Good news!

rootsreading — Sat, 08 May 2010 07:28:12 +0000

Some weeks back, I finally got in touch with my cousin. I greatly enjoyed our conversation. I learned more about her and our family. What is of note for this space: According to my cousin, our family has held a reunion every year, in the same spot, for who knows how long! What a shocking twist! I did not know this, I never heard of this. So, I went to my mother. She expressed that she knew of there being a family reunion, but after my great aunt died, her father’s sister, she lost touch in that regard, as my great aunt used to hold them at her house.

Apparently, since our aunt’s passing, the reunions have been held at a community center in a nearby town. I am hoping I have not missed this year’s event and can find out where it is being held. I really want to attend!

Filed under: My Research Diary

First-cousin to Interview

rootsreading — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:14:34 +0000

I have recently connected with a first cousin on Facebook whom I hadn’t seen or talked to in years. Furthermore, we didn’t get to know each other very well, if at all, growing up. I lived in various places throughout the U.S. and overseas, and she stayed in a city other than where the majority of my mother’s side resides.

Too, there is bit of an age difference between us. My mother was the baby of the family, with a significant age difference occurring between her siblings.

My travels as a youth, and the gap concerning our existence on this plane, helped to create the reality of my cousin and I not knowing much about one another. Hopefully, that will soon change.

My cousin has agreed to allow me to interview her, largely regarding my grandmother, who passed before I was born, and grandpa. I didn’t realize she was able to know my namesake, and did not think to ask, but, in my reaching out to her, this was revealed.

I will gather a set of questions tonight and make the phone call to my cuz very soon — hopefully before the week’s end.

I give thanks to my ancestors for seeing this come to pass. May this lead to more knowledge of my family, those who have transitioned and those presently in their earthly form.

Ashe’

Filed under: My Research Diary, Personal Narratives

Talks With Grandpa

rootsreading — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:33:15 +0000

Tonight I called my grandpa, to check on him and to see how he was doing. We always have such lively conversations. Most of the time we are catching up on each other’s lives and that of our family members. This evening, however, in addition to the usual, I decided to ask him some questions of his time as a youngster up until now, and that of some of our kin who have since passed.

I used to ask such questions, of grandpa, before, but stopped for a while as it became bit of an emotional time for him and I did not want to further upset him. Over time, when I tried again, I limited my questions to one or two — maybe three. Tonight, I asked if I could ask more of these types of questions and he agreed. Additionally, throughout our conversation, I made sure to go at his pace and guage how far he was able to go. Well, grandpa had a lot to say!

I do not wish to delve into everything here, but I do want to mention that there are many stories of our family tree that I want to look more into and now, thanks to grandpa, I know where to begin.

Need some help coming up with questions for family interviews? Try this list to get you started.

Filed under: My Research Diary, Personal Narratives

Backing Up the Blog – Plan

rootsreading — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:30:38 +0000

As I have been mentioning quite often, I lost much of my content and my .com altogether a while back. That really hurt — a lot. I wish I had in place a system to prevent, or at least have a back up to replace or recover with the least stress, the loss of my work.

Learning from my mistake, I am making plans to create backups to prevent the same scenario from occurring again.

For one, I am making copies of each blog post in one Microsoft Word document located on my flash drive and uploading the document on to Google Docs – as I post. I may also make a copy directly on my computer.

Secondly, I am exporting my blog, beginning with once a week. Perhaps down the line, I may decide to do this daily, or as I make updates via blog posts or other additions/alterations.

In the near future, I will also create plans to protect, preserve and back up my genealogy records.

What methods do you use?

Filed under: Genealogical Records

New-to-me Blog – My Colored Roots

rootsreading — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:03:35 +0000

I have been gone from the genealogy blogging world for some time now and have, thus, missed out on the reading and interacting opportunities of the many new, or new-to-me blogs out there.

One fairly new and new-to-me blog is My Colored Roots. It is filled with abundant information on how to improve your family history research, and chronicles of the author’s, Ms. Darlene’s, genealogy work. Check it out!

Filed under: African American Genealogy

….and we’re back!

rootsreading — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:21:29 +0000

Recently, I received a phone call from someone whom I had not heard from in quite some time. It was my aunt, one of them, who had great news: We can now go back another generation in our family tree! She was able to locate the names of my great-grandmother’s grandparents. Additionally, she was able to fill me in on the names of granny’s siblings, and their children.

For some months now, I have halted my searches. Most of that was due to my very tight school and work schedule. It was also due to the fact that I was running into more and more brick walls AND that I was having trouble replacing the work previously posted on my now former .com, which I somehow lost.

Now, in this final semester, with more breathing room after leaving my previous work situation, and receiving the wonderful news from my aunt, I have again found the motivation to put more efforts into unearthing more of my family history.

Stay tuned.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Back to Near the Beginning

rootsreading — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:03:18 +0000

So, I lost most of my blog posts (long story) and will be slowly trying to piece the blog back together. For now, I will be at wordpress.com instead of org. We shall see what happens a little later. The important thing is that I keep working to fill in my family tree. Please be patient with me as I get this thing together. Much thanks.

Posted in Uncategorized

Shared Expressions

rootsreading — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:19:24 +0000

In speaking with my grandpa tonight, he told me:

I sho’ do love talkin’ to you.

Awww! That made me feel so happy! I love talking to my grandpa too! I’m glad he enjoys our conversations; I’m even gladder that we are able to have them in this life. I’m very thankful for our relationship. Grandpa has an abundance of wisdom and a great sense of humor. We have the most interesting talks. It’s cool to find out that not only do I enjoy our discussions — he does as well. He had never expressed such a thing to me before.

Posted in Uncategorized

Free Genealogy Resources

rootsreading — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:27:10 +0000

Since putting myself through graduate school, money has become very tight (that and the economy being the way that it is). Therefore, I have had to end my paid subscription with ancestry.com, and have yet to purchase the genealogy organizing software of my dreams.

While I am very sad about having to take such an action, in my bit of free time I have located a list from about.com of free genealogy resources on the web. While I haven’t been able to go through every one, most appear quite promising.

Do you know of any resources to help one conduct genealogy research on a budget?

Posted in Uncategorized

Breaking Blocks

rootsreading — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:28:21 +0000

A recent school assignment has helped me to break through, what I thought was, a brick wall. My classmates and I were instructed to write a brief biography of an African American woman and how we knew of them; it could be anyone — internationally known, alive, or not. I chose my late grandmother whom I posted about before. In revisiting some of her records, I came across those of other family members, in particular, my great-grandmother B. Blue. Somehow, I had previously overlooked the listing on her death certificate of both of her parents’ names! Perhaps I wasn’t at the time looking for them?? In seeking more information about each parent, I have been able to go back another generation on my family tree via census records. I was also able to find information about a great uncle. I am very thrilled about my recent progress.

Posted in Blue, Genealogical Records, My Research Diary, Surnames