Joyfully Researching history
That scream of glee coming from the San Francisco bay area recently is actually me doing research for an historical novel. I've got some confederates in Tennessee who are aiding and abetting me and the cyber connections are hot with our enthusiasm.
It's so much fun to research history this way–with friends–but also when it is simply, so easy.
When I started my genealogical research in 1995, our family owned two computers. Both spent most of their waking hours keeping America safe for democracy as my husband and three sons wiped out aliens and other potential invaders. They also played games like Civilization and Colonization, "history, mom, see?" but I felt pretty sure most of the time they were vigilant shooters in various galactic realms.
When I could get on, I wrote, put together newsletters and kept the checkbook. One day I brought home a Family Tree Maker program and began to imput genealogical information. Fascinating how the computer could keep track of it so much better and more efficiently than I could!
Life changed in early 1997 when my brother convinced us to "get e-mail for heaven's sake." We signed up for AOL.
What an amazing experience that was: the excitement and thrill of that "hee-haw" sound logging on to the telephone lines. And look at all the things you could do: check out real estate in Washington D. C. (we were due for orders out of Hawai'i), send messages to friends and relatives and, what's this? meet fellow genealogists?
In those ancient days, we used clogged phone lines to access the net. It could take a long time to log on and I spent hours on line because I had people researching the same family lines.
One in particular, a single Physics professor in Louisiana was hot on the trail of the same folks. We're related somehow, but figuring that out seemed too intimate with a stranger, so I just egged him on as he dug up article after census record after family history. It was so much fun to log on at 5:15, Hawai'i time, and read the latest dispatches from the deep south as the sun rose over the Koo'lau Mountains. One weekend, he drove all over the southern states visiting libraries and historical centers. Together we pieced together the information he found into one satisfying whole.
The joy of having someone to share the information with, to consider angles and work out the puzzle, became addicting and a sheer pleasure.
I'm having the same fun with my new confederates, but now the tools are so incredibly powerful, I can't help but scream in glee. You've heard it before, but the items available on the Internet are stunning! Census records I poured over microfilm for hours to decipher, can be found in four clicks on the screen. And you can blow them up to read them better, as well. Astonishing!
Indeed, genealogy is so easy these days, I'm not sure why the whole world hasn't found all their roots.
Just yesterday, I read the Harper's Weekly magazine from the Civil War. I pulled up newspaper articles from the 1903 San Jose newspaper. I read through an 1871 San Francisco newspaper article about my subject–primary resource material it would have taken me weeks to find otherwise.
Do you guys know how lucky you are?
Using my Sonoma County Library card, I can access all the census records available on line for free. Using my friend's Sonoma State library card number, I downloaded an entire book. Google books (which I do not approve of as a writer, but which I love as an historical researcher), gives me snippets and sometimes the majority of the out-of-print books I need.
If I'd had this information available 15 years ago, my family history would not have taken 5 years and countless dollars to research!
But fun though the technology tools are, the best part is having people to share the information with. My husband smiles politely and occasionally provides some military background, but the thrill of the hunt, the joy of the discovery, the satisfaction of theories, is run past two women sitting at computer screens across the country. It's like working with Justin again and I'm loving it.
Even if these aren't my relatives, this time. :-)
I love to read history and discover new facts, but it's so much more satisfying and joyful to do it with friends.
Have any of you had a similar experience? What's the most thrilling and satisfying fact you've found on the Internet?
