Everytime I go on Ancestry.com with the intentions of researching my family tree, I end up linking with other trees that have duplicate entries. It is like magic, that feeling of click, click, there’s another generation added. I think it is better to slow the process down a bit. I spent the better part of yesterday deleting duplicates, and finding minor errors in other people’s data. I went back to the sources- the census, the historical context, land records. It is hard to resist those little whirling leaves. It’s like on Wheel of Fortune when you are trying to hit the trip to Disney World.
***In case anyone is watching- The title of this post may remind you of something (I think it was) Merry Brandibuck who said “Shortcuts make for long delays” when he heard the story of how Frodo, Pippin and Sam ended up in Farmer Maggot’s field. (citation: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien) I guess the vast data bases of the Internet could be considered one giant “Farmer Maggot’s field”. It is funny how many things I have in my head that feel so original but came from books I have read… Anyway…
The data bases all in one spot are the reason I stay with the paid service. I did meet a cousin I had heard of, but never met, and we are collaborating. I happened upon a people collector this morning who had a hundred thousand individuals in his family tree- probably had a click-fest. It really brought it home why I am doing this.
I want to learn about the people who shaped the people who shaped me. I want to find out how they lived, what they struggled with, what joys and sorrows came their way. Part of my process is to read the documents, visit the areas they lived in, see where they were buried, and who they are sharing eternity with. It is not a race.
Except in the one aspect that I have to ferret out my mother’s 50+ first cousins and their children, find out dates of death, and how to contact the living ones in order to get my mother’s will probated. The technology has been invaluable to that process and I am almost there. I will go back later and find out who they are, though…
Yesterday I gained a new respect for the division of I-ROBOT versus Me aware. I clicked on an e-mail that said my friend wanted to meet me at reunion.com, and I saw a few of our high school friends in the group so I joined. Less than an hour later, my other friend, who is very suspicious of technology although she uses it brilliantly, e-mailed me to say What is this cheery invitation to join you at reunion.com? That program uploaded my e-mail contacts from Yahoo and fired off invitations from me to such varied people as a person who is not speaking to me, a business contact, a brand new friend who I know only casually, and the aforementioned disgruntled friend, who didn’t fall for it. I had become too comfortable clicking on things, and luckily this was fairly benign, if a bit embarrassing.
My new caveat- Take a breath before you click. Or you may have to spend your day deleting and apologizing.
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