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.

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.

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?

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.

I have reached a point in my research where I am not yielding many results, small or large, through the use of online resources alone. In short, I have come across a number of brick walls. Now that I’m now residing in the state where much of my father’s side of the family is located, I have decided to shift my focus on gathering photos, interviews and the like from those nearby elders.

In searching ways to see some of my vital records in a new light, I came across a video posted on rootstelevision.com which showed this video, and subsequent videos, on census records. The videos are part of the popular PBS series, “Ancestors.” I’m sure many of you have already viewed this series, but I thought that I should post it anyway as it has helped me in moving forward with my research and perhpas could help someone else. I have realized different bits of information that  I do have, thanks to census records, that can lead me to finding more of my people.

Census research tips on rootstelevision

I typed his name into the search engine several times before, along with the name of his wife and the county where, I had strong reason to believe, he was born.

Nothing.

I added an estimated date of birth.

Nothing.

Death.

Nothing.

I eventually moved on and sought information pertaining to other members of my tree. Earlier this week, however, I typed his name — Jethro WARREN — into the engine again and instead of including the name of his wife and the county in which I had strong reason to believe he was born (Harnett) — I simply selected “North Carolina.” Imagine my surprise to see the yielded result.

I spent family day (Fourth of July) with my mother, father, brother, boyfriend and two dogs (well one is my dog; the other, my mom’s). We had a great time. Dad used the grill we got him for father’s day last month to grill the best salmon ever, we watched the shortest fireworks show ever, we spent the longest time trying to get out of a parking lot ever, and mom and I went shopping and found the cutest shoes ever! I also took the time to conduct some scouring around the house for any clues to our family history-the best scouring I’ve ever performed!

I have created a number of to-do lists in my day. I always have so much on my mind, I’m very forgetful, and so writing down my thoughts as they come helps me out quite a bit. Yesterday I found a list that I made last Sunday. It was written to ensure my one day off from work wasn’t totally wasted. Reading over the note, I got to thinking: I wonder how much information someone can discern about me by reading what I wrote down. That thought led me to this one: I bet I can figure out a lot about a person by reading a note they may have left behind from long ago.

Hello to all my new (very new) wordpress.com friends and others. I know I just got here, but I’m moving — to my own domain! Please visit me at RootsReading.com.