Month: March 2016

Last week the genealogy world was all about sharing their Ancestor Birthplace Charts.  It started with J. Paul Hawthorne on his Facebook page.  It quickly went viral and the charts were popping up on Facebook and genealogy blogs.

What most impressed me about the charts I was seeing is the visual migration pattern that is created.  Since each place is assigned a different color, the migration pattern is a completely different representation then I have ever seen.

I played with my chart all weekend to find a color pattern I enjoyed.  This morning I decided I needed to do a chart for my children to show how different their story is from mine.  My husband’s family has a very different migration story than my own.  I love the results.  I plan on printing these charts to hang in my office.

My family has definitely participated in populating the West.  As you can see every couple of generations, the family continued across the United States. An interesting note to add to this story is my niece and nephew were born in Virginia.  The migration continues….

 

My kids have a different view in their chart because of my husband’s family.  I was shocked to see how many generations have been born in California.  My kids have some deep roots back to the mid 1800’s in this state!

This spurred me to looking at the dates of admission for statehood for each state on the chart.  I knew California was admitted in 1850.  I was surprised to see Kansas was not an “official” state until 1861.  My ancestors formally claimed land in Kansas in 1853 as soon as the territory was up for grabs. Just another reminder to always look at historical events to see how they shaped the lives of your ancestors!

I would be interested in doing this exercise again but in a different format.  I would like to see a circle chart with my kids in the middle that was color coded in the same manner.  I think it would be much easier to add additional generations to a circle chart.

 

 

I try not to watch TV in real time.  I love my DVR.  This week, I caught up on some episodes of Elementary.  The show is a modern interpretation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books. The show features Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as Sherlock and Watson.  I enjoy the different ways the show incorporates the original books.  Sometimes it is very obvious such as Sherlock’s battle with his arch enemy, Moriarty.  Other ways are more refined such as Sherlock being a recovering drug addict.  Drugs are very prevalent in the books.

The episode I just watched was called “Hounded.”  It began with a spin on the “Hounds of Baskerville” story.  The story opens with Charles Baskerville dying after being chased by an animal.  Not long after, this “animal” is captured after chasing the dead man’s brother, Henry (Henry lives).  It turns out the animal is actually a robot built by a company owned by the dead man’s cousin, Roger.

This is where genealogy enters the picture.  The three men (Charles Baskerville, Henry Baskerville, and cousin, Roger Stapleton) are the last living heirs to a vast fortune left by patriarch Hugo Baskerville.  There is a great scene with Sherlock and Watson standing in front of a large family tree created with index cards and black tape.

It appears all branches of the family tree have died out.  Sherlock proposes that there may be an unknown heir from a non-paternity event. He goes on to describe an illegitimate child as a “cross pollination event”.  An interesting way of looking at it!

I was cracking up as Watson says,”So all we have to do is look through 120 years of birth records to find our new suspect?!”

The genealogy laughs continued when Sherlock was explaining his ideas to Henry Baskerville as to who killed his brother.  Henry says to Sherlock, “He or she could have been born anywhere in the world sometime in the last century to anyone of several dozen people!!”

A plan is hatched to have Henry “kill” his cousin, Roger.  Therefore, since the last heirs are eliminated, the killer/unknown heir will come forward to collect his or her fortune.  Sure enough, with a few minutes left in the show, Miss Laura Lyons appears to collect her money.  She claims to be the daughter of Ike Stapleton, the dead older brother of cousin Roger.  She also worked for Roger and had access to that robot animal who caused the death of Charles Baskerville at the beginning of the episode.

I always enjoy when genealogy is part of a tv show.  I really enjoyed the way it was incorporated into Elementary. A huge thank you to the writers for not portraying family history research as a one click find your answers. I also enjoyed the large black tape family tree.  I wish I had a wall to go crazy on in my house!

 

 

Last weekend, I read a blog post at the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog about a new Facebook Group.  Lorine McGinnis Schulze has started the group We Are Genealogy Bloggers to share ideas, inspiration, and knowledge.  In less than a week, the group already has 170 members.

It has been no secret that I have not been blogging much in the last year.  The past year has been filled with many highs, lows, and children’s activities.  While my family still has a full calendar, I have decided it is time to prioritize what I want to do.  I miss writing.  I enjoy writing.  I need to make time for writing!

Yesterday, I posted a question asking how the group’s members schedule their writing.  Do they write posts in advance?  Wing it? etc.  Within a day I had nine responses.  It made me realize I am part of a larger group out there. This supportive group has me inspired.  I sat down this morning and created a list of blog post ideas.  Joining this new Facebook Group is the perfect motivator to get my fingers moving across the keyboard again.

If you have not already done so, check out the We Are Genealogy Bloggers Facebook Group.  Maybe you will find some inspiration too!