Articles with Genealogy

Our Immigrant Ancestors’ Culture

Our Immigrant Ancestors’ Culture

Our Immigrant Ancestors faced many challenges as they embarked on the journey of resettling in a new and foreign land. Their original root cultures traveled with them, embedded in their very being and preserved within the traditions they practiced. As we Demystifying Culture and Folklore of those bravely making these life-changing decisions, we may also discover the encounters and trials they faced. How they responded often reflects their culture’s beliefs. When we look at How Culture Affected Our Immigrant Ancestors’ Lives, many aspects become clear. We are all familiar with the term “Culture Shock,” but have you personally experienced it? Shock says, “This is not the same as what I have been used to!” Many major changes are to be expected in our new circumstances, but there are always surprise encounters that catch us off guard with stumbling blocks and obstacles to deal with that we didn’t see coming. Misunderstandings are sure to occur as cultural differences emerge and an alternate perspective is revealed. How did our ancestors adapt to their new environments? What did they keep “from the old country” and what was exchanged for their new experiences? Their struggles were real and their stories may be revealed as you carefully explore this time period in their lives. Everyone’s story will be different, but with familiar similarities as they found their place in their new communities. Whether it was in the work place, or interacting with new neighbours, our ancestors made adjustments to fit in. It is interesting to…

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Demystifying Culture and Folklore: Intro

Every family historian begins their search with a few simple questions: Who were my ancestors? and… Where did they come from? Most of our first and second-generation answers are easily obtained from close family members – usually. However, our true story is far deeper than the basic facts of names, dates and locations. The complexity of our families cannot be defined in simple terms; we need to explore the inner dynamics and subtleties in the undercurrents of the inter-woven fabric of our family. Culture and its accompanying behaviours, traditions, stories, etc. (Folklore) are an interesting and integral part of who we are as human beings. As we explore our roots, we are encouraged to begin to determine: how has our primary cultures (race, ethnicity, nationality) influenced our ancestors over the generations; and, how has our subcultures (religion, family, occupations, etc.) been formed and influenced by the intergenerational folklore passed down from our ancestors. Looking more intently into our own lives and the lives of our forebears, we will discover unique family experiences, and uncover what has been hidden in plain sight. Unlike other research projects where official documents are accessed, and the basic facts are extracted and analyzed, examining the inner workings of our families – the things that have not been written down and perhaps never previously investigated, will stimulate the “why” questions for further study. These cause us to dig deeper in order to gain an understanding of the origins of our own folkways. In the course Demystifying…

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Periodicals & Journals for the Mayflower Researcher

Genealogical Publications  Genealogical publications can be extremely helpful in your family history research. Genealogical and historical journals provide us with the latest research on a particular family as well as providing corrections of long-ago errors. Journal articles also teach us proper methodology in compiling a genealogy, documenting our research, and citing our sources. How do you find journal articles of interest? PERSI, short for the Periodical Source Index is the largest subject index to all of the genealogical and historical periodical articles written since 1800 and was created by the staff of the genealogy department at the Allen County Public Library at Fort Wayne, Indiana. This index contains 2.7 million entries from thousands of publications. The articles are indexed according to family surname, locality, and research methodology. You can search PERSI at Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana or by searching it online through the subscription website Findmypast. There are certain genealogical journals which are more apt to print articles concerning Plymouth Colony and Mayflower research and thus are likely to be of benefit to you in tracing your Mayflower lines. They include: The Mayflower Descendant, published by the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, was begun in 1899 with George Ernest Bowman as editor until 1937. The Mayflower Descendant is a rich source of material that has aided the research of Mayflower genealogies and Bowman himself did more to advance this cause than any other researcher of his time. He was the pioneer in Mayflower genealogies; it is…

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Town Histories for Researching Mayflower Descendants

Town and County Histories Town and county histories often contain a great deal of genealogical data on its pioneers and early residents. As with family genealogies, search an online library catalog or digitized book website to see if a history has been written about the town where your ancestors resided. As you peruse these older town histories, be aware that they are known to contain errors, which can mean that the unsuspecting beginner then takes those errors and repeats them. The problem is not so much that errors are circulated (although it does get frustrating to see inaccurate statements made which were corrected in journals ten years ago!), but rather that the source was not cited with these errors which means that the next unsuspecting person who receives this lovely little error will not be able to evaluate its reliability… and so on… and before we know it, it is the error which stands out over and above the ten-year-old printed correction. So, while early town & county histories and family genealogies are susceptible to a high degree of error, some more so than others, as an authored source they are important, and as a source, it is important to cite them. When you cite this type of authored source, what does it tell you about your information? It tells you that you need to look further for verification. You have been given a clue, a starting place, and it is now your job to set out to prove the information…

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The Bowman Files

What are the Bowman Files? Carrying Mayflower genealogies well into the seventh generation and beyond, are the transcriptions of the research of George Ernest Bowman, known as the Bowman Files, in the form of three volumes of multi-family works by Susan E. Roser, Mayflower Marriages and Mayflower Births & Deaths (2 vols.). Since these books contain many lines of all Mayflower passengers who left known descendants (with the exception of Moses Fletcher), it is possible to find out which Mayflower family your ancestor belongs to without checking all of the various single family books. What are the Bowman Files? George Ernest Bowman (1860-1941) spent a lifetime researching what became known as The Mayflower Genealogies. His discoveries were published in his quarterly genealogical journal, The Mayflower Descendant, of which he was the editor from 1899-1937. During his lifetime, Bowman amassed approximately 20,600 handwritten pages of research—including lineages and family group sheets and documentation abstracts such as wills, probates, deeds, bible records, church records and cemetery inscriptions. In 1983 the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants (which Bowman himself founded in 1896), filmed the entire collection of handwritten pages onto microfiche, consisting of two hundred and twenty-nine microfiche cards, each containing approximately ninety-six handwritten pages and grouped by Mayflower family surname. Bowman’s research was the foundation for the continuation of serious Mayflower research which included the methodology that you pay careful attention to where you acquire your data and that you cite your sources. Genealogies of Mayflower Families, by Gary B. Roberts is…

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