin and Lillie Lehmer with their sons, Warren and Harry courtesy of Larry Lehmer.

Family history isn’t just for old people

When I give presentations to church groups or at retirement communities, I’m one of the youngest people in the room. But researching family history didn’t get to be the second-most popular hobby in the United States by appealing only to senior citizens.

The powerful desire to know one’s family history often begins at an early age, most frequently because of the death of a close relative or through a school assignment to interview and write about a family elder.

Elyse Doerflinger got the bug when she was 12 or 13. Now 20 years old and a California college student, Elyse writes a genealogy blog and posts helpful videos on YouTube.  She’s also one of my Facebook friends. When I asked her for her thoughts about researching family history, here is what she said:

“It all started with my aunt when I was 12 or 13.  She had discovered Ancestry.com and … I thought the facts she told me were so interesting. … Then, during a trip to Tennessee to visit my grandpa for the summer, I discovered so much about my family that I became permanently hooked.  Everyone was telling me stories and giving me information. 

“Being out there, in the rural Appalachian mountains was nice because I learned so much about American history as well as my own history.  Pretty soon I was asking for a filing cabinet to store all of my papers and I started asking for Family Tree Maker software for my birthday and Christmas...I can definitely say that it certainly made me an odd teenager when it comes to that.  Every since - I've been heavily hooked and I never plan on dropping the habit.

“I think researching your family history is extremely important.  It gives you a sense of who you are and where you come from.  Plus, it is nice to be able to connect people in your family tree to history.  Like, I can honestly say that I have an ancestor in the civil war and that I have ancestors that served in both World Wars.  Its honestly an addiction - once you start it takes you over.”

Elyse’s family is lucky to have her around. Most families benefit from a member who serves as family historian. If you have one in your family, give them a hand. Your whole family will benefit.

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail.

Photo: Elyse Doerflinger

History Detectives back on the case

One of my favorite television shows returned to the air this week, just in time to offer a respite from one of the soggiest Junes I can remember.

The History Detectives began its 2008 public television season by reuniting a family with a long-lost journal compiled in the year before the writer’s death in a World War II bombing raid, taking a stab at identifying the author of a once-popular book about the Mormon religion and trying to substantiate a family legend regarding fabled sharpshooter Annie Oakley.

Anyone with an interest in family history will find something of interest in this show, just one of many informative offerings that make PBS the channel of choice in our household. On Sunday, our local PBS station aired another fascinating program, “Traces of the Trade,” a documentary examining the slave trade from the perspective of a Rhode Island family that bought and sold more than 10,000 Africans.

Researching family history, which trails only gardening as America’s No. 1 pastime, has been much in the news lately, especially in the flood-soaked Midwest where sad tales of lost family artifacts have dominated headlines for weeks. The CBS newsmagazine, “60 Minutes,” reran a piece on Sunday about the growing popularity of using DNA in genealogical research and the limitations of that science.

The common thread running through all this media exposure is that no amount of science and wishful thinking can replace the deliberate thought and effort that is necessary to preserve our connections to our family’s legacies. The sooner the better

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail.

Photo of two early television performers with a 1933 Bush/Baird mirror drum Televisor courtesy of TVteam.

Cast a wide net to snare those family memories

So, this family history quest of yours has got you a bit down, huh?

You’ve spent all those hours tracking down your ancestors for your long-awaited family history book and now you’re running out of gas? All those once-interested relatives that promised to chip in with your research have stopped answering your e-mails and ignore your voicemail messages?

Cheer up, Bucko. Help may be just a few mouse clicks away.

Even if your immediate family has gone into the witness protection program, it’s almost a certainty that someone out there in your extended family shares your passion for collecting and sharing their family history. It may be a branch or two over from yours, but you need to reach out and explore some of those more-distant family lines. Check genealogical wikis like WeRelate.com or find forums that cater to your family surname or a locale that you’re interested in.

