"Finding Your Roots" Genealogy J-Term 2022

      On Wednesday morning, we dove into research on Ancestry.com and discussed different types of sources and the reliability of each.  Primary sources - questions to consider           Ancestry.com is full of primary documents that may or may not belong to the person we are researching. Ms. Harrison made a list of questions for us to ask about the primary sources. By questioning the author, intended audience, purpose, and historical context of the source, we can determine whether or not it is reliable information written by or about our ancestor(s). We also were encouraged to ask our parents and/or grandparents about the legitimateness of information we found about them or their relatives.  For example, I found my grandfather's naturalization appeal from 1971, but before adding it to my family tree, I sent a picture to my dad. Sure enough, he recognized my grandfather's signature! Screenshot; verifying a primary sou...

 Today students began their genealogy journey by walking to the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, a top-10 family research center in the United States. The library opened an hour early for us so that we could meet with librarians, Susan Kaufman and Melissa Hayes, and learn about the resources available at the library. We began with a presentation from Ms. Kaufman, the Director of Education for the Texas State Genealogy Society and the Senior Manager of the library. She shared her family research journey, including her first pedigree chart from when she began family research many years ago.       Presentation from Ms. Kaufman at the Clayton Library for Genealogical Research After the presentation, aided by Ms. Kaufman and Ms. Hayes, students began to look through some of the resources the library houses for preliminary information about their families. Some students were able to find information and some were not at this time. We began the conversatio...