Surprisingly, I have found that there are only 4 kinds of basic information needed for tracing a person and their ancestors.
I use resources / tools to determine:
Name
Place
Dates: Birth and Death
DNA matches
09/28/2022
09/26/2022
Debunking family stories can be bitter sweet
My mother told me this anecdote about her childhood. Of course I believed her, and I was disappointed that no one had taken a photograph of the event.
She said, " Our family immigrated to Palestine when I was a child. I do not remember much, but I do remember riding on a camel. "
Many years later, (20 years after my mother had died) at age 53, I longed for her, and my genealogical journey began. Looking for her in her family history, I found the boat manifests for their trip from New York to Marseilles to Egypt. She was not listed, truth being that my mother was conceived in Palestine and born in Minneapolis, in December 1925, on the return trip home.
Later, I did find some comfort in the photos of the family, buried in my late aunt's possessions. Her family - my family. My grandmother pregnant with my mother, in Palestine.
09/25/2022
I start with what I know for sure - I exist
After that - every step of the way, as I methodically connect one person at a time / one crochet loop at a time, must be grounded in truth. Truth is truth - Whether an objective object, such as a passport or birth certificate, or a subjective whisper of a memory of a once living, breathing human being. It is up to me to judge the truth, or to keep it at arm's length, for later, in case it closes a hole in my net, later. This is a strange kind of memory to have. I wonder if this is a common thread amongst my fellow family keepers/ geneologists?
