Plenty of reasons to research your family history
The first question I usually get from someone who hasn’t done much genealogy is: “How far back have you gone?” It’s a difficult question to answer, because each generation back, you are doubling the number of parents. I may be back to the mid-1800s in some lines, back much farther in others. Some genealogists never try to get very far. It’s a very individual thing; and what makes it the most fun.
Family Searcher
By Nina Brawn 
My first goal in genealogy was to get back to Ireland and find out when and where the elusive Kitty Gallagher was born (answer: Connecticut about 1864). My second was to get back to at least my 13th century grandparents, you know, the royal ones? Hah!
I have some very good friends who have combined their appreciation for old cemeteries and gravestones, with their love of history and genealogy and they have done an extremely thorough and careful tree filled with many historical facts and photos. Over the years and years of work, they have uncovered rich detail about the areas in which their ancestors lived and have contributed a published history and other material to historical societies.
Another relative newcomer to genealogy, in a matter of months was able to scout out enough information to complete her Daughters of the American Revolution membership application. She has also made a great start on a personalized family scrapbook.
A well-known Dover-Foxcroft resident has compiled not only his own family tree, but that of hundreds of local residents’ families as well. Anyone who knows the history of small Maine towns quickly realizes that you’d better be careful what you say about a local, because chances are he or she is related to whomever you are speaking about! The families that have settled here over the last 200 years have pretty much stayed put until “recently,” and the numbers of intermarriages is staggering; especially during the early settlement years when there were so few families from which to choose a mate.
This pattern is very helpful in genealogy, since it has been the way of the world since recording families began. Knowing that friends and families were often combined, contributes to a research technique called “cluster genealogy.” Cluster genealogy is where you use all the names and dates you found on a document to look for possible leads. An example of this is a marriage record. Keep in mind the names of the witnesses because there is a good chance that you will find them together with this family at multiple times and places. Sometimes it may be a clue to the bride’s missing maiden name.
Sometimes “your” family has been mis-indexed, but the witness is easily found and may be a close neighbor in a census. Or they may move to new territory together so if you can’t find one family you may find the other and trace yours from there. Historically, immigrants tend to settle in an area where they already know someone. Note the heavy Italian population on Mulberry Street in New York, or the strong Irish presence in Boston and Hartford, Conn.
You don’t have to have a pre-set goal to research your family history, just an urge to know more, and let it grow from there.
Editor’s note: This regular column is sponsored by the Aroostook County Genealogical Society. The group meets the fourth Monday of the month except in July and December at the Cary Medical Center’s Chan Education Center, 163 Van Buren Road, Caribou, at 6:30 p.m. Guests and prospective members are always welcome. FMI contact Edwin “J” Bullard at 492-5501. Columnist Nina Brawn of Dover-Foxcroft, who has been doing genealogy for over 30 years, is a freelance genealogy researcher, speaker and teacher. Reader e-mails are welcome at ninabrawn@gmail.com.
