Life comes at you (much too) fast!

When I started this blog I promised myself that I would post at least twice a week. Unfortunately life sets the schedule.

For those of you who don’t know, I have helped my children tend to tend to their mother (my ex-wife) who is terminally ill with cancer. Last week they admitted her to the hospital. She remains on life support.  The children and I are staying  with her round-the-clock. Also they are trying to find any papers pertinent to this time; such as life insurance, burial policies, last will and testament, etc. (An impossible task in a hoarder’s house.)

And to add insult to injury, someone has to stay at the house 24/7 to ward off the thieves and crackheads that would break in to steal any pain medication. (It’s a pity they don’t understand all her medications are locked in a small bank-quality safe. But they would destroy the house trying to find something to steal!)

All these things on top of my full-time job leave me scant time to write anything, including this blog or any genealogy research.

But if I could remind you of a couple safety-related items out of our family crisis:

1. Do not let the neighborhood know you have a terminally ill cancer patient in the house. Once you do, the vultures (thieves/drug addicts) start circling

2. Lock up all medications in a good safe

3. Keep all monies, jewelry, other small valuables locked up, or take them off the property

4. Try to have someone on the property at all times, or a good alarm system with a fast police response

5. Have someone you know and trust “house-sit” during the wake or visitation and during the funeral service

6. Lock your car at the cemetery

I’ll try to keep you posted.

Another Serendipity Doo-Dah Day: You never know who will find YOU!

I probably should wait and post a longer entry…..NAH! can’t wait that long!

 

When I started this blog, it was on a lark. A “I wonder if I can do this/”OOOH! what does this button do?” type of moment. I thought it would be a fun way to express myself and connect with more genealogists and family researchers.

 

And of course, in putting up a blog, it’s a good idea to promote the blog so it has more than one reader……… So I became active on twitter.

 

It’s a lot of fun, but;

Little did I know …….

 

That kinfolks would find ME as I was out finding dead relatives!

 

Already I have had two (2) relatives contact me because of my Serendipity Doo-Dah Sunday blog entry! One by comment and a message on Ancestry.com, another by reading the blog and leaving a direct message through Twitter (which I use to promote the blog and keep in touch).

 

PayBack Time!

 

I know several people write blogs in the hopes of “monetizing” (making dough). Some are successful and I congratulate them.

 

I wrote my blog for fun…. now I’m getting a payback many times over!   And here’s how:

 

1) I’ve made many new friends.

 

2) I’ve found a creative outlet for my last 2 good brain cells

 

3) I’m connecting with relatives I didn’t know existed

 

I can hardly wait for my “new” relatives to answer me back!

 

 

 

Have you had kinfolk find YOU because of your blog or twitter or ancestry account (or others)?

 

Can you suggest ways to put the family story out there to find more relatives (and have them contact you)?

 

 

 

In Case of Emergency; Data Backups

When disaster strikes.

For those of you that don’t know, I live in North central Alabama, a little south of Birmingham. If you to take a map and draw a line from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham, you would have a map of “tornado alley”.

Image via Wikipedia

In the last 15 years, 2 devastating F5 tornadoes have traveled this path, leaving complete devastation behind. Lives, homes, possessions gone forever. I used to live on that line. An F5 tornado barely missed my home 14 years ago. Last year, it destroyed that same home (I moved several years prior). It destroyed the entire neighborhood as well. And a friend of mine survived last year only because he had taken a chainsaw and tools into the storm shelter with himself and his family. When Tuscaloosa was destroyed, he was able to cut his way out of the shelter and bring his family out safely. Otherwise they would have been trapped for days and may not have survived.

This morning – as I write this – I’m looking at an unseasonably warm late winter day. The weather forecast is for severe storms through this area and, as a trained tornado spotter, I know the potential for what may happen.

Image via Wikipedia

And in case you’re wondering what this has to do with genealogy, I pose this question. If a disaster such as a tornado, wildfire, flood, earthquake, mudslide were to affect you, would your research and family history be gone forever?

Hint: backup your data!

As a person who’s lost his genealogical data twice due to computer failures, I have become a firm believer in backups.
I also believe that unless your data exists in at least three separate places, you don’t have a backup!

