Ten members of the Boone Nance Genealogical Society gathered at the Fullerton Public Library on March 11th. With March being Women’s History Month, members told stories and memories about female ancestors. Memories of mothers and grandmothers included facing a serious illness, growing up on a farm along the Beaver River, raising orphaned calves and runt pigs, hosting quilting bees and teaching crocheting. A member shared a poem written by her mother, who was an expert seamstress, about her sewing machine. Another person talked about her grandmother having hair almost down to the floor. One member was even delivered by her grandmother.
Stories of women ancestors further back in time included traveling by wagon train to Oklahoma and picking cotton, a woman homesteader, a Swedish immigrant who entered the United States though Ellis Island, a great grandmother who was a daughter of the Civil War who operated a cream and egg business, and a great grandmother who was orphaned as a small child and whose family went through many tragedies.
Research tip sheets were presented, including fact checking online family trees. Online trees often provide good hints, but before you start copying the information to your own family tree, take some time to consider if it is a reasonable match to your family. One of the most common mistakes is confusing two people who have the same name, so check on discrepancies with relationships, dates, and places. If a profile in a family tree has many sources attached, these also need to be analyzed as they may not be correct for that particular person.
A useful new research tool can be found at familysearch.org/labs. Familysearch.org, the genealogy site operated by the LDS church, is using artificial intelligence to transcribe handwriting in historic records into searchable text. A member reported discovering many ancestors who lived during the early 1800s and confirming family relationships by using this new tool, which is free of charge to registered users. Our next meeting will be on April 8 at 2:00 p.m. at the St. Edward Public Library. Anyone interested in learning more about family history research is welcome to join us.