The link contains wonderful words of advice. It reminds us that we are future ancestors.
Honorable lives today for tomorrow
Tag: Ancestors
Barking up the tree: How to create a “real” family tree
One of my facebook genealogy page colleagues gifted her children with their individual family trees. Now that the winter holidays are over, this idea is perfect for 2022 family reunions.
My colleague said the most often asked question is where to purchase the tree stand? She offered this bestchoiceporducts site.
Here is the back of one of the branches for you to consider how to list your ancestors.
How to make this happen for your family? Be creative by using this example as your foundation of an idea that brings new meaning to our genealogy phrase, “family tree.”
Happy New Year!
HoHo Helpful hints for family tree
It’s Freebie Friday!
For many of us, it is a challenge to learn of our grandparents and their parents. Think about the challenge of locating 10 generations of grandparents, or stated another way, your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandparents!
While the Good Genes Genealogy cousins are only halfway there with our maternal grandparents, we, like you, will keep trying to reach the 10th generation of relatives.
Here’s some solid advice from us and colleagues who are genealogy buffs:
- Decide on your purpose for your family tree. Some prefer to build family tree to only link direct lineage. Others build trees for family history purposes. Both types of family trees are valuable.
- Now begin with yourself to begin your family tree, hence the top of the Christmas tree shaped family tree that is displayed in this blog.
- Fill in as much as you know about your grandparents and their parents, if possible.
- Use death and birth certificates, if available, to verify each grandparents’ parents.
- DNA results remain a huge help in filling in the names of grandparents, siblings, cousins and other relatives.
- Do not ignore individuals that keep appearing on your ancestry lines that do not appear to be blood relatives. Their records are equally important to locate ancestors as those “nonblood” individuals may share other family relationships.
- If grandparents have been married more than once, you have the choice to add each marriage, or directly link your blood lines to the married grandparents. It’s tricky, yet family tree-building technology is now allowing for some flexibility.
- Build in lots of genealogy research time to achieve whatever goals you have for building family trees this holiday season.
Have fun, relax, share memories and ask great questions of your relatives to build your tree.
Happy Holidays!
What better gift than the gift of family genealogy?
I was busy preparing my holiday cards when my thoughts turned to gift-giving. What is the greatest genealogy gift that I could give to my family? The answer: Ancestral research findings.
Guess what? I, too, received the greatest gift.
I poured through our family ancestry records and discovered great finds via newspapers.com. I attached the newspaper clippings to my family members’ trees and also printed some records to share as part of my gift giving.
The clipping below was part of my gift to Cousin-by-marriage Florida L. Fisher Parker a year ago during the holiday season. She was overjoyed to see this clipping, her marriage license and other related documents that I uncovered through electronic methods. My discoveries also prompted Florida sharing funny and tearful memories about that great day in her life.
Florida, the widow of Ret. Col. Herbert Gerald Parker, is an enthusiast genealogist. She piqued my interest in genealogy while we all lived in Tallahassee, FL. Typically, I would visit with Florida and we would prepare documents for the family reunion. After the burial of her husband, my cousin, Herb, at Arlington National Cemetery in D.C., Florida chose to live near her daughter and family in Maryland. Distance and COVID-19 restrictions have grounded our travels and frequency of our conversations.
That’s why this year, I bundled up some new finds that are related to her deceased father, Dr. Miles Mark Fisher. During my research of her father, I discovered my greatest gifts.
- Gift #1: I learned that Dr. Fisher was the author of several books and articles. One of his books, “The Life of Lott Cary” is out of print. It is about the life of a former slave who toiled many years to earn enough to purchase his freedom and that of his family’s. He became a member of the clergy and also ascended into other high places.
- Gift #2: I learned that Rev. Fisher was the longtime pastor of White Rock Baptist Church, Durham, N.C. It was a church that was widely recognized nationwide and in its community for its social activism and highly touted black businessmen and civil rights leaders as congregants. He also initiated a program that held period racially integrated religious services.
- Gift #3: I learned that Dr. Fisher was a scholar. He was on faculty at Virgina Union and Shaw University.
- Gift #4: I learned the young scholar was one of the first “Negroes to receive the Ph.D. degree in philosophy and religion from the University of Chicago.”
