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In Roman mythology, Janus was the god of doors, gates, and transitions. What is unusual about the god Janus is his iconic image. As the god of transitions and dualities, Janus is portrayed with two faces—one facing the past, and one facing the future.* As such, he is the ideal namesake for the first month of the Roman calendar, January.
Looking back on the year 2020 with its enforced lockdowns and quarantines, I have found time to plan my genealogy “do-over” following Thomas MacEntee’s outline of attack. In going through boxes of notes and photos, I’ve discovered several documents and followed several hints to intriguing scenarios.
Looking ahead to 2021, I’m inspired to examine my ancestors more closely and to climb further up my family tree. I’m certain that I’ll be finding duplicates, misinformation, unrelated individuals and maybe even surprises. In addition, I may begin to break through my brick walls and solve a few mysteries.
In any event, I’m excited that 2021 will be a year that I finally commit my time, energy and words to my AncesTrees blog.
*Andersonlock.com
I’ve got to say I’m inspired by the camaraderie in the genealogical community. Most of those I’ve reached out to with questions about shared ancestors have responded. And they have been helpful, whether or not there is an actual family connection.
In fact, I am so impressed that I’ve decided to reach out to at least one of my GenFriends each day. If nothing else, just to keep in touch. I know we may never meet in person, but that doesn’t matter. These people are special to me.
They are the comforting souls at the other end of my message or email or phone call who understand a brick wall or an amazing discovery or double first cousins or disappearing ancestors. They just “get it.”
And I appreciate that … especially the fact that they take the time to respond, however brief. Some even go way beyond that, sending me CDs of information that I would never have guessed existed. And there are those in Find A Grave who have driven miles to document and photograph graves of my ancestors living far away from me.
For my part, I am trying to be just as good a GenFriend to other genealogists as they are to me. So if you have research questions about any of the branches on our family tree (see Word Cloud above) bring them on. I’ll try to help!
Just wondering, how do you reach out to your GenFriends?
Ancestry.com offers a useful service called Member Connect. This gives you the option of finding others who are searching for the same ancestors you are and reaching out to them. Super helpful tool for genealogists who are looking to maximize their scope of family knowledge.
An email can be the beginning of a great collaboration, new discoveries and breaking down brick walls. However, sometimes, that hopeful email can go unnoticed, unread or simply ignored.
Of course, I know that sometimes those who have planted a family tree might be busy or may have forgotten about it altogether. And then, I’m sure that there are trees out there whose owners have passed on, with no one to take up the challenge to cultivate or leaf out their family tree.
I only know that when I send out an email request for help, I am full of great expectations. And when I receive such an email, I am so excited that someone has made the effort to make a connection. To me, that’s what life is all about.
I’d like to know: how do you make connections with other researchers?
AncesTrees 