Thank you! That's very kind of you to say. I've been doing more over on YouTube. www.youtube.com/@amyjohnsonc...

Here's what gives: substack.com/home/post/p-...

fundNARA.com - Congress must fund the National Archives at the current level! The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) provides core government functions necessary to preserve, protect, and make accessible records from all three branches of the federal government...

Are you a journalist, genealogist or historian who has ever used records from the National Archives? It's time to step up and take some simple steps to preserve federal records. And save our nation's history. Please visit this website. And share widely.
fundnara.com

For no reason, I decided to make a new banner for my FB profile (still on there for a little while longer).

I hope you're enjoying the challenge so far!

Latest VA Projection Reveals Rate of WWII’s Fade from Living Memory 2024 agency numbers estimate fewer than 0.5% of Americans who served in the war still living.

Latest @DeptVetAffairs Projection Reveals Rate of #WWII’s Fade from Living Memory - 66,000 left www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles...

My mom doin' laundry, hangin' out shirts in the dirty breeze...

*keeps His eye on us all. (That's what I get for not doublechecking the lyrics first.)

"...I grew up believing God had his eye on us all..."

I think Indiana's schedules are at the Indiana State Archive (not online, though).

Make sure you follow through to the 1880 DDD schedule -- there are so many clues of the Deaf part of the schedule.

I've been off of here for awhile (I suspect I'll be spending more time over here 😊) But I want to clarify something related to my #52Ancestors challenge. You *don't* need to be sharing in the Facebook group. You're free to share wherever you want -- or nowhere at all! #genealogy

Oh no! I didn't mean that people should only share in the Facebook group! I meant that people don't need to be emailing me their stories. (Suddenly, I was getting tons of them, including some with file attachments.) Please feel free to share wherever you'd like!

I've always said it's a flexible challenge :-)

Participating in 52 Ancestors and WikiTree Connect-A-Thons Genealogy research and commentary by Marian Burk Wood, speaker and author of "Planning a Future for Your Family's Past," available from Amazon.com.

How 2 #Free #Genealogy activities are helping me (and you if you choose to participate) share #FamilyHistory plus #Ancestor bios with the wider world this year: @amyjohnsoncrow.bsky.social's #52Ancestors & @wikitree.bsky.social's #ConnectaThons. climbingmyfamilytree.blogspot.com/2025/01/part...

Well, maybe now we'll be rid of Ryan Day. (Please?) That would make today's loss palatable.

There's a lot you can w/out spending any money. Labeling photos (which almost always leads to stories). Writing/recording stories. Talking w/family members.

Plus, there are lots of free resources for records (FamilySearch, local libraries and archives, etc) & sites your library might subscribe to.

Why not both? We can multitask!

No better time than the present!

That's so hard :-( When my dad died, I thought about all of the things I wish I would have asked. Even 4 years later, I still think about those things. You always think there will be more time.

No time like the present!

That would do it!

That's something that we don't talk about enough -- when you take a DNA test, there's no going back once you see the results. (And a reason why I think the DNA companies' Father's Day sales are peak cringe.)

Ask open ended questions. ("What did you do for Thanksgiving as a child" vs "Did you eat turkey for Thanksgiving") Don't interject yourself into their story. Keep the whole process simple; the more you complicate it, the less effective it will be.

Think of an interview more like a conversation. Record it (if possible and with permission). Listen to understand, not to reply. In other words, start with a question, but take their lead where the conversation goes. Don't just get the answer and then move to the next question on your list. /1

Great question! Write down what you know -- names, places, general dates. Include aunts & uncles; those other people can help you ID the right person later when there are multiple people w/the same name. Then decide what line you want to work on 1st. It's hard to work on everyone at the same time!

Walking away from it & coming back w/new eyes helps! I follow what I call the WANDER method: What do you want to find; Analyze what you already have; Note what is missing; Discover new records; Evaluate; Repeat. People often skip "Analyze what you already have" but you might have the answer already.

The Internet is full of online resources you can use for research. We tend to think of things like Ancestry or FamilySearch, but there are countless sites with useful info! It really depends on what you're looking for and where your research is.

Start now! Even if you don't have tons of time to devote to it, recording what you know and gathering stories from others is a great way to get started.