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Does The Genealogical Community Undervalue Recent Family History?

3/15/2017

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Does The Genealogical Community Undervalue Recent Family History? // The Spiraling Chains
I've been a member of the American genealogical community for a number of years now, and one thing I've learned is that my research is different from the vast majority of both amateur and professional genealogists in America today. 

My family's American story began in 1893, when my first immigrant ancestor arrived on a ship in New York City. His wife immigrated in 1898, and all of my other great-grandparents arrived in the 1910s and 1920s. Virtually all of my research in America is 20th-century research.  

When I joined the genealogical community, I did feel somewhat marginalized due to the limited scope of my family's history in America. I have no Civil War or Revolutionary War ancestors. I have no 18th or 19th-century pioneer stories in my family tree. I am not eligible for lineage societies. And as I started attending more and more genealogy conferences, I noticed that probably at least 75% of the research-oriented lectures about American record sets could not help me learn more about my ancestors.

The lectures and webinars that DO focus on 20th-century record sets almost always involve WWI and WWII records and Naturalization records. And, don't get me wrong, these are important documents to include in our family history records, but what if, like me, you've already researched and located those? What if you want to discover other sources that could tell you more about your ancestor's 20th-century life?

I want to learn if there ways in which to access 20th-century union, school, fraternal/ethnic organization, and medical records that might give me insight into my ancestor's life. I want to know how to access 20th-century deeds, appraisals, business permits, tax records, and probate records. I want to know if there are legitimate ways to gain access to some of the more recent records that may be protected under privacy laws. These are the educational needs for genealogists researching 20th-century ancestors.


There is always a drive to push the family tree further back in time. You will hear genealogists ask each other, 'How far back have you traced?' I understand, because I fall into this trap when I am scrolling through Old World church books on microfilm. And I think conference and webinar planners sometimes fall into this trap, too, because they know that 'going as far back as possible' is the main goal of many of their constituents. But are we neglecting our more recent ancestors in this drive to continually extend family trees back?

There is also an assumption among some genealogists that 20th-century research is 'easy' compared with 18th or 19th century ancestor research, and therefore doesn't deserve as much educational focus or attention. And while the paper trail of a 20th-century ancestor may indeed be more robust than that of a 19th century ancestor, that doesn't mean that finding and gaining access to those records is any easier. In fact, due to privacy laws, it's often more difficult.

So, my question to the genealogical community at-large is, are we doing enough to help and educate people whose American story has begun within the past hundred years or so? Are we marginalizing entire segments of potential genealogists by not putting enough focus on some of the more recent records and resources we can dig up to learn our our family stories?

Think about all of the families who became Americans within the past 100 years. These are people from six continents and many different faiths and cultural traditions who have made America their home. They, too, have left behind paper trails for their descendants to discover. Is the genealogical community giving these descendants of 20th-century immigrants enough educational resources and tools to begin and then continue their journey into family history? 

©2017 Emily Kowalski Schroeder. All opinions are my own.

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Be The Source For Another Family

7/12/2016

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Be The Source For Another Family // The Spiraling Chains1933 East Tech High School Yearbook
Genealogy bloggers know the value of putting their family history on the Internet. It makes it easier to share information with far-flung family and it serves as "cousin bait," so that, hopefully, we are able to find more people who share our ancestors. But one recent experience has made me realize the positive impact that putting my family history online can do for other family historians who are completely unrelated to me or my husband.

Think about your life. How many people, unrelated to you, have you befriended, interacted with, or just simply crossed paths with? Hundreds? Thousands? And for how many of those interactions were there physical records made? Think about group photos, union and military newsletters, newspaper articles, yearbooks, graduation and wedding programs, school alumni reports, and church bulletins and rosters. We, as family historians, all have some of these sources within our possessions - sources that would prove valuable to many other family researchers out there, and I'm here to argue that it's our mission to more or less "advertise" these more personal sources of information within our family websites and blogs.

At the end of May, I received an email from a gentleman who had found my blog post, "Jesse Owens & My Grandpa." He had recently discovered a high school track team photo picturing his grandfather and Jesse Owens, but the photo didn't label any names, so he wasn't 100% sure it was his grandfather. So, he was now on the hunt for his grandfather's 1933 high school yearbook. He had looked everywhere online and in local libraries, but could not locate a copy. 

