Armchair Genealogy

By Melinda Cohenour

When your author first became smitten with family history research, the Internet had not yet been fully fleshed out as an organic source of virtually ALL information related to Mankind's documentation of knowledge.

Back in those early days research was largely dependent upon physical records located in diverse places: family records such as Bibles, diaries, letters (to, from or about family members), handwritten or typed trees, and the like; the Genealogy research division of larger local libraries; newspaper clippings concerning weddings, births, obituaries, natural disasters that impacted relatives, etc.; and for certain major categories of research such as military records, historic land sales and a myriad of obscure data serious researchers would trek off to their "local" NARA (National Archives Records Administration) facility. The quotes around LOCAL? Well, that's because even today the nation offers only these fourteen in person research NARA facilities:

• Washington, DC
• College Park, MD
• Atlanta, GA
• Boston, MA
• Chicago, IL
• Denver, CO
• Fort Worth, TX
• Kansas City, MO
• New York City, NY
• Philadelphia, PA
• Riverside, CA
• St. Louis, MO
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA.

Not being familiar with research at the local library level, I was fortunate to have had a cousin reach out in search of her own family knowledge. Joyce Schumacher had contacted our mother who handed off her contact information to my sister Jacquie who provided it to me. Joyce was related through my mother's Joslin line, her great grandfather being a sibling of our great grandfather. She was eager to learn about her Joslin heritage.

Boy, was that a boon to me, a fledgling researcher. Beyond the bounds of the bounteous information available through my mother, my Aunt Linnie Jane, and their mother Carrie Bullard Joslin, I had never traversed the library level of research.

Joyce was pretty familiar with how to do the work once we arrived but lacked the depth of knowledge with which I had been gifted by virtue of the treasure trove handed down to me. Together our disparate knowledge bases were complementary. So we would arrive at our targeted location with printouts of my family dataset. We would select the library index containing the surname JOSLIN, then eagerly trace down all the names to see if one sounded familiar. (As an aside, WILLIAM was an extremely popular given name for all Joslin sons. Woe is me.)

Should we find familiar given names, it was then necessary to use the index to find out where in the library that person's records were to be found. One or the other of us would then be dispatched to pull the appropriate book or folder containing that person's tree and data. Two records at a time was best so each could then digest the data and determine whether or not that person "belonged" to us. Repeat. Ad nauseum.

After exhausting the resources available to us at the local libraries, we decided it was time to visit Mecca - our local NARA.

First it was necessary to determine where that facility existed. We were lucky! I lived in Dallas at the time while Joyce resided in an Eastern suburb of Dallas. We discovered the only NARA in person research facility near us was located in Fort Worth, Texas.

This process proved to be rather daunting. Such a big building. So many areas for various types of dedicated research. Rather overwhelming for a neophyte. Fortunately for me, Joyce had a rudimentary knowledge of how to traverse this facility as well.

First, one needed to determine WHERE to start in search of family records. This involved indices again. A general search for the Joslin surname, then within those lists identification of a familiar given name. This time it was more important to verify the targeted individual by cross checking dates and locales. "When was Elias born? Where? In Missouri? Illinois?" This type process had to be followed with each potential record. Once again, we referred to the printouts for the Joslin branch to zero in on a specific document.

We were provided with handfuls of little scraps of paper which proved to be quite helpful as a place to jot down the name, date, area within the facility that would contain the record or records to be perused, and then to be paper clipped to our profile tree sheet for the individual we hoped to gain information concerning.

We would prepare a master list of names with the title of the type document we sought (news article, BLM or Bureau of Land Management document, military record, or other type and its pertinent source particulars.) Once these possibilities were noted, it was necessary to walk to the area identified as housing each. Once there it was necessary to queue up to speak with the staff assisting in that area. Once finally face to face, the little scrap of paper containing one's notes as to source document came into play. The staff member would use that data to identify the microfiche spool containing that document.

The microfiche spool was marked with a unique identifying code. It was checked out to you much as a regular library would process the loan of a book.

Once in possession of the golden egg - the microfiche spool - one then queued up for a microfiche reader. This could often take quite awhile as all the folks seated at the cubicles housing the readers were as dedicated to their research as we were to our own.

Finally! A potential source of new or as yet undocumented tidbit of knowledge about a "person of interest" listed on our master list and scrap of paper was within our grasp. We had a reader!

But, Oh! Now one realized why the queue had been so long and taken so much time to place a microfiche reader at our disposal. For the search had only just begun in reality. It was now necessary to learn how to operate the reader, basics first, then fledging mastery of managing the speed ... Just fast enough to have hope of reviewing the rapidly blurring pages and just slow enough to read the segment markers and becoming sufficiently adept to actually slow way down to read the page that might contain the article or document referencing the person one HOPED was actually the target ancestor.

Should you actually locate a valid document providing enlightenment about that relative, it was now necessary to use that precious scrap of paper to make note of the exact cross reference given on the screen for that item.

Now, our search for that one piece of information culminating in success, it was time to load the next spool and find the pertinent scrap of paper to have at the ready in case this spool also bore fruit. Several of our spools simply did not provide a valid bit of data. Like panning a stream (much as our ancestors had done) where only one, maybe two nuggets of gold were found.

Time now to concede our microfiche reader to the next in line, gather our scraps of paper representing our only nuggets and join the line waiting at the assistance area.

After what seemed an interminable delay, it was time to check in our microfiche spools. Now we had to await a print out from the spools of our "finds".

Now time to collect our printouts and pay the nominal charge.

We had managed to arrive early to Fort Worth's NARA facility. We had spent a long, tiring (but relatively exciting) day in pursuit of some words on some type document that would help us "know" our ancestor(s). It was now dusk and our day-long search had netted three minuscule, unremarkable bits of data, one for me and two for Joyce.

Contrast that with an hour or two of Armchair Genealogy, where one can enter the name of an ancestor or peripheral personage into the search engine's bar and have hundreds if not thousands of possible types of information pop up, usually with the most likely appearing first.

Seated comfortably at one's home workstation or relaxing on the sofa with laptop or smart phone in hand, zero in on the data you want by quickly narrowing the search by a few well placed words. No cramps from hours of regulating the speed at which blurred pages fly past, fearful of overlooking some tidbit about your long lost ancestor.

Literally millions of documents at our disposal with minimal physical exertion or mental exhaustion.

For me, there is no comparison.