I'm Ancestor Approved!

A pleasant way to finish up the year 2010 was being notified that I've received the “Ancestor Approved" award from Kelly (Coghan) Holderbaum, author of Sunny Ancestry (http://sunnyancestry.blogspot.com/). Thank you, Kelly! I hadn't read Kelly's blog before, and am glad to have discovered it, it's really good!

The “Ancestor Approved Award” was created by Leslie Ann of "Ancestors Live Here" in March 2010, and has been passed along to many genealogical bloggers. Recipients are asked to make a list of ten things they have learned about their ancestors that have humbled, surprised, or enlightened them. Then they are to pass on the award to ten other bloggers who are doing their ancestors proud. 

Being a professional genie and all, I'd like to extend the criteria for the "Things I've Learned" list to include clients' ancestors as well!

1. I had a hard time letting go of Cotton Kimball as the father of Elizabeth Kimball wife of Nicholas Colby of Haverhill. Cotton has some great people in his line, especially fearless Hannah Duston, of scalping fame. But this year I replaced him with John and Mary (Kimball) Kimball, so now I have twice as many Kimballs as I thought.

2. I've learned how to say no when asked to help with volunteer activities. I already do too much and though I want to help all of the societies to which I belong, there just ain't enough of me to go around! To remedy this dilemma I just switch around from society to society. This is good for networking, also.

3. When working as a consulting genealogist at Ancestors Roadshows, etc., I've learned that most people don't have questions they want to ask me. Almost everyone simply wants to tell me what they've done and who their ancestors were. A little validation of their research techniques goes a long way! 

4. Tom Jones (Thomas W. Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGL) taught me that just because you write as you go along doesn't mean you're not going to have to write the whole danged thing over again because of something you discover towards the end of your journey. One little piece of evidence can make you have to reorganize the presentation of your data, and if you don't do it, you're not able to prove your point effectively. Thank you, Tom! 

5. I keep thinking of a trip we took to England when I was 6 months pregnant and my eldest child was 18 months old. The flight was delayed, he got completely hyped from being overtired and cried (screamed) his way across the Atlantic Ocean. We were mortified at the horrible experience we were providing for our dagger-eyed fellow passengers. We were seated in the middle of the 5-seat row and the hostesses totally ignored us, even when he threw up while we were landing. This took all of 18 hours from start to finish, I had my husband and good friend to help, and still I think of the trauma! Recently, I was researching a lady from the Azores who came over with her 2-year old and a 9-month old in 1907 by ship. Who knows if she may have been pregnant? I keep thinking of her now and being awfully glad we were able to fly to England rather than take a ship! What a whiner I am!

6. I've learned that it is much better to just hand over a not-quite ready gedcom file to a friend than to make her wait another ten years because I've almost discovered something else. This is humbling.

7. It makes me feel centered and calm to study the past. Researching ancestors and reading about the history of countless localities has an effect on you after a while. You see patterns in behavior, in the ways that people react to certain situations and it makes you feel like the past is not so distant. You feel like you can predict the outcome of so many events based on whether or not people are paying attention to the past.

8. Plenty of people know very, very little about their ancestors, even as close as their own grandparents. Most people cannot name their eight great-grandparents. While not beneficial to those people, it is good for the professional genealogist because it brings more clients our way, but more important, gives us the gift of telling people about their own families and seeing their happiness as a result. I love this!

9. Having a family reunion is a great way to get the entire extended family interested in genealogy. It brings out photos (Essie, I haven't forgotten your album!), introduces people with different political beliefs, or from different parts of the country to the concept that they have much in common with each other, starting with 99 percent of their ancestors, and makes for great deviled egg consumption!

My nephew John Kemmett, cousin, Esther (page) Klaiber
and brother Tim FitzGerald
Barnes Family Reunion 2010

10. Twentieth century research is tough! The completely new dimension of dealing with live people is introduced and suddenly we have to be conscious of people's feelings and sensitivities! This is scary, but worthwhile in that we get to bring families together!

Blogger awards are a great way to get to know my fellow bloggers because they usually have a requirement that you pass along the admiration, so below you will find my top ten favorite blogs. The challenge lies in winnowing down my list to just ten. I just can't believe how many great writers there are out there! And how fascinating the variation in people's approaches to genealogy. Some of them encourage me by their own dogged research, others keep me up to date on technological issues,  a few make me want to call them and enjoy a loooooong cup of coffee together discussing life and ancestors, and the rest are just plain entertaining! I hope you enjoy them all as much as I do!  I hereby pass the "Ancestors Approved" award to the following geneabloggers (in no particular order)!

