Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I am too stuffed to write much. While sitting at the dinner table my uncle shared too much information about a past eating practice.  He used to drink Knox gelatin a lot.  Drinking gelatin back in the day was touted for making your nails grow stronger and faster.  Since he was a chronic nail biter, he was hoping his nails would grow faster, so he could bite them again.  I told you it was too much information.

I have been doing genealogy research on my family history for 30 years.  Yes, I am still have not put a dent in the tree with under 3000 names. I remember standing in line at the records desk at Detroit’s Burton Historical Library waiting to submit a slip of paper that would send the clerk off to the treasure trove behind close doors. There were limits to what you could request, the rules to follow, and the shame of horrors upon you if you spoke in the hallowed rooms.

We have come a long way baby from microfilm/microfiche readers.  Though I was confronted with one at the Bradenton, FL Central Library. Very confidently I said I could use it. Sheepishly I walked to the Librarian for assistance.  The diagram displayed the knob in the front not the side of the machine I lamented to myself.

I wonderfully transferred my notes to the family group sheets with care.  I had to let my fingers do the walking of the Yellow Pages to find a shop that carried genealogy supplies.  No googling, no internet back then.  Drive 20 miles or so to some little strip mall. Adventures to be had back then. Paid 10 cents for each which seemed like so much money.

Now this old timer is looking to update her education with the latest bells and whistles on latest research techniques.  However, I am still cheap.  I look at the online classes and webinars and I am trying to decipher if they a good value for my money.  Some people I talk to says most of the glasses are geared toward newbies and not much value to old timers.   But if there is a tip or two to be learn, then I’m game.

I am interested in getting an opinion from those who have been researching for 10 or more years.  Do you find webinars or online classes a good investment?  What classes did you enjoy, which classes where a wasted of money?  Which vendor had better courses, instructors?  What were your overall impression?  Did you learn new tricks?

Please leave a comment.  Thanks.

Both my grandmothers were involved in genealogy during their lives, both wanting to find a familial identity after suffering tragedy in their early lives.  My maternal grandmother Olive lost her father when she was 10.  The story goes; she brought home the influenza virus and passed it on to her father who died in 1917 during the Great Influenza Epidemic.  Most of my family myths come from that side of the family.  My paternal grandmother Edith lost her father in 1925.  He fell to his death at the Zilwaukee plant.  Edith was 8 years old and one of eight children.

My grandmother Olive is part of my Roll-Howes family tree. The Rolls arrived in the mid-1650’s. Through her, I am descended from Jan Mangelsen (Roll).  Jan supposedly married a Mahican (Mohawk Indian) woman. There is the start of one family myth.  However, most of the Roll family researchers believe there were not any children from this union.  His children are assumed to be descended from his first wife, who was Dutch.

Growing up my mother told a few family lies of her own.  I think she even convinced herself they were true.  There is a story of an event that happen to cousin at the age of 16.  My Mom would boldly tell the story when I asked her who’s who in our family.  Years later there was a knock on the door and the truth is revealed.  My Mom was married with children and close to this cousin.  She knew the cousin was 21 not 16.   All the family heard the exact same lie for years.  We still don’t know why my mom and her sisters came up with that story.   Truth may hurt, but it is still the truth.

I find the open secrets just enticing.  Mom’s favorite uncle had a first marriage with children that he kept secret from the children of his second marriage.   I knew, my sister knew; but we just didn’t talk about it to our cousins. Only once did my sister say something.  But the cousin never asked her father.  Did it cause a mess years later, it sure did.

I think families have bee practicing plausible deniability long before the CIA coined the term.

Most of us grew up listening to the myths, truths, half truths, stories, secrets, and just plain lies about who, what, are ancestors were.  Passed down to each generation like a game of “Operator” or “Telephone”.  The original or actual event is now obscured through time, but nevertheless, the story lives on.  Each family or cousin retains a snippet or their version of events.  With each story telling the errors abound, throw in a little sabotage and there you have it, family tales of yesteryear.

My family is no exception to the most common tales, you know the ones.  Great Great Grandma was Cherokee, we were Jewish once, we related to the Salem Witches.  Sorry cousins, it is “No” to all of the above.  These stories have been in my family since our arrival in the 1600’s.  Some have “dot’s” that could be connected, however, truth, records, and DNA erases the lines.  I accept these stories just as I was enthralled with every Nancy Drew mystery I devoured in my youth.  That is why genealogy has captivated me for the past 30 years.

As some of my family history stories are hundreds of years old, it is the 20th century ones that annoy me.  Those little lies that some family members believe to be true and not even the truth can persuade them to see the light.  I am also upset with my self that as analytical as I think I am, I didn’t question the truth.  Unfortunately, I cannot ask those who have passed on for clarification of the tall tales they told.  I also find it interesting that some of the secrets were so freely conveyed, and other secrets were riddle with false events to hide the shame.

I am descended from Samuel House (Howes) who emigrated from England in 1638.  Samuel House was the brother-in-law to John Lathrop (Lothrop) who founded Barnstable, Massachusetts.  A few miles away in Yarmouth, MA, an unrelated Thomas Howes was settling the new town of Dennis.  When my grandmother was doing genealogy, she was contacted by a descendant of Thomas Howes.  The researcher started with claim that all Howes/House were descended from Thomas and Mary Howes.  Which my grandmother stood fast too.  Not so fast, grandma.  Your granddaughter connected the dots and we from Samuel Howes. My grandmother would be so fascinated with the technology and records available now.

However, we I relayed this information to my “family”.  Some members were in DENIAL.  Oh no, they said, we want to be descended from Thomas Howes.  Are you kidding me?  It sounds better they said. Their “proof” is that Grandma got a letter from some person back in the 1960’s saying he was conducting research, could she provide her family info so he can add her to the tree.  Can I do a DiNozzo head slap to my cousin?

The story goes my Great Uncle dropped dead of a heart attack as he was leaving for work one day. That was the story in my house. However, in my cousins house, they had a different story. Their story was that, the Great Uncle, was shot while driving his taxi cab.  The only kernel of truth in those stories is that my uncle did drive a taxi.  He died of another disease that is clearly stated on his death certificate. But that family will not accept the truth, they are convinced their story is correct and continue to promote false information down the line.

There are more lies beneath the tree and the truths will be revealed.