What do I do next?  I have tried the family.  I have tried the census records.  What do I do next!!  Do you ever find yourself saying those words?  I know I have.  Genealogy can be fun, interesting and stimulating to say the least, but there is another side “frustrating”. Not meaning to send a negative vibe out there, but many of you know what I mean.  If you do genealogy long enough, chances are you too will walk in these shoes.

For many years I have been looking for my great-grandfather David A. Brown.  He divorced my great-grandmother in Rock Springs, Wyoming and was thought to have died in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.  There was never any official obituary or documentation, but this was the oral history that had been handed down through the generations.  The family generally took this as gospel.

About 10 years ago I was visiting a relative and we started talking family history.  Luckily Ted was one that was always willing to share any information he had.  The subject of David A. Brown came up and it seemed that he had a side story to tell.  Somewhere back- in-time someone, he could not remember who, had stated they thought David A. Brown had actually survived the earthquake and lived in California with a second family.  I was shocked.  Could this be true?  Had David A. lived on and remarried?  This definitely put a new spin on things.

I began searching census records.  There are so many David Browns in California during the early 1900’s I was overwhelmed. A very distant cousin Keith and I had been comparing notes from time to time.  Keith is retired and has lots of time to do research (yeah!).  He decided he would look in to this and get back to me.  A year or so later Keith did just that.  He found who we think is our David A. Brown on a census record in Santa Monica, California.  All this time we have been working on the death index for the 1906 Earthquake, and now we needed to change direction.

The main reason I am sharing this story with you to show that even for the seasoned genealogist there are stumbling blocks.  For this instance it was made more difficult because in this line there is David A., David B., David A., and David Brown.  Many of the older records do not show the middle name and those of us looking had to take more time to scrutinize the census records a bit closer.  Also oral histories are a great source, but as you see they are not always correct.  You must do the fact checking to be sure.

If you are lucky you might enlist the help of other family members to help with the research.  Contact family members or do a post on Facebook, MySpace, etc. to see if there are others that would join in the hunt.  You never know.  Some may not have ever worked on family history but might be willing now.  Don’t pass up the great opportunity.

Now that we have a general area to search we are trying to find this other family.  It may take a bit of time but we feel it will be well worth it.  We know that he was born in Scotland but we have no idea where.  Once we find the records on this other family, there is usually a good chance more information will be learned.  With genealogy it is always the perpetual hunt.

I am stealing a line from the Ancestry.com commercials but “I really do feel like the family detective”.

Just a quick note to all my readers:

I sincerely wish you and all your loved ones

a very safe, healthy, and Happy Holiday

season.

In August my family hosted our annual Schultz Family Reunion.  Reunions can be stressful and a huge amount of work.  I started my list of activities some time ago and I found that I was missing a little something just before.  Luckily I have a wonderful sister Tracy that is always an amazing helper.

With a one email to her I stated that I was looking for a little something to liven things up.  A couple days later she answered back with a great idea “Family Fun Facts”.  Why hadn’t I thought of that?  What a great idea.  Family Fun Facts are basically facts about the family that you would like to share.  Everyone is given paper so they can write down a fact or several facts that they would like to share.  These are gathered and placed in a receptacle and drawn out one by one.

One example was “Who in our family has a street named after him?” and the answer is our great-uncle Howard Schultz.  He was one of the first men killed in action in WWII from this town.  Interestingly enough, many of the younger family members did not know this fact.  I was more than happy to share with them all I had on this man and the honor the town bestowed on him as well as several others.

The great part about including this into your family reunion is that it gets people talking.  As we pulled more questions someone would answer and the whole group would then talk about that subject as well as the additional…..and do you remember when…..  It was fun to see everyone getting into the conversation.  Young and old started sharing stories and there were a few definite surprises!  Who knew that a couple of people had been streaker!

Along with the Family Fun Facts I took my family history books.  A number of years ago my aunt and cousin collaborated and put together a five binder set compiling our family history.  It is fabulous.  With these we were able to use to show pictures and documents to explain to the younger members and new members of the family.  One thing I always nudge others to do is to share information.  If for you the Family Fun Facts idea does not work try anything else you may think of.  Just get those people talking and sharing.

One other idea we tried was to make a poster board with family photos.  Some old, some new, some crazy.  It too was fun to see if anyone could guess who they were.  I included the oldest photo we have from the Family History Books.  No one but me remembered who they were.  That was a bit sad.  I had luckily made copies of it to hand out.  Once the family members knew who they were they all wanted copies.  I can not tell you how happy I was to see the excitement and rekindling of family pride.  It was great.

Just remember to always introduce Family Fun Facts or any family information whenever possible.  These are ways we can keep our families connected at reunions, Christmas parties, or any other family event.

Just Stay Connected!