1. Heather Rojo's Nutfield Genealogy

2. Bill West's West in New England

3. Marian Pierre-Louis's Marian's Root & Rambles

4. Anne Morddel's The French Genealogy Blog

5. Paula Stuart-Warren's Paula's Genealogical Eclectica

6. Mel Wolfgang's Mnemosyne's Magic

7. Stefania [unknown]'s L'origine della famiglia Basaba

8. Miriam Robbins' AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors

9. Susan Petersen's Long Lost Relatives

10. Caitlin GD Hopkins' Vast Public Indifference

Looking Ahead on My One-Year Blogoversary

Photo on Display at the Museum of Appalachia

I've been blogging for a whole year! I'm glad I've been able to stick with it because it has introduced me to new friends, relatives and concepts, and it's a wonderful way to jot down fleeting thoughts. I will continue to blog because it spurs me to think outside the box and it gives me an outlet to express my views.

I've been thinking about my recent "media blitz": I'm quite uncomfortable with it! At the annual Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) conference in Knoxville, Tennessee I was honored to receive a certificate of appreciation from the Assocation of Professional Genealogists (APG) for my leadership of the New England chapter last year. After having attended so many talks on marketing I felt obliged to announce to the four corners of the earth my humble achievement. So why do I feel uneasy?

The problem is my achievement is not genealogical in nature. Rather it lies in more of an organizational/motivational arena. It has virtually nothing to do with my skills as a genealogist. Instead it called heavily upon talents first learned in my days as an executive secretary long ago, and later finely tuned as a mother. Oh sure, some of the skills overlap with genealogy, but so do some of my skills as a knitter, chorus singer, blogger, and graphic designer. All it proves is that I was able to take advantage of being in the right place at the right time. My predecessors had prepared a solid groundwork and chapter members were instrumental in carrying out the tasks. I just facilitated.

Immediately upon receiving my award I intensified my thinking about writing an article. I've been contemplating this for quite a while, but just never seem to focus long enough to do it. As of yesterday, my blog is a year old. While I enjoy writing it, the style is off-the-cuff, casual in nature, inconsistent and fun. But because of this I don't feel it reveals much about my abilities as a genealogist. Though I make a point to mention my sources in narrative format while blogging, I do not use formal citations. I don't have to assemble vast amounts of information. No complicated analysis or corroboration is necessary. There is a lot of nostalgia and talk of my own opinions about things. It's like looking at the world through a magnifying glass, up close and personal, but with no perspective.

But an article! An article published in one of our field's top journals would make me feel very proud of myself. About that I would gloat! With an article I would stand high on a hill and survey the horizon. My eye would scan the view, and perform a reasonably exhaustive search of my surroundings. I wouldn't be able to leave out inconvenient conflicting evidence. I'd have to search for things I couldn't see. I'd have to tell a story, convincing readers that they had all the information necessary on the subject. I'd have to go somewhere no one has been or revisit a spot where the first visitor was blinded by something, and correct the story. I'd be contributing something to the community. And most frightening/exhilarating of all, I'd be edited by the best genealogists in the country. I'd receive their precious feedback, and that would enhance my skills. Investing a lot of energy into creating a logo, brochure, website and conference booth presence is helpful, but doesn't improve the genealogical community in quite the same way.

Blogging has been so rewarding! I've met a whole line of family that had been invisible to many of us for fifty years! We held a family reunion in the summer and my kin seemed really excited about genealogy for the first time. I've made lots of geneablogger friends, and read others' fascinating and entertaining blogs. I have even gained a few clients this way. So while I will continue to blog, I am content knowing I have a New Year's resolution ready to go.

2011––Year of the Article! Now, anyone got any good ideas?

A Press Release!

SHREWSBURY GENEALOGIST HONORED AT NATIONAL CONFERENCE

SHREWSBURY, MA, August 26, 2010 –––

The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG®) last week honored five members for their outstanding achievements in the field of genealogy at the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) Conference in Knoxville, TN.