I had a copy.

The only way he knew I had a copy was because of my blog post.

The yearbook resides at my parents' house, so when I visited them for Father's Day a few weeks later, I snapped a few photos of his grandfather's photo in the yearbook, and then I also took photos of the commencement program, also listing both of our grandfathers' names. I emailed them off to him, and he was ecstatic and very grateful. 

This experience has made me view my family history 'holdings' differently. I realize now that I have sources that no library or online database does, and that these sources may mean as much to another family as they do to ours. It has made me want to transcribe and share more of these personal types of sources on my website and blog, in the hopes that other family researchers, whose ancestors crossed paths with mine, will find them.

©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Ancestor Appreciation Day: An Offer to My Friends

9/27/2014

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PicturePhoto by Nevit Dilmen
Today, September 27, is Ancestor Appreciation Day. As the name suggests, it is a day dedicated to celebrating the lives and accomplishments of those people in our families who came before us.  

Obviously, if you know me or regularly visit my blogs, I consider every day to be Ancestor Appreciation Day. However, this particular post is not directed towards my genealogy-inclined friends; it is directed towards ALL of my friends. I want to let my friends know that if you ever want to learn more about YOUR ancestors, figure out where they came from, where they lived, what they did, and so on, I am more than willing to spend some time researching those people for you. I am not a professional genealogist, but I have accumulated enough knowledge and experience to know what sorts of documents and resources are out there and how to go about finding them. 

Why would I spend my time helping others learn about their family history? It's been very rewarding for me to learn about my ancestors and it has helped me grow as a person. It's given me a greater appreciation for the study of history in general. I've come to realize that every person's story is important, including my own. And, simply put, I just enjoy the act of researching people and families, and I learn a little bit more about history and research methods with every person, document, and geographic area that I research. 

So, if you think you'd like to take me up on my offer, send me an email or contact me through Facebook or Twitter. I'd be happy to help!

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder. All rights reserved.

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Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: ImageChef Creations

9/13/2014

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Saturday Night Genealogy Fun is a series created by Randy Seaver and hosted at his blog, Genea-Musings. This week, his challenge is to create fun genealogy-related images using the templates over at ImageChef.  Here are my contributions.

The first is a tribute to what might be my favorite genealogical document, because they can contain a lot of family-related information.  I also think they are my favorite because I am a science nerd and I love all the medical jargon:
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And this is what happens to me when I start searching through Italian records in an attempt to find my grandmother and great-grandparents' records:
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My third image is something I need to stick on my laptop as a gentle warning to my children (as soon as they are both able to read!)
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And for the times when you just don't know how to celebrate your ancestors' birthdays:
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I even ventured into ImageChef's animation template section.  This is how I feel when I know a document is "out there" but certain lawmakers inhibit my ability to access it.
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Give ImageChef a try - it was a lot of fun!  Thanks for suggesting it, Randy!
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Motivation Monday: In A Genealogical Funk

9/7/2014

10 Comments

 
Picture
You are the family's historian. You've spent years or perhaps even decades of your life researching family ancestors and digging up documents, photos, articles and stories about the people that came before you. You write about these people, and maybe even publish a book or a blog related to your family's history. Although you find all of these ancestors and their stories so interesting, it seemingly appears that few other people share your interest and perhaps don't even care to know anything about the past.

And even among other genealogists and historians, maybe you have an idea for a project or website or class or field trip and you pitch it to your local historical or genealogical society.  But, in the end, the group decides to put its resources towards other endeavors, and your request goes unfulfilled. 

Experiences like these can make us question our work, question why we spend so much time and money researching people who are dead. (Because as alive as they may seem to us, the reality is that they are gone.) Personally, I am in a 'genealogical funk' right now, wondering why I spend so much time on my and my husband's ancestors when I could be reading more books or keeping a cleaner house or learning how to cook better. I have lost some enthusiasm for 'digging up the dirt' and writing about it on my blog. It's almost as if I don't know in which direction to move, and I'm sort of frozen in my indecision. And this feeling of 'All this doesn't matter' keeps permeating my thoughts and further adds to my apathy.