I’ve received gravestone photos of great grandparents from a woman whose own research led her to a small Missouri cemetery where, uncertain who might be in her lineage, she took photos of every gravestone. None proved to be her relatives, but she graciously shared what she had.

A classmate in my genealogy class managed to find an ornate ceremonial marriage certificate of her grandparents by connecting with non-relatives in two other states who had no idea how it came to be found in their family’s possessions. My classmate’s advice: Cast a wide net. You never know where information will come from.

Good advice, I’d say.

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail.

Grab a wrench, it’s DIY Day

I’ve got to tell you, I’m feeling pretty proud of myself these days.

As the least-skilled handyman among the three boys who are proud to claim Jack and Elsie Lehmer as their parents, I take special delight in each successfully accomplished project.

Therefore, now that a few days have passed since I replaced the hose sprayer on our kitchen sink and 1) the area beneath the sink remains dry, 2) the sprayer actually works and 3) nothing has blown up, I declare “Mission Accomplished” in the skirmish of the leaky hose.

In honor of this triumph, I’m declaring today Do-It-Yourself Day on the Passing It On Blog. Just so there’s no misunderstanding, I think every family history project benefits from professional help, even if it’s limited to project management or final tweaking. But, I do understand that many of you like to do some of the heavy lifting yourself.

This blog’s for you.

Here are three sites that will help you achieve your family history project. Just remember, I’m here to see you through the rough patches you will inevitably encounter. The sites:

1. 50 Awesome Tools for Researching Your Family History (posted by Bootstrapper)
2. Best Tips for Working From Home (posted by zenhabits)
3. Free Tools for Family Historians (posted by Juliana Smith)

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail.

Shiny, new place to do research

The Midwest will be home to the largest public genealogy facility in America when the $8 million, 50,000 square-foot Midwest Genealogy Center marks its grand opening on June 21 in Independence, Missouri.

The facility will cover eight acres and will be open six days a week, closing on Sundays and holidays. Best of all, it’s free. That includes scheduled appointments with experts.

The center will feature extensive microfilm and microfiche holdings covering a wide range of topics. Included will be a whopping 60,000 titles of family genealogies as well as Civil War histories, Native American records, biographical archives and Black family history records.

State of the art work areas, lockers, limited food services and a break area will make for a comfortable setting to do extensive family research. The parking area even includes spaces can accommodate RVs.

Classes will range from basic internet research to problems with maps or census records. Appointments will be available with experts in several foreign languages as well.

To learn more about this research gem, check out this article in Kansas City infoZine, which provided much of the detail in this post. You can also check out the library’s site.

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail.

Flickr photo courtesy of knit_purr.

Think it’s a man’s world? Think again

We interrupt this blog to bring you this breaking news: The Y chromosome is disappearing. It’s damaged, cannot repair itself and will be gone in about 125,000 years.

Lest you miss the significance of this, let me put it another way: No more men.

Think about this a minute. What will your family tree look like once the male line is eradicated? Granted, 125,000 years is a ways off but, according to scientists, a man’s value to women will be greatly diminished before the dawn of the next century.

Sperm counts are already falling and female-only reproduction is just one generation away. It’s already possible with mice. Here in Iowa, a marriage of residents from two small towns is said to have sparked the classic headline: “Manly man marries Fertile woman.” Will future single-sex generations find that headline amusing, or just perplexing?

A world without men will do much more than upset the genealogical order of mankind. Car oil will go unchanged, bugs will go unkilled, sports will go unwatched and Viagra will go untaken.

To learn more about this sad (from a man’s point of view) situation, check out this ABC News report.

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail .

Flickr photo courtesy of digitaura.

Hey bud, wanna know the yellow paper secret of genealogical research?

I’m in! Genealogy class, that is.

As I wrote about a while back, my first two attempts at getting in were unsuccessful. This time, though, 10 similar-minded family sleuth wannabes signed up for genealogist's Sherry Foresman's  class and we’re nearly halfway through its six-week run.