Let’s say your data exists on the computer and on a backup drive at home. If your house is broken into, or burns to the ground, or a tornado hits (and in Alabama, we know about tornadoes!), then your data is gone.

BUT, if that same data exists on your computer, a backup drive, and an off site backup (i.e. a different physical location), then any disaster that strikes your home would not affect your off-site backup. Conversely, a disaster at the off-site backup would not destroy all the data because of your computer and your home site backup.

I also believe that frequent backups are the lifeblood of any backup strategy! A data backup that is even one month old, if you are creating a new data daily, is almost worthless.

Image via Wikipedia

Works for me.

Let me step you through my backup strategy. It works for me and is only an example. Your needs may be different.

At home I have 2 large external hard drives for backup, as well as a pocket-sized external drive. I backup to the small external drive and 1 large drive at least daily, sometimes several times a day if I’m entering a large amount of information. The second large external drive is connected twice a week for backups, then stored on-site in a fireproof safe.

The program I use for on-site backups is called Goodsync. It’s a small, modestly priced program  that is very configurable. All my genealogy databases, forms, templates, correspondence, photos are backed up. I also backup my documents folder, downloads folder, music folders, and all my other photos (which now total around 7000 photos). In essence I backup everything except the Windows and programs folder. That would have to be reinstalled anyway. All installation instructions, registration numbers, and serial numbers to reinstall the software are in a data file which is backed up.

For off-site, I use a service called Crashplan. Competitively priced, it also includes a free software installation which allows you to make a duplicate backup to an external hard drive. You can even back up your laptop to a folder on your desktop, and then back information up off-site.

Image via Wikipedia

My photos are also uploaded to Flickr.com to serve as a secondary off-site backup. And for my genealogy data, since I use RootsMagic5 with its built-in “RootsMagic-to-Go” function, I have a complete copy of my genealogy on a thumb drive that hangs around my neck all the time.

A good resource for information about backing up your data is this post at Geneabloggers.com 

This may seem like paranoia, but I have seen firsthand the devastation of  tornadoes twice in my adult lifetime. I’ve had friends who have lost everything in house fires. And one reason I have so little from one branch of my family is the fact they lost everything in a tornado decades ago.

I’m sorry if this post is depressing. I hope it encourages you to take action and backup your data.

Now, time to get busy. I have some preparation to do;  just in case.

Copyright 2012 Randall E Dickerson. All rights reserved.

{Disclaimer; I have no fiduciary interests in any products or services mentioned in this post. Any services or software I use was purchased at full price. I have received no payments or other considerations for writing this blog entry.}

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Virtual Ephemera?

Virtual Ephemera.

Although the two words may seem dissimilar – if not contradictory – they share a common bond that I would like to explore for a moment.

Wiktionary.com defines virtual as; “In effect or essence, if not in fact or reality; imitated, simulated”. Click here for a link to the full definition.

Wikipedia.org defines ephemera as; “Ephemera are transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved”. Click here for link to the full article.

Genealogists and family historians are quite familiar with ephemera. Playbills, theater tickets, postcards, birthday cards, advertisements from time gone by are all considered ephemera.

ephemera (Photo credit: staramaze)

They provide a sharp focus close-up of the life and times of those we research. We all use them to some degree or another and revel in the knowledge that they were not thrown away. Many genealogists and family historians go to great lengths to gather every piece of ephemera they can find. Some even go so far as to gather ephemera from totally unrelated families in the hopes that one day they might reunite that information – especially photographs – the descendents of the original owner.

Many of today’s genealogists do their research in the virtual world of online databases. Although they exist “somewhere out there”, all the person sees is a virtual reproduction of that image or document on their computer screen unless and until they either print the record or save a copy the image on the hard drive. I could not  name a single genealogist or researcher who doesn’t use these databases regularly.

Although I’m not a member, there are those who meet up regularly in a virtual world devoted exclusively to genealogists.