Have you ever been discouraged or disheartened during your genealogical journey? What has helped you recharge your ambitions and regain your enthusiasm for genealogical research?

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Happy Birthday, Cleveland!

7/22/2014

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PictureCleveland from the air, 1937 (Source: NARA)
On this day in 1796, a Connecticut Land Company surveying team arrived near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River on the southern banks of Lake Erie and founded Cleveland, Ohio.  The city was named for General Moses Cleaveland, who was the leader of the group.

If you follow my blog, or know me personally, then you know that I was born and grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland.  My working-class (i.e. poor) great-grandparents emigrated from various parts of Europe between 1890 and 1920 and settled in Cleveland.  ALL of my family's American history remains there, along with most of my close living relatives.  I'm not there, and for someone who values family history so much, it's often hard to be away from the place I came from.

Most people think fondly of the place in which they were raised, but Clevelanders have a unique pride that is truly difficult to explain to an outsider.  Why do I personally take so much pride in a city? True, some of it has to do with ordinary nostalgia, but I've come to realize that most of my pride is far deeper than that.  And it has been through my family history research that I have come to this realization: my family, along with hundreds of others like mine, literally built this city.  My great-grandfathers sacrificed hours upon years of their lives in foundries and steel mills, creating the materials and tools that were building not just Cleveland, but cities and infrastructure all over America.  And maybe I've always known that my ancestors "worked in the mills," but actually seeing "Steel Mills" under the 'Industry' section of my great-grandfather's 1920 census form and "Ferro Machine Foundry" listed as employer on my other great-grandfather's WWI draft card - it makes my pride for my family AND my city grow exponentially.

Cleveland saw an immense population growth during the 30-year span when my immigrant ancestors arrived; the population grew from about 260,000 to 796,000 between 1890 and 1920, when the city was the 5th largest in the U.S.  Even though they didn't have a lot of money, my grandparents came of age in a thriving city full of growth and opportunity.  By contrast, I grew up in a Cleveland that was constantly being joked about, a Cleveland that was losing jobs, losing people, losing hope.  We took the jokes in stride, and when people teased us about our river catching on fire, we laughed it off, but inside we knew that that pollution, as horrible as it was, was our ancestors' livelihoods, and represented food on the tables and clothes on the backs of our working-class families.  No, our sports teams never win anything, but, perhaps against better judgment, we never give up on them, and that is a quality that is in our blood.  My ancestors never gave up, no matter what life threw at them. And if there is one thing in life I want my kids to learn, it is to never give up.

I've thought of what my great-grandparents and grandparents would think of the Cleveland of today. They would be proud, and they would recognize some of the economic and social growth and excitement that is going on there today.  My great-grandparents came to Cleveland to reinvent themselves, to improve their lives, to build a city that is better for their children. That's exactly what Cleveland is doing today.

Here links to some websites that are great resources for Cleveland history:  

Encyclopedia of Cleveland History by Case Western Reserve University and the Western Reserve Historical Society

The Cleveland Memory Project by Cleveland State University Libraries

Cleveland Historical by the Center for Public History and Digital Humanities at Cleveland State University

Cleveland, Ohio History by the Ohio History Connection

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder


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How To Repel Teenagers From Genealogy

4/25/2014

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I wrote this little editorial several weeks ago, but didn't know if or when I should publish it.  So, I was feeling a bit cheeky today and decided that today was the day.  I'm sure not all of you who read it will agree with my thoughts, but as long as it gets people thinking, I'm content with that.

1.)    Tell them how ‘easy’ they have it compared with their ancestors.  Ok sure, teens of the 21st century may not have all of the back-breaking physical tasks of older generations, and they may be better off financially, but in many ways, it is more difficult being a teenager now than at any other time in history.  The amount of pressure put on teens today from parents, teachers, peers, coaches, and society as a whole with respect to academics, athletics, and appearance is staggering.  Every older generation has thought that the younger generation has had it ‘easier’ than they did.  And that is not necessarily true on all counts.  Rather, we need to connect the generations through common human experiences and emotions.  Grandparents, sit down with your grandchildren and tell them about a time when, as a teenager, you argued with your parents or felt like they just didn’t understand you.  Talk about a time when you had a crush on a particular boy or girl who didn’t even know you existed, or when someone who you loved died.  These types of experiences transcend time and can help to bridge the generation gap.

