Are Blogs a Distraction?

Randy Seaver, over at Genea-Musings, poses the question "Are the many blogs being written and read messing us up - are they time-wasters?" To me, that question has two parts.

Are they messing me up? Sure! Reading all the blogs I've followed (not as many as Randy, but still quite a few)does take time. And, it is time taken away from other genealogical pursuits. The same goes for writing a blog. Formulating these pithy, yet profound, observations on life, liberty and the pursuit of ancestry takes time away from other things. And, I haven't gotten the time-management thing down yet.

Are they time wasters? Well, the jury is out on my blog, but the blogs I read are definitely not time wasters. Reading the observations of others never fails to give me a new way of thinking about my own genealogical problem. And, I would have to say that since beginning this blog, and reading others,I have spent more time on my own research so far this year that I had in the previous 2 years combined. I had reached (several) brick walls, and lost the enthusiasm needed to push past them. Of course, the laundry doesn't get done as often...

Far and away the most important reward for blogging are the folks I get to exchange ideas with. Kathleen, over at Carrow and Faunt Family Tales has single-handedly given my Maryland and Delaware research a real shot in the arm. Murmurd's Franco-American and Quebec Genealogy led me to a previously unknown to me family organisation for my husband's family, introducing me to a wealth of research already done that I had no idea about. These are just two examples of several that have profitted my research in only 6 months!

Couldn't we ask the same question of all the resources we use? Are the family trees at Ancestry and Rootsweb really helpful, since so many are unsourced and reproductions of wishful research? Couldn't the same questions be asked of FamilySearch? How helpful is DNA really....how may folks out of the thousands who have been tested actually come up with a helpful match? (Not me, not yet!) And how many of us have spent too much on a book only to find that reference to our surname was only a mention as a witness to a will? And not even someone from our tree!

Is blogging a distraction? Yes, and a welcome one. It has helped me refine my focus, stay on task, expand my knowledge, and make new friends.

I think I'll keep it up!

A Vacation Read

Just back from vacation, and trying to get caught up. All the buzz about Genealogy Wise has me over there trying to figure out how it works, and how to find time to fit it all in. (If you haven't already read Greta's excellent post on "Researching, Blogging, Social Networking, and Finding Time", you should. It is definitely a must-read).


Vacation included lots of time on the road. Along with trying to finish knitting a pair of socks, I took along this new book for when the fingers got tired. It turned out I did more reading than knitting. What a find! Marcia Hoffman Rising's The Family Tree Problem Solver: Proven Methods for Scaling the Inevitable Brick Wall has me rethinking some of the ways I have been doing things. She advises researching the families around your family in the census for hints as to female relatives or places of origin. ("Do you mean I have to research all those people too?" Sigh!)
She calls it the difference between searching and researching. She has tips for getting around missing "burned county" courthouse records (my case in Madison County, IN). Plenty of examples help illustrate her recommendations. Full disclosure, I have nothing to do with this book, I just learned a lot.

Now to finish those socks....

Strangers in the Box

Thanks to Robert Ragan of the Treasure Maps newsletter for including this piece:



Strangers in the Box

Come, look with me inside this drawer,
In this box I've often seen,
At the pictures, black and white,
Faces proud, still, serene.

I wish I knew the people,
These strangers in the box,
Their names and all their memories
Are lost among my socks.

I wonder what their lives were like.
How did they spend their days?
What about their special times?
I'll never know their ways.

If only someone had taken time
To tell who, what, where, when,
These faces of my heritage
Would come to life again.

Could this become the fate
Of the pictures we take today?
The faces and the memories
Someday to be tossed away?

Make time to save your pictures,
Seize the opportunity when it knocks,
Or someday you and yours could be
The strangers in the box.


Copyright 1997 by Pamela A. Harazim. All Rights Reserved.
May be used in unchanged form for non-commercial
purposes if accompanied by this copyright message.

Every Trip Needs a Cemetery Visit

Anyone doing family history research knows you can't just drive by a cemetery with an ancestor, even if it is a little out of the way.

This week my DH and I took a short trip from Norfolk, VA, to Abingdon, VA, in the farthest reaches of our state, to witness our niece and nephews at a Suzuki violin camp. This is an awesome thng to see, so many young violinists, learning to play in the mountain beauty. Our travels took us through Carroll County, VA, where lies my 5th great-grandfather, Capt. William Bobbitt and his family.

County histories¹ tell a little about William. He lived near Hillsville and the Mountain Plains community of Carroll County. He had several positions of responsibility in the community--surveyor for a road, Captain of the county militia and Justice of the county court. William died in August, 1817.


Finding the cemetery is an adventure. The Quesinberry-Bobbitt Cemetery is located on a small hill, near the intersection of Rte. 682 and Rte. 52 south of Hillsville, next to a cow pasture. The Bobbitt marker is the big modern one amongst all the broken headstones. Very disappointing, but I'm glad to see someone took the time to remember the families buried there. It appears that the Bobbitt headstones have all been broken over time. I guess it won't be a good source for my research, but the photos are still nice to have. Also listed here is his wife, Nancy Ann Mackenzie and their children.



1. John Perry Alderman,Carroll 1765-1815, The Settlements (Alderman Books, 1985) 77-78

It's a brick!

I guess family historians collect strange things. I know that if I find out something belonged to an ancestor, it becomes a treasure and off limits to any downsizing we might undertake. Consider my latest acquisition.



It's a brick. A lovely orange-red, with "Kokomo" on its face, brick. It came from a building, formerly in Elwood, Indiana, called the "DeHority Building". A member of the Elwood Pipe Creek Genealogy Society was kind enough to let me know that the building was being torn down to be replaced by a CVS pharmacy and its parking lot, and also kind enough to go down and get a brick for me, package it carefully with copies of the newspaper accounts of the demolition, and put it in the mail (Thank you, Linda!). How sad! But the building was pretty sad, too. It had pretty much fallen into disrepair in recent years, as you can see from a picture I took a few years ago.





The last DeHority that I knew of to use the building was Robert DeHority, who had an insurance business there, along with other small shops. I don't know what it was before that. The family started a bank, had a general store of sorts, and other enterprises, and maybe some of them were in that building, too. Someday, when I get time, I intend to research the building. That will be after I break down a few more "brick" walls.

For now, my momento will take its place in the garden with my other "Elwood bricks". These I got years ago from an Elwood antique shop. The proprietor told me they once were used as pavers in the streets of Elwood. Aren't they fine?!

The Just Make Up Some Lyrics Challenge

Bill, at "West in New England" has issued the Make Up Some Lyrics Challenge. The song above represents the best a musically challenged family historian can do...but it sure was fun!