Image via Wikipedia

So what is the common thread between these two? It is the fact that both are short-lived and transitory in nature. The ephemera was meant to be used for a few hours, days, maybe weeks, and then discarded. The virtual world of databases and virtual meet ups ceases to exist in your physical reality the moment you shut the computer off. Therefore they’re both short-lived “things” as opposed to the papers, books, or magazines you might hold in your hand.

So what does this have to do with genealogy?

The virtual ephemera that I am thinking of are the memories that we all have; events that occurred when we were young, stories told to us by parents and relatives, the fun little things that we or our children say or do each day. Those memories are a virtual ephemera. In seconds the memories can be wiped out due to an accident, stroke, sudden illness. At that point those memories are gone forever.

So what can be done about this? Simply write them down or record them! I’ve gotten in the habit over the last year of keeping a small digital recorder with me. As I remember something interesting or amusing from my past or that my elders have told me., I record that story right then as I remember it. The digital recordings are backed up to my hard drive during a weekly backup session. And every 2 to 4 weeks I sit down and transcribe those family memos into my family history programs. Everything from the quirky way my father said birthday – which he pronounced as ‘birfday’ to the way I felt when I heard the space shuttle had exploded on liftoff to the time my daughter, sitting impatiently in the backseat of the car, leaned over to her brother and whispered “let’s make daddy mad so we’ll get there quicker”.

Image via Wikipedia

Of course, some those memories need to be stored for now. A few of them are too revealing or embarrassing to make public until the people in those stories have passed on. Those bits of virtual ephemera go into a separate directory in the hard drive with instructions on what to do with them after my death.

Since we genealogists are curators of the past, I say it’s time that we begin curating our virtual ephemera now.

If it’s not written down today it may be gone tonight.

Image via Wikipedia

Why not take a moment right now and transcribe some of your virtual ephemera into written memories?

One day your descendents will thank you for having the foresight to give them a close and colorful look into the details of your life.

Copyright 2012 Randall E Dickerson

ROAD TRIP!

In my day job I travel around North central Alabama, maybe a dozen counties, putting in at least two hours driving time daily.

Image via Wikipedia

 

I usually travel alone, but sometimes a coworker travels with me. One of my coworkers told me how excited his grandson becomes every time granddad said “let’s go for a ride”. The little tyke goes tearing out the door shouting “ROAD TRIP” at the top of his lungs as he runs for the pickup truck.

Road Trip (Photo credit: Road Fun)

Now when my coworker and I ride together we both shout “ROAD TRIP” as we leave the office! The administrative assistant claims that we are nuts, but secretly enjoys the enthusiasm. She’s right, but we’re having too much fun to argue with her.

Now that winter is winding down and the days are getting both longer and warmer, I’m getting itchy for a road trip. My recent excursion this past Sunday to my great great grandfather’s grave – for the first time – only fuels that desire.

Time to start planning. Where to go; Gravesites, ancestral homesteads, ancestral towns, distant relatives (pun intended), courthouse research?

What to do; photography trip, data-gathering, collecting ephemera, or just soaking in the ambience of where they lived?

What to carry; notebook computer, camera(s), cell phone, digital recorder, extra ink pens, notebooks, sketch pads, clean underwear (remember what momma said!), Etc. ?

This time I’d like to hear what you have in mind!  Where do you plan to travel the spring?  Day trip or overnight?  What are the goals of your trip?  Come on everybody, speak up!

ROAD TRIPPPPPPP ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 

Road Trip Sing -a- long (Photo credit: nikoretro)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Praise of Paper

“You’re not going to record me, are you?”

It would be easier than trying to write it all down, if you don’t mind.

“Oh no, no, I sound terrible on tape. Just write it down. It ain’t all that much!”

(Sighing under my breath) Okay, I’ll write it down. (Turning off the recorder and putting it in the briefcase)

That is a pretty common scenario when interviewing older relatives. Even my cousins – the same age as I – hate being recorded. Interviewing my relatives on tape doesn’t work most of the time.