2.)    Show them a pedigree chart as an introduction to family history.  You may be saying, “What’s wrong with a pedigree chart?”  Well, to a teenager who is more or less indifferent to family history, a pedigree chart is boring and looks like some sort of study guide a teacher might hand out at school.  Instead, start with photos and heirlooms, and weave interesting family narratives around those pieces.  Then, go a step further; use that old photo of great-grandma to help your teen design a vintage 1940s outfit for herself, or give an heirloom to your teenaged student for a mixed-media art project.  If a teen you know is into music, share with them the music you enjoyed as a kid – some teens today are incredibly talented in mixing their own music digitally and may even be inspired to combine decades-old music with modern styles.

3.)  Criticize the popular technology, music, clothing, and social norms of today.  Imagine a grandparent saying to his or her grandchild, “This music is awful. Back when I was in high school, we listened to good music,” or “I can’t stand all of this new technology. Times were so much simpler and better when I was a kid.”  Do you think statements like these are going to get kids wanting to learn about the past?  Just like every generation before them, teens are fiercely protective and sentimental of the societal influences and trends that are popular during their comings-of-age.  More sensitivity is required on the parts of parents and grandparents when it comes to accepting – not necessarily embracing, but at least accepting - these pieces of their lives that teens find so important.  And more emphasis needs to be put on incorporating the stories of our younger family members into our family histories.  Why should teens respect the stories of the past, if we don’t respect the stories of their present?


©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
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Taking a Break from Ancestry.com

10/1/2013

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Since I first started researching my genealogy and my husband's genealogy almost three years ago, I've had a pretty constant relationship with Ancestry.com.  I have a U.S. membership on a six-month renewal schedule.  Up until recently, I know that what I paid to maintain the subscription was well worth it, as far as the quality and quantity of records that I found through the site.  My subscription is up for renewal in early November, and I have decided that I am going to cancel it, at least for now.  I feel like, even when I manually search some of their non-indexed and more 'obscure' data sets , I still struggle to uncover new and/or helpful documents pertaining to our families.  So now, I don't feel as if the subscription cost is justified, especially when I can use the money I save to order other state and government documents that will be of more help.  I know that Ancestry is constantly adding and expanding document sets, but none of their recent additions have been helpful to my family. That could change in the future, so our relationship is really just 'on a break' right now.

I've also found Ancestry to be a bit of a time sink for me; I wander randomly through different branches of our trees, searching for anything new to add.  After doing family history research for several years, I now know of so many other ways in which to obtain documents - other websites, genealogy libraries, government agencies - and I have a backlog of non-Ancestry leads to pursue that I feel like I may never get to if I keep 'putzing around' on Ancestry too much.

Of course, I have electronic and paper copies of all the records I've found on Ancestry, and I maintain my own family history websites where they are located as well, so I don't feel like I'm losing anything by not having access to the documents through Ancestry.  I also will still continue to use my Family Tree Maker program on my desktop computer.

I feel like this will be a 'liberating' experience for me - being away from Ancestry for a bit.  What about you fellow family history researchers?  Do you ever take a break from Ancestry for awhile?

©2013, copyright Emil Kowalski Schroeder
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The Bloggers' Geneameme

8/30/2013

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A couple of days ago, a genealogy blogger from Australia, Jill Ball, who runs the site, Geniaus, posted a series of questions directed at other family history bloggers, with the intent of just learning about other blogs, resources, and methods.  I've read through several other bloggers' responses to these questions and have found them to be very interesting and informative.  So, I decided to submit my answers, as well.  Enjoy!

