Do-Over Reflections: Rabbit Holes, Squirrels, and Serendipity
Week 3: We Get to Research!
One of the hardest things about this “do-over” is that we
weren’t supposed to be researching at first. The time was to be spent setting
up our files, setting research goals, interviewing ourselves and family members
(week 2); setting aside previous research and establishing guidelines (week 1)..
Week 3’s goals include tracking and conducting
research. I’ve been a poor tracker all
these years. While I have a ton of paper
and digital records, I have neglected such things as to-do lists and research
logs. Consequently, I find myself re-doing the same search again, and don’t
realize it until I re-save the same documents—usually even saving with the same
name I chose the first time (at least I’m consistent in one area). Gee, I could have spent that time going down
another *rabbit hole.* More on rabbit holes in a minute.
Rabbit Holes and
Squirrels
Or
“Who ARE these people, anyway?”
A word or two about
rabbit holes: Refers to getting
side-tracked and heading down another path when doing genealogy research. In other words, while looking for records for
one ancestor, you get side-tracked when you discover records about his brother’s
wife, and the next thing you know, you have traced that family back three generations,
thereby neglecting the ancestor you started out to search for. While you might
want that document some day, the point is—that’s not the path you were on
originally.
A word or two about
squirrels: There’s a cartoon movie whose
name escapes me now, where a dog in this movie is constantly seeing squirrels,
shouting “SQUIRREL,” and off he goes chasing after the squirrel. Often referred to as a “Bright and Shiny Object.” Another name for “side-tracked.”
I’ve been busy sorting through my files, both paper and
digital, and putting them in their new “do-over” folders. I’ve been renaming my digital images along with
the sorting, so they’re easier to find.
A couple of evenings ago, I came upon some digital records and realized,
I had no idea who some of these people were!
I had to look at the records, and if I was lucky I would get a clue in
the record—like a marriage record for my gg grandfather’s niece, etc. I might need that some day, but in all
probability, that wasn’t who I was looking for when I started out. And if I can’t remember who they were by a
name—was it really that important? I see
a new folder in my do-over file: “Irrelevant;”
“Hold;” “Rabbit-Hole.” Leaning towards “Rabbit-Hole,”
I’ll surely know what that file contains. While I have done a lot of cluster and FANs research on several of my lines, it was done on purpose, I had a purpose, and it was a rabbit hole I meant to go down.
Serendipity is a Good Thing
Dictionary Definition from Dictionary.com: “an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident; good fortune, luck.”
Henry V. Jones wrote a book (or two) several years ago
about serendipity in genealogy. From
what I remember, there’s more to genealogy serendipity than good fortune or
luck, or finding things by accident. I’ve seen quotes about how our ancestors
want to be found as much as we want to find them (although for some of my ancestors,
I think they’d rather stay hidden). By
slowing down and not heading off after squirrels and down rabbit holes, I’ve
had some genealogy “ah-ha” moments, or Serendipity, that I might have missed
had I not been focused.
Henry V. Jones wrote a book (or two) several years ago
about serendipity in genealogy. From
what I remember, there’s more to genealogy serendipity than good fortune or
luck, or finding things by accident. I’ve seen quotes about how our ancestors
want to be found as much as we want to find them (although for some of my ancestors,
I think they’d rather stay hidden). By
slowing down and not heading off after squirrels and down rabbit holes, I’ve
had some genealogy “ah-ha” moments, or Serendipity, that I might have missed
had I not been focused.
1.
A few
days ago, over on the Facebook German Genealogy page, someone asked if any
group members had been contacted or made contact with their family in
Germany. Many participants had answered
in the affirmative. As for me, nope—although
I wish that were true. I posted the
trial I had of finding any family members left in Germany after my father came
as a 6 month old baby with his parents and brothers: The part of Germany they were from is now
Poland; in the closing days of World War II, Russian and Polish soldiers
forcibly drove the Germans from their homes. Many died on their forced
march. A kind lady who speaks and reads
German offered to join and check German Facebook pages for specific regions for
our surnames, and check the German-specific Message Boards for same.
2.
This morning, on a brief read-through from the
German group, someone else asked what the name “Engel” referred to. A couple of replies indicated that this was
German for “angel.” I have a christening
record for my great grandfather, whose mother is listed as “Engel Dorothea” geb
(which I believe means “nee”) Kreely. I
was always confused by that entry because I thought Engel was a surname. Now I
know it is a given name. Whoo-hoo!
My grandfather Altmann is on my “to-do” list for research
this week, although I probably won’t be able to find everything on my list in
that time frame. But I have a to-do
list, I can cross things off as I do them, remembering to post the results so I
don’t repeat the task. As for my
potential 4gg grandfather Paxton, I’ve
done a to-do list for him as well. So
I have two to research, and with any luck, more serendipitous moments will be
heading my way soon.