Image via Wikipedia

I’d love to have some voice recordings of my kith and kin, but respect their wishes. In the process, I’ve rediscovered note taking. On the few trips I do make to interview I always pull out 2 notepads first. One lined, the other has a faint graph background for drawing. I start by taking notes and then ask if I could record the conversation. Usually I’ll get a “no I’d rather not”, so I keep writing. The graph paper notepad is for sketching. When a relative begins describing where a homestead was, I always draw the roads, towns, and rivers, and then ask them to fill in the missing information. I’ve even discovered artistic talent when they begin drawing! It’s been a tremendous help in finding ancestral homesteads and old family cemeteries. Each sheet dated at the top and titled; “interview of {them} by {me}.”

Image via Wikipedia

And the digital voice recorder? I still use it.  Regardless of what they say, I can’t write it all down. Once they get warmed up to being interviewed, the stories flow like water. I jot down key points and as many details as I can. But as soon as I drive away from the interview I record everything that I can remember from the interview. Sometimes I only go a few blocks, then pull over to read the written notes while transcribing more detail into the voice recorder. I have to work while my memory is fresh.

Image via Wikipedia

I  know people who use a recorder when talking to relatives on the phone. After the conversation they transcribe the recording into a written record and delete the recording. Some states, such as Alabama, allow this as long as one party has knowledge of it. But I still think that’s on shaky ground, even in states that allow it. Don’t record unless you get permission first (and record them giving permission!). Be sure to include the date, time, and who is speaking on the recording.

For those researchers who want to go paperless, I commend you. But don’t plan on being entirely paperless; keep a couple of good notepads handy for us “old folks”.

Notebook collection (Photo credit: Dvortygirl)

 

Text; Copyright 2012 Randall E Dickerson

Photos; As attributed.

A Serendipity Doo-Dah Sunday.

Cousin Leroy would kill me if he knew I had this shot!

This past Sunday I found myself moping around the house and decided it was time to do something, anything, to break the lethargy that I’d fallen into over the winter. So I fired up the RootsMagic5 program and started digging for ancestors.

In going back over my maternal line, I noticed a gap in my entries – one of very many. I had quite a bit of information on my maternal grandfather’s maternal grandfather (that’s a mouthful to say isn’t it?!) in printed form only. I had never entered it in the database.

Richard Lewis Britt; born 19 April 1834 in Robeson, North Carolina.1850 and 1860 found him living in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. And when the Civil War started, great great grandfather volunteered for the Confederate Army and found himself a private in the 47th Regiment of Company F, Alabama Infantry during the years 1861 to 1865. Family legends claim he was a scout for Robert E Lee. But we all know how totally accurate family legends are, right?

After the war I found him living back in Tallapoosa County in the census of 1870 1880 and 1900. Richard Lewis Britt died on 29 December 1867. I had no burial location. A little digging (pun intended) turned him up on find-a-grave.com. He was buried in the cemetery of the Rock Springs Baptist Church, a mere 80 miles from my home. Time to go pay my relative a visit!

After a moderate drive and getting lost (only) twice, I found the cemetery. Breaking out the notepad, GPS, and camera I also found five other dead relatives including two I didn’t know existed!

A Britt Headstone in need of tender loving conservation.

Great Great Grandfather Britt; CSA Veteran

What a find! The mystery grave? It belonged to an S E Britt, wife of John W Britt. A little research back home brought up an index of Alabama marriages between 1816 and 1957 (bless you family search.org!). It appears S E Britt was originally Salina E Davis who married John W Britt 3 March 1867. I have to look at the original microfilms  to confirm those facts.

Here's another mystery person! More research, please!

The downside of the day? Some of the headstones are in sad shape. I’ll have to go back when it warms up and clean them properly. And when I arrived home, I researched a bit more and found that I was only a mile from the Britt family cemetery with another half-dozen family members!

But I found my way around, had the chance to pay my respects and “visit” with my relatives. I’ll be back soon and do more digging. It appears they were early settlers in the territory; there’s even a Britt Creek nearby that empties into the Tallapoosa River! And I’ve got to find that other cemetery to pay a visit.

Rock Springs Baptist Church, Jacksons Gap, Tallapoosa County, Alabama

Not a bad Sunday drive after all!

(If you want to see all the cemetery photos, browse my flicker page. The link is on the right side of the blog page.)

Photos Copyright 2012 Randall E Dickerson, all rights reserved.

