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| David "Bud" Wisor |
When I was growing up, although genealogy was fulfilling, it was certainly drudgery. It involved face to face conversations with some of your oldest known relatives, asking them what they remembered about their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. When those were interviews were finished, you would head to cemeteries, churches and other places they might hold records.
If you were fortunate, you'd find confirmation of what you were told. Often the information remembered was either completely wrong or just misleading. My first run in with this was a great-great-great-great grandmother who was referred to as "A grand old lady of the South." However, I later found records clearly indicate she is from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Did she pretend to be from the South? Speak with a Southern accent? I'll probably never find out where the story came from.
If you were really lucky, someone else did the work for you. In the 1930's, many families wrote family history books. My grandmother (along with a few generations before her), were in a book called the Eash book, which attempted to identify all the descendants of an Amish Bishop, Jacob Eash. Another book mentions my Great-great grandfather Levi Foust and some of his ancestors.
The LDS church, more commonly known as Mormon Church, has been collecting copies of genealogical records for a long time, and those records are available through their website and at local family history centers. Many of these records are only available on microfilm, but more and more are digitized.
The "game-changer" for genealogy was Ancestry.com. A combination of free and subscription genealogical records, all online, with a database that grows every year. While there are other online services, and most of the physical copies still exist, Ancestry's library means i can uncover more family history in a day than I used to be able to find in months.
The latest breakthrough has been DNA testing. DNA testing allows individuals to confirm existing relationships, as well as identify new branches of their family tree they weren't even aware of.
I now have a substantial family tree. I know who all of grandparents are back to my great-great-great grandparents. That's 62 ancestors in all, and a few of my lines go back as many as 16 generations.
Genealogy is a pastime that is quite fulfilling. One of the first things I learned was that, despite our belief that people were different, they were very much the same people we are today. Some lived in multi-generational houses or next door to each other, while others moved thousands of miles away. Sometimes they lived long and happy lives, and others were sickly, and many died fairly young. Yes, they had premarital sex, they cheated on their spouses, they even divorced sometimes. When things were really tough, they might make their kids go to work, or give up their kids to be indentured or place them in a home. At least one of my ancestors even committed suicide.
All genealogists have these “Wow!” moments, where they realize their ancestors weren't holy, or better than them. They were just people, just doing their best, and trying to live their lives, just like you and me.
Thank you for your time and if you somehow have made it this far into this blog post, and you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me. I'm happy to help you to start your journey.
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David "Bud" Wisor is a lifelong resident of the Philadelphia tristate region. Bud and his wife Theresa have 4 children and 5 grandchildren. In addition to genealogy, he has a passion for learning new things, and enjoys trivia, karaoke and spending time with his friends and family.
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This blog post was curated and/or edited by The Ardent Reader, Esther Hofknecht Curtis, BSOL, MSM-HCA. The views expressed in this blog post are those of the guest blogger. Visit Esther's page at www.parrotcontent.com for more information.
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