I've lived in New Jersey for more than 40 years, but I'll never be a real New Jersey girl. I grew up in Pennsylvania where there was lots of snow, one traffic light in town, and 90 kids in my grade--from kindergarten through graduation. I didn't know anything about The Shore, or baked ziti, or Chanukah until I came to Jersey. But, I've come to love all of that and much more--especially the history. I now know about the Jersey Dutch, strawberry baskets, railroad suburbs, the bridge that saved a nation, and so much more. I've learned that to tell the local stories about regular people I need to read wills, estate files, census records, pension applications, letters, tombstones, newspapers, and anything else I can find. So, that's some of what I want to share with you!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

One thing leads to another....

I have a brand new grand-nephew to add to the family tree!  So, I was working on his quilt ...


AND ....

1.  I made some mistakes and had to rip out stitches (lots of stitches), so...
2.  I went to some genealogy sites that had free military records for Memorial Day weekend, so...
3.  I don't have many veterans in my regular research quarries, but I remembered that David Wilborn was in the Spanish American War, so....
4.  I searched for him and didn't find anything, so...
5.  I looked back at my notes and he was a veteran and he was in company A, so...
6.  I decided to google him instead, and...
7.  One thing led to another and I found a record of his service as Q. M. Sgt. and a history of his unit...
8.  I also found  a photo of a picnic group that included him, his wife, and children!

Lessons:

  • Never let an opportunity for procrastination go unused. 
  • Check what you already have.  It's so easy to go from memory, but memory can be vague, if not downright wrong.  "Company A" was very helpful.
  • Go beyond the databases. Sometimes google will dig out the sources that don't exist in the genealogy databases.  One of the sources was in google books, one a website (the unit history), and one a post on a message board!
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