1.) What are the titles and URLs of your genealogy blog(s)?
My blog is entitled The Spiraling Chains.  I publish it simultaneously on my two family history sites: http://kowalski-bellan.weebly.com/the-spiraling-chains.html 
http://schroeder-tumbush.weebly.com/the-spiraling-chains.html

2.) Do you have a wonderful "Cousin Bait" blog story?
I do not have any particularly interesting cousin bait stories, but creating my websites and the blog has put me in touch with many of my and my husband's close and distant cousins.  It is wonderful to get an email from a distant cousin who tells me how he/she found the website (with all the family documents) and has learned so much about her roots just from some of the research I've done.

3.) Why did you start blogging?  Is there someone who inspired you to start blogging?
I did not originally intend to create a genealogy blog.  The main purpose for creating my websites was to have a platform on which I could upload all of the family history records, photos, and documents in an organized manner, and so that all of my and my husband's family members could have easy access to their family's histories.  I was always aware that Weebly offered a blogging platform, and I decided to start one after thinking about it on a long car ride home to visit my parents (about five hours away.)  I made an outline of potential blog post topics to start me off and it just blossomed from there. I really did not start reading other people's blogs until I started mine.

4.) How did you decide on your blog's title?
I decided to entitle my blog The Spiraling Chains after reading a quotation by magazine editor and author, Shirley Abbott:

"We all grow up with the weight of history on us.  Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies."

We are a product both of our ancestors' teachings, choices, and memories, AND their physical DNA. (With me being a scientist, I really like the poetic description of DNA as 'spiraling chains.')

5.) Do you ever blog from mobile devices?  What are they?  
I've yet to post a blog post from my iPhone or iPad.  I do occasionally write and post from my laptop, but the vast majority of work I do on my blog and website is from my desktop computer.

6.) How do you let others know when you have published a new post?
I post the direct link to the new blog post on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter.

7.) How long have you been blogging?
I started my blog in July 2012, so only a little over a year.  Feels like it has been longer, though.

8.) What widgets or elements do you consider essential on a genealogy blog?
Definitely an RSS feed, and at least an email address so that readers can get in touch with the author.  A comment section for each post is great for getting discussions going.  My blog sidebar has sections where past posts are arranged chronologically by month AND by categories that I have created.  If I want to see what I have written about a particular surname or type of record, I click that category and there they all are.  (This is really helps ME find past posts as much as other readers.)

9.) What is the purpose of your blog?  Who is your intended audience?
My main purpose is to just tell the stories of my and my husband's families through old photos and documents.  Hence, my primary audience is our immediate and extended family members, including distant cousins.  Sometimes, if I find a particular resource or database that has been helpful in my research, I will compose a post that is directed more towards the family history researcher.  

10.) Which of your posts are you particularly proud of?
My favorite post that I have written is actually not about any one particular family member or tree branch.  I wrote this editorial, entitled I AM a Daughter of the American Revolution, as my essay against lineage societies, which I feel can cause divisions in the genealogical community. 

11.) How do you keep up with your blog reading?
I don't, and saying that saddens me to a degree, because I have discovered so many wonderful and informative genealogy blogs that I would love to read every day.  I make sure their RSS feeds are in my Feedly and try to sneak peaks every now and then, usually during those rare moments when the kids are playing nicely (ha!) or when I'm waiting for my daughter to finish her gymnastics class.

12.) What platform do you use for publishing your blog?
Weebly

13.) What new features would you like to see in your blogging software?
Weebly allows me to publish my blog posts on Facebook and Twitter directly from their site, but I would like to see the same integration for Google+.  I would also like more font choices for writing posts, but that's purely a cosmetic wish.

14.) Which of your posts has been the most popular with readers?
My maternal grandfather went to high school with track legend, Jesse Owens, and his yearbook has Jesse's signature in it.  I wrote a post entitled, Jesse Owens and...My Grandpa.  Although the post really doesn't talk a whole lot about my grandfather's life, I can understand why people think it's cool. And it is.  

15.) Are you a sole blogger or do you contribute to a shared blog?
Just me.

16.) How do you compose your blog posts?
I usually just write my posts directly on Weebly's blog post editor.  Occasionally, I will write down some notes prior to beginning a post, so I don't forget my train of thought.  I do try to include pictures, maps, and images of documents in my posts whenever I can to keep it interesting for the readers.