Among those awarded certificates of appreciation in recognition of outstanding contributions to APG was Polly FitzGerald Kimmitt, CG of Shrewsbury, MA. Kimmitt was was honored for her activities as president of the New England Chapter of APG in 2009. During her tenure, Kimmitt was responsible for spurring an increase in meeting attendance and chapter memberships and motivated the organization to design a chapter logo, brochure and new interactive website. Under her leadership, the chapter created a booth and presence at the New England Regional Genealogical Conference and its featured Ancestors Road Show. The chapter credits Kimmitt's energy and guidance in helping gain its recognition as "Golden Chapter" at the APG Gathering of the Chapters at the 2009 National Genealogical Society Family History Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina.

"We congratulate today's award recipients," said APG President Laura Prescott. "As the world's leading professional organization of family history and related professionals, the APG celebrates excellence and ethics in the genealogy profession. These recipients have distinguished themselves in many ways and have strengthened APG as a result. They are models for what it means to be a professional genealogist."

Kimmitt owns Kimmitt Genealogical Research in Shrewsbury, MA. She is a certified genealogist, and has been an associate of the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) since 2009. She currently serves on the Professional Issues Committee of the APG, and was president of the New England Chapter of APG (2009). Among other professional associations, she was regent of the Col. Timothy Bigelow Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in Worcester, MA (2007-2009). She has attended the National Institute on Genealogical Research in Washington, DC (2006), and the Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research at Samford University in Birmingham, AL (2007). A native of Scituate, MA, her specializations are: Massachusetts, immigration, and lineage society applications. She speaks Italian and French, as well as her native English. She is a 1978 graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is currently accepting clients and can be reached through her website at www.kimmittgenealogy.com.

Honor Bestowed

Sound the trumpets!! I have just received the Kreativ Blogger Award from Family Curator, aka Denise Levenick, from www.thefamilycurator.com. In keeping with the mutual support bloggers always give one another, it is a means of spreading the word about interesting blogs. In that vein, I'm supposed to share seven (obscure) things about myself and then recommend seven of my favorite blogs.

Seven things about me that you may not know:

1) I lived in Rome, Italy for three and a half years and spoke fluent Italian even though I was a French major and had not studied Italian.

2) In college I almost majored in music (flute). Instead I joined the UMass Marching Band and the Umass Chorale.

3) My grandfather was born in 1867! If he had lived, he would have been 88 when I was born.

4) I spent three weeks in India in the early 1980s, traveling around visiting sites like the Taj Mahal on my own.

5) In Rome I worked in an international law firm that did research for United Nations Working Groups.

6) I came very close to death after my third son was born at 11 pounds, 2 oz on New Year's Day.

7) I've spent my life battling with my weight––sadly, to no avail. And I just HATE being large.

Seven blogs I love. I don't follow too many because I don't have the time to read them, but I love stumbling upon a fine post. I therefore award the Kreativ Blogger Award to (drum roll):

1) Newly discovered Family Curator who has an intelligent and well organized blog that is so informative and apparently just what I need! I love the Blogger's Almanac with writing prompts. Visit www.familycurator.com.

2) Footnotemaven.com has a beautiful and interesting blog that is a pleasure to peruse. Visit footnotemaven.com.

3) Nationally-known professional genealogist Paul Stuart-Warren is a dear person as well as an amazing genealogist. I love her blog, too. Paula's Genealogical Eclectica can be found at paulastuartwarren.blogspot.com.

4) We have a natural teacher in Ol' Myrt who is passionate about passing on her tremendous knowledge to other genealogists. I remember reading her words of wisdom in the very early days of the internet, when it seemed like nobody was out there. I love that she's still there, still helping and teaching. Check out her blog at blog.dearmyrtle.com.

5) Chris Dunham, as the Genealogue offers tantalizing, sometimes quirky historical tidbits at www.genealogue.com.

6) Geneabloggers taught and keeps me in the know about what bloggers actually do. Since I'm so new to this it really helps me be creative and not stagnate in the same old ideas. There are calendars, prompts, how-tos, technical assistance, and just about anything I need. The gentle handholding and guidance are much appreciated. Visit geneabloggers.com.

7) Miriam Robbins Midkiff has a fine blog at AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors at ancestories1.blogspot.com. I love it!

Keep up the great work, fellow bloggers. I'm looking forward to exploring more and more blogs every day.