Blog Copyright 2012 Randall E Dickerson, all rights reserved.

Ephemera Day III; Vintage Postcard ca. 1930′s; Penobscot Building

Postcard Post:

Someone gave me the wonderful opportunity to curate these vintage postcards, then deliver them to the original recipient’s descendants. Thought you might like a peek at a few. (there are about 100).

 

The Penobscot Building, Detroit, Michigan. Card is postmarked 15 Jul 1937 with a 1 cent (!) postage stamp.

No printer name listed; just a symbol that looks like the earth with one city on the top and the letter M in the middle.

If you can determine the printer, I’d love to hear from you. (Click on the postcard for a larger image)

 

Remembering Grand-Dad.

Grand-Dad on Left, Grandmother center, my Dad in rear, Lewis on Right. Taken 1940, Old Family Homestead, Bayview, ALabama.

My grandfather passed away in 1962. I was 8 years old then, but still remember him. Although he was soft spoken and of average build with brown eyes and brown hair, somehow he towers in my memory. He almost always wore coveralls. He worked in the coal mines since the age of 10 and as an adult had a severe case of asthma and black lung. He had worked for several of the area coal mines but had to retire due to his health about the time I was born. He bought a dump truck and earned a living by delivering “house coal” throughout the area. At that time nearly everyone heated their homes with coal.

He had a jet black Chihuahua that he swore relieved his asthma. He never went anywhere without the dog, who rode in the bib of his overalls. I remember him meeting someone new and watching them jump back in terror when his “stomach” started moving. It was the Chihuahua moving about under his overalls! He always thought that was hilarious.

When I was 6, I traveled with him delivering house coal. He had injured his right hand and could not operate the gear shift. So he would drive and I would shift gears for him. Even in lean times be delivered coal on credit, telling me “folks gotta stay warm”.

He died in his sleep 12 May 1962. He was laid out in the living room of his home for visitation. To me it seemed that everyone in the county came to pay their respects. He was buried in a cedar casket. He had once told his wife “just bury me in a wooden box. My parents were buried in pine boxes and I’m no better than they”. She complied with his wishes but chose Cedar.

He was buried in village falls cemetery, just 2 miles from where he lived all of his adult life. His sons carried him on his last earthly journey to the grave site. Most of the town was there for his funeral.

Village Falls Cemetery, Bayview, Jefferson County, Alabama.

Since his death in 1962, grandmother made sure his headstone always had flowers. Now that she has joined him in death we continue the tradition.

He was a plainspoken, hard-working man with a passion for family and honesty. I’m proud to say that I’m his grandson and will honor his memory as long as I’m on this earth.

Miss you, Grand-Dad!

All Photos and Text are Copyright 2011-2012 Randall E Dickerson; All rights reserved.

To B(log) or not to B(log), that is the Question

Why write a blog at all? That is a question recently posed to me. I have no hard and fast answers, just a couple of thoughts……

1. It costs me nothing but time and thought: I probably waste time on dozens of things that never leave a mark in this life. Blogging uses a small slice of that time-pie. Maybe I even provide a chuckle, a “hmmm”, or a thought-provoking idea to someone out there. Comments on the blog reinforce that idea.

2. I can talk uninterrupted: Now that’s a big one for me! I grew up in a family in which I could never finish a sentence without being interrupted, usually by my mother! (Of course, my sister says Grand-Dad nicknamed me “windjammer” so maybe I talk too much? {chuckle})

3. Blogging forces me to organize random thoughts into an almost-cohesive pattern that can be understood by others: (Almost-cohesive depends if the post is pre-coffee or post-coffee!)

4. In writing this blog, I also leave a written legacy for my kids: Every post goes into my Roots Magic Family History program. I print out hard copies about every 2 weeks. Someday my children will have those pages to remember me by. (Maybe I should start writing more about my ancestors, then?)

5. Blogging generates new ideas and ways of thinking: Every time I write, that idea spawns more ideas. Some are really hair-brained….. you’ll get to read them here!

6. By blogging, I have found a new circle of friends: ‘Nuff Said.

What are your thoughts?

If you blog, why?

If you don’t, why not?

And what are your reasons for (not) blogging?