17.) Do you have any blogs that are not genealogy related?
No.

18.) Have you listed your blog at Geneabloggers?
Yes!

19.) Which resources have helped you with your blogging?
The Geneabloggers daily blogging prompts have given me many ideas with regards to what to write about.  Because I try to make my blog posts very visual, I go to Wikimedia Commons a lot to find images under creative commons licenses that I can share, and I also use screenshots from Google Maps and Google Streetview, especially when blogging about a particular place.

20.) What advice would you give to a new Geneablogger?
There is no right or wrong way to run a genealogy blog.  Let your blog be organic, meaning let it just see where it takes you on your family history journey.  You may not know anything about your family beyond your grandparents, but just put what you DO know out there.  There could be someone out there combing the Internet who has the missing puzzle pieces to your family's story. And you never know who YOU could possibly help with the information you know.  

Final thought:  I think a lot of people are scared off by blogging because it involves writing, and we all think we are poor writers.  Like many people, I did not like writing assignments in school.  I always attributed my hatred of writing to the fact that I enjoyed science and math more and I was just more of a left-brained individual.  It turns out that I DO like writing when the subjects are those that I am interested in, AND that I'm pretty good at expressing thoughts and telling stories through words. And most people ARE when it is THEIR memories and THEIR family members who they are writing about.

©2013, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
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To the Smug Genies...

7/25/2013

4 Comments

 
A few nights ago, a new season of Who Do You Think You Are? kicked off on TLC.  The episode featured singer Kelly Clarkson and her quest to learn about her 3x great-grandfather, Isaiah Rose.  Mr. Rose had a great American life story; he fought and was wounded in the Civil War as a young man, worked as a coal digger, became elected Sheriff and eventually a State Senator in Ohio.  I enjoyed the program and I found her journey interesting. Could have done with less commercials of course, but hey, the sponsors pay for them, right?

Yesterday evening a discussion arose in a genealogy-oriented Facebook group regarding the episode.  Several posters were appalled at Kelly's lack of historical knowledge.  "How could she have never heard of Andersonville?"  "You mean she had never heard of temperance?" "How could she possibly think the cause of the Civil War was slavery?" "I just can't forgive her for her ignorant comments."  Other posters on the discussion thread also criticized her personality and reactions to some of her findings, saying that "she was so phony" and "way too scripted."  Someone even said that her ancestor's story wasn't "all that important."

These comments made my blood boil.  I immediately dubbed these people 'smug genies' - defined as genealogists who think only certain people should have an interest in family history. If you don't know enough about history or documentation, you should not even try looking for your ancestors. Oh, and if your ancestors were nothing but coal diggers, they are not worth finding OR telling other people about.  

Do you know how much knowledge of history you need to begin looking into your family's past? ZERO!  Oh, sure, it can help a lot with the search, but you learn along the way.  I took AP American History in high school, got six college credits from it, and I don't remember hearing about Andersonville.  Would any average American really know about all the complicated states' rights issues that preceded (and caused) the Civil War?  No, and it's absurd to imply that a personal search for ancestors should only be done by someone who has full knowledge of our country's history.  By the way, criticizing a person's knowledge (or lack thereof) of history, or research sources, or documentation, etc. is the best way to keep people (especially, YOUNG people) away from genealogy.  So, let's keep that up genealogy community, and watch the numbers dwindle.

As far as the comments about Kelly's personality and reactions to the findings...I'm fairly sure that the people who commented negatively have never seen Kelly in other interviews or venues.  That personality she portrayed - that was the real her and if her reactions were maybe too honest for some people, well I don't feel like she should have to apologize for that.  Yes, I'm sure there was editing from the producers and probably some prompted discussions and responses, but, hey, that's TV for you.  

And the comments about her ancestor's life being too "boring" or "not super-special." Can we all agree that every ancestor of every person deserves to have his/her story told to the best of our abilities?  That's right; my immigrant factory-worker great-grandfather's life story is equally as important as your ancestor's story, even if that man might be Thomas Jefferson.

Thank you for reading my rant.  Fight the Power (of smug genies)!

©2013, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
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