Hours10

On this page there are certain entries which give a genealogical researching tip e.g. "Remember something your grandfather told you about his father". Other entries include relationship strings denoting ancestors according to their relationship to you e.g. "Father's Mother". If you place your cursor overtop the relationship string, it should highlight in blue and become underlined, signifying that it is an active link. Click on the link and you will access a linked page on which you may enter data regarding that particular ancestor. By clicking on your browser's 'back' button, you will be returned to this page, and the relationship string will be changed to green.

October 1

Describe your earliest memories of Christmas (or Thanksgiving) with your grandparents. The holidays are wonder~filled times when you are a child; and holidays spent with your grandparents could be some of the best times of your life. The memories of holidays spent with your grandparents should not be lost. Write them down in the form of a story, and then think about sending the story to a local newspaper for publication or to a genealogical society to be shared with its members.

Click on this icon to be taken to the website: The Celebration Of Christmas, where you will find additional information on the subject of the holiday.

October 2

Mother's Father's Father's Father's Father's Father's Father

October 3

Mother's Father's Father's Father's Father's Father's Mother

October 4

Check original court records for your ancestors' signatures on legal documents. This refers to documents that are in the public domain, such as land partitions, wills, deeds, guardianship papers, and so forth. When a person went to a local court to have something done, such as having a will written up and recorded, he (and sometimes, she) would be required to physically sign the original document. Later, a law clerk would be given the task of transcribing the document into one of the court's docket books. In the action of transcribing the original document, the (usually) English speaking law clerk might anglicize the person's name. The name of a German, Heinrich Schmitt might become Henry Smith when it was written in the docket book. But since the person had to write his signature on the original document, and if he was capable of writing, it would have been written in the person's native language, German. So the original document might be the only proof that exists that one of your ancestors came from Germany, or France, or Italy, or wherever.

October 5

Mother's Father's Father's Father's Father's Mother's Father

October 6

If you have Scottish or Irish ancestors, discover the clan from which you descend. Many books have been published on the subject of the clans, and there are probably many more Internet websites devoted to the clan system and particular clans. You might not be able to identify the clan at first, if your name is not a common clan name (such as Campbell, or O'Neil), but if you can determine the basic location of your ancestors in Scotland or Ireland, it might point toward the clan that was most prominent in that region.

Click on this icon to be taken to the website: A History Of The Scottish Clans, where you will find additional information on the subject of clans in general and Scottish Clans in particular.

October 7

Mother's Father's Father's Father's Father's Mother's Mother

October 8

Mother's Father's Father's Father's Mother's Father's Father

October 9

Read about the Black Plague of the 1660s and be thankful that your ancestors survived that. (Of course, you would not be here if your ancestors had not survived! So when you think that you have nothing to be thankful for, you can remember this.)

October 10

Mother's Father's Father's Father's Mother's Father's Mother

October 11

Mother's Father's Father's Father's Mother's Mother's Father

October 12

Compile a book of photocopies and transcripts of your ancestors' Wills and other estate papers.

October 13

Mother's Father's Father's Father's Mother's Mother's Mother

October 14

Mother's Father's Father's Mother's Father's Father's Father

October 15

Ask your friends to tell you what traits you have that are similar to your parents. Ask them to tell you something other than a physical characteristic, such as you have the same shaped nose. Is there some way that you move or act that is similar to either or both of your parents? You can ask another family member, but will they really be honest with you? A friend might be more open and tell you something that a family member might not. A friend of mine told me that I walked like my dad. She couldn't explain what it was about the way I walked that reminded her of my father, but she said the similarity was remarkable.

October 16

Mother's Father's Father's Mother's Father's Father's Mother

October 17

Mother's Father's Father's Mother's Father's Mother's Father

October 18

Mother's Father's Father's Mother's Father's Mother's Mother

October 19

Chart the "age at death" for each direct-line ancestor by line (to determine any patterns).

October 20

Look for original records to prove (or disprove) a family tradition. A so-called family tradition is usually not true, ~ but ~ there may be a grain of truth behind the tradition. Rather than keep an untrue story alive and spreading through the family, it is a good idea to either prove or disprove it once and for all. Sometimes, the fact might simply be a little jumbled, and there is no harm done because of it. But at other times, the tradition might cause problems for a family member. In my own family, a family tradition was passed down my father's Smith line that "three brothers came over from Scandinavia". No legal documents or other forms of 'public' records ever substantiated that tradition. But after researching for many years, I finally discovered that the Smiths married into Shaw and Muirhead lines, both of whom came from Scotland. Perhaps the error between Scandinavia and Scotland had been made years back simply because the two names start with "Sc", and turned into family tradition when no one made any effort to find the truth in it. Perhaps my older relatives didn't know that Scotland isn't the same as Scandinavia. For whatever reason, the mistake evolved into a family tradition that was misleading, but not really harmful to anyone. An example of a family tradition that is harmful is found in my Muirhead clan. A researcher (and apparently acknowledged expert) in the 1920s made the statement that according to tradition, his immigrant ancestor, Charles Morehead of Virginia was the son of David Muirhead of Scotland. David's will made no mention of any son named Charles, nor did any other public document connect the two in any way. Despite the fact that there was absolutely no link between Charles and David, the researcher's statement was accepted by all subsequent historians as fact. All those subsequent historians simply ignored the word tradition and built assumption upon assumption on the basis of the tradition. This use of the concept was, and continues to be harmful because there are so many descendants who are building their genealogies on the shaky tradition foundation.

October 21

Mother's Father's Father's Mother's Mother's Father's Father

October 22

Ask a uncle about what your grandparents thought of your mother and father marrying.

October 23

Mother's Father's Father's Mother's Mother's Father's Mother

October 24

Mother's Father's Father's Mother's Mother's Mother's Father

October 25

Mother's Father's Father's Mother's Mother's Mother's Mother

October 26

Visit the site of an immigrant ancestor's homestead property to photograph it in the colors of Fall.