Educate Yourself

One of the most important things to remember when searching for your family lines is that it is a Process of Self Growth. Researching the branches of our personal family tree take us on a journey to other times and places. Even if we start out with NO passion for history the journey through time will eventualy lead to having at least a basic knowledge of historical facts as they pertain to our family history.

I for one never thought that I would delve into the realm of history. In high school I found it horribly boring and often skipped history class all together. But look at me now. I think it was the dictate of the course outline or perhaps I just had no interest at all. When starting out on researching my family lines it was not long till I had questions which I NEEDED ANSWERS TO. I started asking my father for more information and found that little was known. It was not until I started reaching further and found it necessary to actually read a history book. Surprise, Surprise ! Finding ones family roots in written works, stimulates the reader. I bacame an glutton for reading old books and those of published genealogists, finding many available online in digital archives. History somehow became a large part of my life and I no longer find myself embarassed by my lack of knowledge. It was not long till I found I could hold my own in open discussion and felt proud of my growth.

Free Trial at FootNote.com

I am really excited about the services provided by Foot Notes , a document archive website providing digital delivery of historical documents. The collection is vast and one easily finds information ancestors in their lines. The collection is growing daily and they offer a Full Access Free Trial. Nothing to loose and much to gain.

The collection contains a wealth of information on Civil War pensions as surprisingly a lot of Canadian information as well. Searching the Brundage surname in general I found over a thousand documents.

I also found important information which led to the destruction on one of my brick walls. My mothers line containing my great-great grandfather by the name of "Solon Richards" had been a hard nut to crack for over 8 years but I finally established the line. One would think that with a first name as uncommon as "Solon" on would easily find information or at least there would be no confusion when information was found. Not the case !

With both researchers and information transcribers concluding that the name "Solon" must be "Solomon" the process of establishing my line was difficult to say the least. Although it is often difficult from experience I recommend that one never give up. Put it aside perhaps for a little while and search again at a later date. Information resources are being added to the Internet daily and you never know when new information will lead to your destruction of an brick wall.