Links Family History Blog

Introducing my Cole FAN club. In an earlier post, Cole: An Irish Palatine Family's Timeline , I talked about some challenges I encountered in researching my Irish Palatine ancestors, and specifically Canadian family founder Henry "Harry" Cole and his English-Irish spouse Elizabeth Churchill. After beating my head against this substantial brick wall for years, I was given some wise advice: research around the brick wall. By broadening my search, instead of pursuing Henry and Elizabeth with such a laser focus, it is possible to find out facts and information about them in this more indirect manner. This approach to researching is known as using the "FAN club." Such was my strategy for researching the friends, associates and neighbours (F-A-Ns) -- and in this case other family members such as children -- of this founding couple. My hope was that in researching associated individuals or locations where records were more plentiful, it would lead to previously undisco...

Les Filles du Roi In an earlier post,  The French Side: Marie Catherine Levesque , I mentioned several Filles du Roi (King's Daughters) in the direct paternal and maternal family lines (Levesque and Michaud) of my 3rd great-grandmother, Marie Catherine Levesque. Filles du Roi were the more than 700 courageous female pioneers who, between the years of 1663 and 1673, left everything and everyone they knew in France: to sail on a dangerous ocean voyage on an uncomfortable ship with minimal amenities, complete with the risk of contracting a serious disease; to land in a war zone (the British and French were at war), where the risk of supply lines to France being cut off for years was a reality; and to marry a stranger within a short time after disembarking, have children together, and carve a life out of the wilderness.  Who today would take on such a challenge, and the hard work and isolation that goes with it, with so few of the modern supports and comforts we are accu...

My Method For Saving Letters. This post continues the Saving Letters mini-series that started with Saving Letters - Why Do It?  In the following discussion, Step 1: Cataloguing , I set out the method I follow for logging my letters.  Although I was inspired by online sources, the details of the method I follow evolved as I began working through my letters and gained insight into the data contained in the letters, how I wanted to use their information, and how I was going to store them, as well as disaster recovery and legacy considerations. The items you record in your catalogue may look different from mine as they will be a reflection of your own letter collection and goals.  Working through this process gave me: a searchable letters list that I could use for research purposes (like a library's card catalogue);  a summary of each letter's contents, physical properties, and condition;  a better comfort level that the letters would be preserved even if the origin...

A Family of Letter-Writers. In this first post in a mini-series on saving letters, I describe my philosophy and summarize my method for saving inherited family letters. My goal for saving letters? To improve being able to access the data they contain in order to use that data for family research.  I come from a family of letter-writers. At first puzzled about what to do with the box of family letters I inherited -- but sensing their potential -- over the years I sought advice on how to "deal" with inherited documents like letters. I took what resonated with my own situation and materials and incorporated it into my personal method for creating and maintaing a family archive.  Disclaimer:  I am a genealogy enthusiast not a professional genealogist or archivist; as such, a professional's methods may differ from mine, or may be more comprehensive. If you have something in your family collection that you are unsure about or you think might need particular care, I encourage yo...