Memorial Day Thoughts

5/27/2013

On this Memorial Day, I think about lost loved ones and people that have served our country. As the family historian, I have traced all the way back to my paternal great great great grandfather. Anyone that has ever researched their past knows that ever little piece of information is a celebration. Years ago, my favorite hang out spot was at the National Archives where I literally researched all day long. It was there that I stumbled across his Civil War enlistment papers and I can’t tell you how excited I was! To make it even better, the National Archives copied it and sealed it with a fancy stamp and ribbon.

Which leads me to today- I googled his name and instantly found free information about him at www.findagrave.com. What did I find? Pictures of his grave and the cemetery- a place that I’ve never been. I even left a note and a digital flower. Next, I found family members in the cemetery that I could not find at the National Archives. I learned something new today: people volunteer to visit cemeteries and take pictures of every single head stone and they upload it to the World Wide Web. There are many ancestry search sites that provide free trials and such. I am interested in learning more about free online resources.

Do you know of any free ancestry resources?

11 Comments

Marie-Brigitte Souci link

5/29/2013 10:11:29 pm

Interesting post.

Veronica link

5/29/2013 10:30:27 pm

It must be exciting to find even just one bit of information that connects you to your ancestors. Welcome back! Haven't seen your posts in a while :-)

Terry link

5/29/2013 11:29:47 pm

It is exciting isn't it. I am fortunate other people in my family have done some tracing. The local morman church is likely to be able to help you. They often have libraries big and small to help people trace their ancestries. Many british sites are free ( you can find birth records etc but I am not well versed on this subject. I have a nice software program that is on my to do list !!

Jennifer Clay link

5/29/2013 11:43:47 pm

I have actually never even thought about doing this but it looks very interesting. I wonder what I could dig up!

Gangesh link

5/30/2013 12:18:33 am

Interesting post. I know my ancestors but not too much.

Rob link

5/30/2013 12:36:21 am

That is really cool! I tried ancestry.com but because most of our family comes from Europe, it would not track past my parents.

Deborah link

5/30/2013 12:55:33 am

I didn't even know that you could go to a website to search for graves and death certificates. It's interesting to learn about your family history and get to know where you came from.

Tina link

5/30/2013 04:49:51 am

This is amazing. Both sides of my family came through Ellis Island in the 1900's and 1910's and the names were changed (not to protect the innocent!) so we can only go by what we were told about "the old country". Unfortunately no one is alive who knew the name before it became "Smith" on my father's side, and on my mother's side, although not personally traced, it can be assumed the name can be traced to one of the 2 Tribes of Israel that is not lost. I have relatives into their 90s and 100s who have kept diligent records and my mom remembers everyone. How fortunate you are that you are able to trace your family back so many generations and then find pictures. WOW!

Kathleen link

5/30/2013 06:02:55 am

I've researched my ancestry a bit but not having money limits how far I can go. Ancestry.com is a paid site but there is a free version that allows you to do a little. There are quite a few free resources online but I don't remember where they are as I haven't done geneology in a few years and I lost my bookmarks. Keep googling :)

Kelly

5/30/2013 07:49:23 am

This is great information..

Dov Shapira link

5/30/2013 08:52:30 am

On memorial day I think about those who dragged the young kids into a war that was not suppose to be. And wars that have lasted much longer than it should have. Those wars did not bring any freedom.
Sad to say

Memorial Day Thoughts

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Yvonne Brown

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