- Gift #5: The joy that the printed articles bring to Florida’s life. She doesn’t use technology, yet, she is fond of receiving information about her family.
By sharing your ancestral findings with loved ones, you are giving the greatest gift of all during this holiday season and throughout the year.
Holiday Best Buys for African American Genealogy + Bonus
Happy Holidays!
The Good Genes Genealogy Services team has been providing free and low-cost services to engaging clients throughout 2021.
To keep our services at this level, we invite you to support us by investing a few dollars into the books we published during this second health pandemic year. The bonus book is written by Dr. Ann Wead Kimbrough about her father, Dr. Rodney S. Wead, a relatively unknown and yet effective community leader.
All of the books genealogy books are written by the cousin duo, Kimbrough and Mark S. Owen. The book illustrator for all books is Veverly Byrd-Davis. Besides our publishing company, http://www.lulu.com (see bookstore, Good Genes Genealogy), our books are offered on many national book sites.
Freebie Friday!
Free Databases at Ancestry.Com
Courtesy of http://www.searchforancestors.com/ancestryfreebies.html
Ancestry.com is a premium subscription-based genealogy website with over 8 billion genealogy records, most of which are online images of original documents. In addition, Ancestry has more than 35 million user-submitted family trees, which include photographs, written stories, and scanned documents.
One of Ancestry’s best kept secrets is that they also have over 1,300 always-free databases. To view these free records, you may be asked to sign up for a free account, but the account is free, no strings attached. You do not need a free trial to view these records.
The free databases are available to search at the Ancestry site at Ancestry.com Free Index Collection.Ancestry.com Free Collection Search
First Name | Last Name | Any USA AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY — CAN AB BC MB NB NF NT NS TT ON PE QC SK YT — INTL Locality |  |
Although this database is called the Free Index, it actually includes indexes as well as images. This Free Index Search contains all the free Ancestry.com record databases but does not include the very popular Family Trees.
Below is a list of the most popular Ancestry free databases. Scroll down to see some of the the free Ancestry databases that are listed by country and state.
Free webinar through today, Oct. 27, 2021!
#19 Take a pause and honor ancestral touches upon our lives
“We can see love and joy as we celebrate our ancestors and our history through the eyes of our children.”
Each morning, my goal is to meditate and pray with more integrity and purpose than the day before.
This morning, I reflected upon an opening statement from Hillside International Truth Center’s February 2021’s Daily Thoughts from the Hill. The statement that is highlighted in the headline of this post is a great centering point.
In the name of our ancestors, peace to all.
 Namaskar!(The Spirit in me greets the Spirit in you!) The spiritual faculty for the month of February is LOVE, and the physical center is the heart. The disciple is John. The color for the month is pink. Love is the idea of Universal Oneness in Divine Mind. Love is the harmonizing power that brings the world together. Because of the attribute of love to bind, attract, cement, and equalize, we see the Divinity in every person and in all situations. In the face of unrest, discord, and division, it is important that we focus on Love, the great Unifier.In the words of Rev. Don Nedd, “The basis for right thinking is love- love of GOD and all that is good in ourselves and others.”The inner voice of love wills us to experience happiness, joy, peace, and forgiveness as a means of finding another way to believe in and see the world. The consciousness of GOD loves everything and everyone equally; we are all loved and forgiven by our Creator. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (St. John 13:34). Love is a great filler. It fills our senses throughout life. We can find it in the taste of good food that we share with family and friends, our elders, and those that are homebound, indigent, or homeless. We can hear it in great music and the inspiring words of Dr. Maya Angelou, John Lewis, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bishop Dr. Barbara King. We can feel love in caring for others and seeing the enthusiastic look on their faces. We can see love and joy as we celebrate our ancestors and our history through the eyes of our children. We can smell love through the aromas of nature, as we breathe in fresh air, the cleansing water of rain, and the fragrance of flowers and trees. Love is the beautiful manifestation of the presence of GOD in all things. As we celebrate the power of love, let us listen to the inner voice of love for lasting happiness and peace of mind. This month focus your attention on devoted service, kindness, unselfishness, tender compassion, and goodwill towards all. In so doing, we embody the attribute of Love– as we are one with GOD, one with all life, and one with all humanity. “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).AFFIRM: I am a love magnet that attracts health, wealth, and happiness.  |
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