My Number One Bit of Advice

Whenever a new genealogy enthusiast asks me for a piece of advice, this is pretty much what I tell 'em:

1)  Go slow.  Go slow in printing everything you find about everyone you find on the Internet.  It is to easy t get overwhelmed.

2)  Go slow.  Go slow in inking in people on your family tree chart.  It's up to you to validate.  Not some cousin 17 times removed who's family tree chart you found on the Internet.  Many of us keep two charts.  The working chart that is done in pencil.  I keep that with a list of questions that I need answered before I claim this person as my own.  Then there is the much smaller, much more pristine chart that is written in ink, with no scribble scrabbles or smudges.

3)  Go slow.  I know it's tempting (because I did it myself) but don't rush out and get paid subscriptions to all the genealogy sites out there.  You will probably eventually want to join Ancestry.com, but look around and see what you can find for free.
           
               *  FamilySearch.org -- This is a free site from The Church of the Latter Day Saints.

               *  Pull out your library card.  My county's library has a subscription to Heritage Quest that you can     access from your home computer.  Heritage Quest isn't as user friendly as Ancestry, but there are some genealogists that swear by it and prefer it.  Also see if the library system has a subscription to Ancestry.  Many do, but you  have to actually go into the library facility to access it.

              *  Look in the phone book and see if your town has a Family History Center.  Connected to the Mormons, but last time I checked they did not charge for research you do at the center.

             *  If you are lucky enough to live in the same town where your family has resided for years, check to see if there is a local historical society or a local genealogical society.  Sometimes there is a membership fee, but it's usually pretty miserable.
             *  Cyndi's List -- Wikipedia defines Cyndi's List this way:

• "Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet is a categorized and cross-referenced list of links for genealogical research. The site contains roughly 260,000 links in 180 categories. Cyndi's List supplements operating expenses with affiliate advertising."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyndi's_List

You could spend weeks and months, just combing through that website seeing what they have to offer.  Here's a link:  http://www.CyndisList.com/create-a-link-to-cyndis-list/

           *  YouTube.com -- go ahead and search their site for "genealogy."  They have a TON of videos and lectures and from those you can get thousands of tips and tricks.

Scovill, Scovil, Scoville --

The very first thing I did with genealogy was search for my father's mother -- Ruth Henrietta Scovill.  I had no idea who she was, where she was from.  I had no idea HOW to search, how to use a census, how to diagnose information. I was just clueless.

Now, I don't know how I did it, but one day, after work I was inspired to visit the Mormon church over in Fort Myers.  No, I'm not a Mormon -- I'm a Luthern -- but I heard they had a lot of genealogy stuff and I figured if since their library was in their church that maybe they would be nice and maybe bump me in the right direction.

There was a man and a woman in about a 1000 square feet of space.  I would find out later that they were volunteers.  And that it was always volunteers who ran the library.  I introduced myself, pulled out my dozen sheets of scribble family tree and told them I really wanted to find my grandmother, Ruth Henrietta Scovill who married a Don Dee Drake.

Now let me add here that this wasn't like a typical library where someone walked around shushing anyone who spoke above a whisper.  There were people in this library who were talking about researching and discussing various methods of research and where would be a good place to look next.

I was pretty uncomfortable.  I kept waiting for them to ask me for my Mormon card and when they found out that I wasn't a Mormon, they would toss me out.  But that didn't happen.  The gentlemen who helped me suggested that because there were so many ways to spell Scovill that perhaps I should do a Soundex search.  I know.  What?  We'll get into a Soundex search later, but just let it be enough right now for me to say, the gentleman showed me how to do it.  He then said that it would cost $3.00 for The Church of the Latter Day Saints to send me this reel of microfilm.  $3.00.  That was it.  We'll, I didn't have a machine to read the microfilm.  The man looked it me like I was mad.  "You can use one of ours," he said.  Duh!  Well, I had to tell him.  "I'm not a Mormon," I whispered.  "It doesn't matter," he whispered back.  Mmmmmm.  Yeah, we'll see about that.

Okay.  Soundex.  According to Wikipedia, Soundex "is a phonetic algorithm for indexing names by sound as pronounced in English."

So I gave him $3.00 and filled out a little paper work.  He told me that they would let me know when the microfilm came in.  He also encouraged me to look around and brought me a couple of books that I might be interested in.

Less than a week later, I got a postcard from the Family History Center that told me my microfilm was in.  It made me crazy because it was almost a week before I was able to get back over the river to check it out.

A different volunteer couple was working in there, but the man took my postcard, retrieved the roll of microfilm, beckoned me to follow him into a room filled with all kind of mechanical devices.  He strung the film onto the machine, showed me how to work it, showed me how to take a picture of the image if I found it.  He wished me good luck then flipped the light switch.  I sat in the dark room, slowly winding me way through Scovills, Scovilles, Schovilles, Skovils and on and on.  And there it was.

Ruth H. Scovill.  My grandmother.  The gran I never knew.  The gran that died young.  The gran who birthed 3 wild and crazy children that all died before the age of 40.  Her father was William H Scovill.  And her mother was Martha Scovill.  MARTHA.  My name.  Ruth had eventually named her only daughter Martha.  In turn, my dad had named HIS only daughter Martha.  I sat there and cried like a baby.  Not just little tears oozing out the corner of my eyes.  But great, heaving sobs.  Smearing mascara, and lots of snot.

About an hour later, I handed the reel back to the volunteer, keeping my chin tucked so he couldn't see the mess I was.  He smiled at me and said, "That happens to all of us."

I sat out in my truck and wondered what the hell had just happened.  And, I'll tell you, that wasn't the last time I cried like a baby over finding another family member. It's what I do.

Right now I am wading through a tome called A Survey of the Scovils or Scovilles in England and America: Seven Hundred Years of History and Genealogy by Homer Worthington Brainard.  And -- here's a link where you can get it FOR FREE -- http://books.google.com/books/about/A_Survey_of_the_Scovils_Or_Scovills_in_E.html?id=Qe4UAAAAYAAJ

I'm warning you -- it's over a 1000 pages.  Personally, I find it fascinating and so far have resisted jumping to the end to find my family.  It is magnificent.  But, I must caution all you new genealogist, just because it is in a book doesn't necessarily mean that all the information is true.