Since writing family histories is different than genealogy, I want to sharpen my research skills so I can learn more about my own family’s roots. Sherry has been a big help to me, so I thought I’d share a few tidbits of knowledge she’s shared with the class. Even if you’re a veteran genealogist, her tips may serve as a quick refresher course.

• Start with yourself and work backwards through successive generations, verifying information as you go. Skipping generations or failure to verify can send you scampering down the wrong branches.
• If you’re doing library research, take a magnifying glass, a sheet of yellow paper (it helps bring up images from microfilm) and plenty of change for copying things. Be aware that many historical libraries have strict rules about what you can bring in so check ahead of time.
• Beginners should not subscribe to any pay genealogical services. There’s plenty available for free. Once you have a bit of experience, you’ll be better able to judge whether you need a paid service or not.
• Be careful in selecting a computer program in which to create your family tree. You may not be able to shift data between programs, which could be a big hassle when your tree grows to several hundred names.

If anybody needs genealogical help in Iowa, send Sherry an e-mail.

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family stories. If you’d like to learn more, visit his web page or send him an e-mail.

Flickr photo courtesy of carpe icthus.

Social media sites can expand your family history knowledge

Do you Twitter? I don’t yet, but I probably will. Eventually.

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, Twitter is another of those ubiquitous social networking tools that have swept over cyberspace. It’s kind of a mashup of e-mail, text messaging and instant messaging.

Although I have a natural aversion to anything that has a fairly steep learning curve in relation to its potential life expectancy, social media are too powerful to simply ignore. Thus, I blog, am a casual LinkedIn and Facebook participant and am an enthusiastic reader of RSS feeds via my Google Reader.

And, just as the Internet has created unprecedented easy access to millions upon millions of genealogical records, the proliferation of social media sites has made it easier than ever to manage and share your own family history online.

I’ve spent some time checking out many of these sites myself recently, finally settling on the free We Relate wiki site sponsored by the Foundation for On-Line Genealogy, Inc. in partnership with the Allen County Public Library. As my blogging friend Randy Seaver points out, there are plenty of these types of sites that you can check out yourself.

I picked We Relate because it includes many of the features I was looking for, most importantly,  the ability for others to add stories and pictures from their home computers. My father and brother did a great job of tracking down my father’s family line a while back and someone did some similar work on my mother’s line. Now I can put all this information into the wiki and share it with relatives in the hopes that they will be able to build onto the family legacy with more stories, research and photos. It’s free and very easy to use.

Even if you’re a bit wary of all this social media stuff, these genealogical sites offer a nifty way to expand and share your research. They’re worth a peek.

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail.

Flickr photo courtesy of blogefl.

Scratching that family history itch

Do you suffer from “voracious ravenousitis?”

Footnote Maven uses that bewitching term to describe her appetite for family history knowledge in an intriguing post about the rights and wrongs she’s endured in her own family history quest.

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings got things rolling by listing his three biggest genealogical regrets. Maven added the three things she’s done correctly, presumably to help her combat her previously mentioned affliction.

Among the things she mentioned was her completion of the University of Washington Certificate Program in Genealogy and Family History. But that extraordinary program in Seattle requires a nine-month commitment, a sizeable-but-reasonable financial investment and relocation (for most of us).

Here are a couple of other suggestions that will get you away from that keyboard and monitor for a while, will give you entrée to your local genealogical community and won’t bust your family budget.

Find and join a local genealogical society. These can be found in many locales and will welcome you with open arms. Mostly run by passionate volunteers, they are driven to help people such as you. Fellow Iowans should check out the Iowa Genealogical Society.

Look for the nearest Family History Center. These are branches of the Family History Center in Salt Lake City and give you direct access to that organization’s vast archives. There are 3,400 of these branches worldwide but be warned – most are open just a few hours each week.

Just a note to tell you the first Passing It On monthly newsletter went out earlier this week. Contact me if you want me to e-mail you a copy.

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail.

Flickr photo courtesy of Domain Barnyard.