Comments on: You Can Do This!

By: Eric Boysen

Eric Boysen — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:20:39 +0000

I always sing it as:

Trigonometry, I am doing it . . .

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:56:31 +0000

I suppose if we expect little kids to sing about pro-gen-i-tors, the tune can survive Keep-a-pitch-in-in …

By: m&m

m&m — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 07:32:53 +0000

Makes me want to break out in song….

Family history, you can do-oo it,
Your family history.
Cuz Ardis, on her blog, Keepapitchinin, has made it
Easy as can be!
She’s giving lessons there, sharing many tips –
From one to tweh-ehn-ty!
She’s an expert and she’ll help you
Start your family history!

[Song has been edited from its "original" version.] ha.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:22:34 +0000

So I should question you, kevinf, if you start to recite your pedigree and Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin show up there? I know you share my pain over NFS. One way we can get revenge is to find a way to use it to further our own family history without letting it suck us into its dark depths.

That’s just fine, Moniker. I’ll put a link in the sidebar, too, to try to draw more attention to it.

Researcher, you’re a kindred spirit (but you knew that). I even like the fact that the picture pedigree you link to isn’t completed back five generations. It’s of value as is, and won’t discourage a beginner the way a perfectly completed pedigree might. Everybody has to start somewhere.

By: Researcher

Researcher — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:14:26 +0000

What a nice post with lots of good ideas for starting research. For suggestion number nine, here is a link to an old Portrait Pedigree, c 1950s. It's a bit easier nowadays to assemble a portrait pedigree with all the nice software programs, although finding out who has the family pictures and scanning them can be a big project. I have a very nice first cousin and second cousin who are currently tracking down bunches of family files and letters and photos and sending me scanned copies. And like Anne mentioned in her comment, the second cousin located me and started sending pictures and files after she googled my blog about a month ago. (I love this kind of collaboration! It's great!)

By: Moniker Challenged

Moniker Challenged — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:24:04 +0000

I know this is random, but reading the word “microfilm” reminded me: I’ve got 1 free microfilm reader for any anyone willing to pick it up in Provo. Sorry for the interruption Ardis, but I thought there was a chance one of your readers might be able to use such a thing. Email spudmonkey1 at hotmail if you want it.

By: kevinf

kevinf — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:48:37 +0000

I’ve done many of these, but not all, and I have been avoiding NFS like the plague. However, you give some good ideas on how better to utilize it for good, rather than the (comments edited at the source) wiki that it often resembles.

I especially need to get in contact with some distant family members, something my brother has been better at than I have been. Good reminders without much guilt. And I really do need to memorize all the names back about 5 generations. I can reliably only go back about 3. May be a function of age, or the overabundance of increasingly more useless rock & roll trivia in my head.

By: Anne (U.K)

Anne (U.K) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:23:41 +0000

ha ha…the comparison does rather fit!

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:58:42 +0000

So that’s four of us genealogists who recognize the value and relative ease of these projects for beginning family history … now if we could just convince someone teetering on the edge that this is the way to go!

I should change “great aunt Bertha” in #16 to “third-cousin Anne.”

By: Anne (U.K)

Anne (U.K) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:54:18 +0000

re 16:

Had a fun experience last week when a descendant of great grandfather’s sister contacted me online after reading a blog post I wrote last year about the family (an idea I swiped a while back from fellow Keepaninny, Researcher). We swapped scanned certificates and info, and he seems to have many subscriptions to various genealogy sites, so although I sent him more info this time, he could prove to be very useful in the long run