LAYERS

When I first took up a study of my family history, I had no idea how much effort it would require, nor how much I would love it. 

I began four years ago when I joined Ancestry.com and began building a family tree.  Because of the work my father had done, I had many names to put into the tree and immediately leaves popped up that indicated there were records I could access regarding specific ancestors.  I clicked on those leaves and was directed to census records, birth, death and marriage records, immigration and naturalization records, land and tax records, and many family trees belonging to other ancestry members.  These records gave me the names of many other ancestors and the family tree began to fill out more than I could imagine.  Since many of my ancestors lived in Ohio at one time, and Ohio has a number of good records to search, I found much information. 

After a number of months, however, I began to hit brick walls and could not figure out how to go any further.  So, since I loved working on the family tree so much, I decided to start building a tree for my husband.  I went through the same process and found many ancestors for him.  I was fortunate with his family, as I had been with mine, because his recent paternal ancestors had all lived in California at one time, and California has extensive records online.  But when I tried to go back before his grandparents immigrated from Croatia, I hit a brick wall.  I also hit brick walls with his maternal ancestors.    I realized at that point that genealogy was more than just building a tree with readily available information. I had only uncovered a first layer.

So I began to implement new strategies.  I contacted those with trees containing the names of my ancestors and got direct information from them.  I emailed, wrote letters, and spoke by phone with relatives of mine and my husband. This helped me discover another layer of information and filled in some gaps.  This blog even became a source of information as people searching for information on their families ended up at the blog and emailed me when I had questions or had wrongly speculated on the details regarding the life of one or more ancestors.  One person I contacted was a third cousin of my husband - on his mother's side - a cousin he had never met.  Prior to speaking to him, I had found that one branch of my husband's tree led to 3 Mayflower passengers.  At first I didn't believe it, as there is information on Ancestry that is incorrect, and since so many people are anxious to claim Mayflower ancestry, I knew I needed to verify what I had with other sources.  This cousin, who had been doing genealogy for over 20 years, confirmed the information and directed me to a source book. 

I still wasn't satisfied, however, so I started a search for the book and found that there was a copy in the Los Angeles County Public Library.  So my husband and I made a trip to L.A.  The book was held in a locked room, but once we were given access I was able to find the information I needed.  My husband is indeed descended, on his maternal side, from 3 Mayflower passengers. 

I also used Google to find pieces of information.  I tried all kinds of words in the search bar - names, dates, towns, family names, etc - and was rewarded with many websites dedicated to the genealogy of specific surnames  as well as stories and legends about specific people in my tree.  One piece of information I found was regarding my husband's maternal ancestors.  His mother's surname was Ruby and so when I typed in "Ruby genealogy" I was directed to a website that advertised a book:  "Ruby-Ruby Family of Switzerland and America." Although I suspected this would not direct me to the correct information (as my mother in law said the Rubys were Irish) I clicked on the link anyway.  The book was out of print, but the son of the authors had put the entire book online in PDF format, ready to download.  So I downloaded it, and sure enough, it was the correct family.  My mother in law and her family had been wrong about their national origin.  So searching on Google and finding rich internet sources led me to another layer.

Then I went to a genealogical conference, an experience that could easily rival a Star Trek convention in its collection of odd characters, although without the costumes.It was a strange 4 days, but I did learn how to use Google Earth and Google images to find information about places where ancestors lived, and how to search even further with researchers in Europe.  I was given the name of a Czech researcher and contacted him to work on a small part of my husband's family.  I had already contacted a Croatian researher and hired her to find a larger part of his family. These two researchers gave me the information I needed to write a family history book for my husband's Croatian-Czech family.

After two years spent mostly researching my husband's family history, I retured to mine.  Many more databases had been added to Ancestry, so many more leaves had appeared.  I followed them and found more dates and names and the tree got even bigger.  I taught myself how to search through what I call back doors - searching information on the brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, etc. of my direct ancestors to see if it could lead to more information.  It frequently did and in this way I solved some mysteries.  I then took a trip back to Ohio, where both of my parents were born and grew up, and visited cemeteries, spoke with relatives, and spent some time in the files of a local library.  This filled in more gaps, and I had discovered another layer. 

With respect to my father's Irish family, I took a trip to Ireland, spoke to distant cousins, and toured sites of importance to my family. Then I returned home and looked up records (the scant few that remain) regarding the family.  I actually found a few clues as to the identity of some ancestors. 

Turning to my mother's German family, I hired a researcher in Germany who found the parents and grandparents of some immigrants who came to Ohio in the mid 1800s.  None of my living relatives had these names.  This excavated another layer.  And next year, my husband and I are going to spend a little time in Germany and Belgium, visiting the towns where these ancestors once lived. 

So I've learned that genealogy is more than just building a family tree and finding names, although that alone can take a lifetime.  It is also hearing stories, fleshing out the lives of ancestors, seeing where they lived, learning the circumstances that made their lives unique.  And as one researcher said to me:  "Genealogy is a marathon, not a sprint."  Genealogy is somthing that can occupy you for a lifetime and never gets boring.  There are always new facts to learn, and more layers to uncover.  And it never gets boring.