Research

Another problem that I have with family history is researching. First of all there is the never ending searches that you do. There always seems to be more to look for and more to find, but this can be fun. It is like being a detective for dead people. There are some very interesting things out there, like my ancestor Thomas Alfred Hindmarsh (although they got his name wrong listed as J. T. Hindmarsh, but as he is the only father of a Fred Hindmarsh and he had a son named Jessie Thomas Hindmarsh who was too young for this incident, and also it took place at "his" shop where they made baskets and things and because he is listed as a basketmaker in the English census earlier (Can you tell from this horribly done explanation one of the reasons that research can be maddening at times?)) who was arrested along with his son for stealing alcohol from the drug store next door to the basketry shop. He was listed as very drunk to the point that he couldn't walk. Then, when he was older, he was suing a neighbor for hanging his clothes on his property (apparently the close line went across both properties). They were both old men and got angry and started using ethnic slurs. The case was thrown out of court quickly. You can't take everything you see as fact. Sometimes you can't find facts, no matter how hard you look. A nice example of this is that I found a written history about one of my ancestors, Alonzo Pearce, who supposedly died in his 80's after falling out of a cherry tree. He died in February. I'm not sure why and 84 year old would be climbing trees in the winter in Provo, Utah. The newspapers do mention his death (there were two at the time). One just mentioned his death and when his funeral would be. The other listed his cause of death as the effects of frozen feet. I'm not sure how a person can die of frozen feet. Maybe he was stuck outside for a long time after he fell out of a tree. The sexton record lists him as dying from old age. There may be one more record to check at the county level that they started keeping the year that he died. I'm not sure of the exact date of when they started keeping records so I may not find anything else. In that case, I will never really know what he died from. (And by the way, Pearce can be spelled many different ways, which is a pain. Interestingly, one of the more common ways for this particular family is Purse or Purce. My guess that is because of an accent of sorts.)

My Love/Hate Relationship with Family History/Genealogy

I love my major. I hate my major. I hope to enlighten all on the good and bad of the genealogical community. First of all, that would mean defining the genealogical community. That is no easy task, which is one of the things I love/hate about genealogy. Some people would include everybody who is interested in the past, especially as how it relates to individuals, especially those who are dead. That would include genealogical researchers, photographers and everything in between. It includes old people, young people (and everyone in between). Many would also consider those interested in recording their own lives as included in the genealogical community. The problem is that it has become all inclusive. That isn't totally bad, as there are people who specialize in things that can help others. For instance, most professional genealogical researchers don't have an extensive background in photo restoration. This is where two professionals can really help each other. Putting them in the same "community" can be mutually beneficial. But, on the other hand, most professional genealogical researchers are not interested in all the points of photo restoration while a photo restorationist is probably not at all interested in doing genealogical research. Therefor, conflicts of interest can come up and the "community" as a whole has a hard time moving in the same direction at the same speeds. Photography and computers are lightyears ahead of historical records (although historical records are catching up slowly).