Thursday, April 18, 2013

Vital Records

I'd like to say I'm sitting in the Grand Concourse of Grand Central Station to write this, but sitting is not particularly encouraged in the terminal. So my spastic thumb via iPhone on the train will have to do.

I'd also like to say ole George, my elusive ancestor, in velvet waistcoat and breeches, was waiting for me at the New York Public Library, but he was not.

Nor was he there to greet me in the lobby of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. He remains, alas the furtive triple-great grandfather that he is.

Researchers are essentially optimists. Which is why we read and scroll microfiche, pay money for fruitless document hunts, scour books (get sidetracked with the New York social register from 1904) and read stuff until our eyes can take it no more.

I'd like to say I have a lot of great stuff scrawled into my notebooks, but in truth there are just two things: the name of a guy who knows from early New York churches (this could be big) and a record of Aunt Geraldine teaching at P.S. 50 in 1905.

Genealogy is rarely about the home run. Sometimes a crack at the bat is all we get. So we keep running.


20 comments:

noexcuses said...

I would love to have the time to more fully research my family! Someday! Good for you! Enjoy your journey!

BFL said...

Love, love, love the last graf of this post.

Erin said...

oooh I love genealogy and I LOVE your post! Thanks for sharing.

Lola said...

Great, creative post for *V*– would love to research my family tree, too.

Next time I'm back in the UK ...

Visiting from Alphabe-Thursday

Leovi said...

I love that lion!

Unknown said...

Man its so amazing when you find that one document that just has a tiny bit of information about your ancestry. GO You!!!
Bythebookful

Maureen Wyatt said...

That's just too rude of Ol' George not to be there to greet you! I'm sure you'll track him down and he'll make a suitable apology. LOL

Esther Joy said...

Happy tracing of genealogy! Hope you find out all kinds of good and interesting things about your relatives!

Anonymous said...

And WHO wass in the 1905 social register??

Larry Vredenburgh said...

Great that you are doing some research the old fashioned way. Hope you find some good stuff. Wish I could be there too.

Kathy and Freddy said...

Same thing happened to me when I went all the way to Salt Lake CITY, and ended up with almost nothing!!
Really disappointing, until your next success!

Tatiana said...

very interesting! good luck in your search :)

storybeader said...

I help genealogists a lot at the archives where I work. And I love to see the joy in their faces when we find things! {:-Deb

VBR said...

searching for ancestors is quite interesting - as long as we realize that we may find out more than we bargained for!!!

Lmkazmierczak said...

What a great adventure...Happy hunting. My V: http://lmkazmierczak.blogspot.com/2013/04/valuable-junk.html

debra @ homespun said...

my family lucked out when two cousins linked up ( after most of us had just a little info ) and one of them had a research scientist background / the other came over from Germany when she was young and still was fluent in German. When SHE could contact people in Germany and speak and read German we began to have all sorts of information come our way. I am going to have to do some sort of article on it on my blog down the line, come to think of it! :) I think the most fun that we had was find a harlot in our background. Yep ..cheated on her husband with a farm worker and was shamed publicly in church!

Gattina said...

That's a very interesting hobby ! I don't know very much about my ancestors, only that they had always lived in Germany and that one of them was a count ! Therefore I have blue blood in my veins, lol !

Anonymous said...

Every little bit helps...wishing you a breakthrough soon.

aspiritofsimplicity said...

perseverance....

Jenny said...

Sometimes that crack at the bat can bring some Very Valuable information when Visiting your family history...

A Very good post for the letter V...

Thanks for linking...

A+