My Czech friend, Margie

Several years ago somebody suggested that if I needed advise on Czech research I should contact Margie Sobotka of Elkhorn, Nebraska.  At the time I was not researching Czech ancestry.  Little did I realize that a few years later I would discover my grandson has paternal Czech ancestry.   I contacted Margie.  We almost instantly became close friends.  In fact we have worked together on genealogy research projects.  

She was born to Czech parents in Omaha, Nebraska.  Growing up became interested in her heritage and culture.  In 1972, Margie was instrumental in forming the Eastern Nebraska Genealogical Society.  She served as President for two years and since has been their treasurer, sending all of us friendly reminders of dues.  

What makes Margie so special is that she has an abundance of Czech history and genealogy not only stored in her mind, but in translations she has done, plus indexing.  Her first project was to index The History of Czechs in Nebraska by Rose Rosicky.  She has worked with the Nebraska State Historical Society on projects and presents programs and workshops about Czech genealogy.  One of her classic publications that helps researchers is Nebraska-Kansas Settlers, 1891-1895.  

Margie continues to work on her own Czech ancestry, writing her memoirs.  She recently finished indexing 6,000 names of people buried in the Bohemian Cemetery in Omaha, Nebraska.  

It is no wonder that on June 29th she received the Czernin Palace Bronze Memorial Medal in a ceremony at Clarkson, Nebraska.  This award was initiated by a former ambassador of the Czech Republic.  It is given to an individual or entity that has made significant contributions in Czech-American relations.  The metal was awarded for the year 2007 and Margie was one of just five Czech-Americans to receive it.  She was surprised, but those of us who know Margie were not surprised at all.  She is a well-deserving person and genealogist.  

Margie was surrounded by her friends and family at the celebration in Clarkson.  Speakers included Gene Aksamit of the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International.  Cindy Drake, library curator of the Nebraska State Historical Society, along with Clare Mares of the Eastern Nebraska Genealogical Society spoke on behalf of Margie and her achievements.  

I know that my friend Margie will continue as long as she lives to help researchers, transcribe, index and publish about Czech ancestry.  I hope there are more awards for her in the future.  It's a honor to call you my friend, Margie.  

Genealogy Dreaming

Do you ever have day dreams about doing nothing but genealogy?  I call those my "what if" thoughts.  They include being able to go to every cemetery I can locate looking for ancestral stones.  Going to every courthouse that has records I need.  They also include visiting ancestral locations, here in the United States, in the U.K. and Europe.  And then something jolts me back to reality.  Usually the gas pump! 

I have started writing letters, contacting by e-mail and searching more on Internet to locate things I need.  It is somewhat boring, but helps the budget.  The other day I drove about 25 miles to the Fort McPherson National Cemetery here in Lincoln Co., Nebraska and took digitals of tombstones.  It was something I had been meaning to do for a long time.  The early morning was cooler than afternoon, and it was quiet and peaceful.  

Have you tried FindAGrave  for information on tombstones, along with maps of cemeteries and photographs of people plus tombstones?  It's a great web site, so be prepared to spend some time.  You can search by names and locations or look up cemeteries.  While there, you should also plan on submitting data on your relatives.  I am particularly impressed with the number of stones they have listed for New England.   Some of those cemeteries I have walked through myself.  It brings back memories and starts those "what if" thoughts all over again.  

Another good place to look for cemetery information is the USGenWeb Tombstone Transcription web site.  Click on the "Tombstone Photo Project" to search by states.  This will also take some time to browse through all of the stones.  

Back to the genealogy dreaming!  Maybe I should win the lottery!  

Nebraska ... a great state to research

Nebraska is where I live.  It's also the land that people passed through on their way somewhere else, normally to the west coast, places like Utah and California and Oregon.  Some who were disappointed in the west came back, and some people came here to stay.  The Homestead Act provided land for those who needed it and thus supplied our state with people.  

Researching in this state is different than other states.  For one thing, if you know where you ancestor(s) married, you may be able to locate the marriage record on which, most of the time, the names of parents are shown, along with mothers' maiden names.  A great bonus!  

Unfortunately people are not going to find birth and death records in courthouses.  If they are there, they are minimal in content and years.  This means you will need to obtain them from the state Vital Records office in Lincoln, NE.  Information on ordering them, along with downloadable forms can be found at vitalrec.com.   Birth and death records were recorded on a state basis starting in late 1904.  This does not mean every physician or clerk complied.  

The best place to locate records in Nebraska is at the Nebraska State Historical Society, 1500 R Street, Lincoln, NE.  Be sure to check out their resources and indexes at the web page.  They have an extensive collection of newspapers, photographs and manuscripts.  

To locate some excellent web pages pertaining to Nebraska history, geography and genealogy, check out Linkpendium.  A number of obituaries can be found at O'Bits of Nebraska.  Another excellent place to look for obituaries in Nebraska is at Newspaper Obituaries on the Web. 

If your ancestor settled on the plains of Nebraska, you definitely need to use the Library of Congress web page, Prairie Settlement.  This contains Nebraska photographs and family letters, 1862-1912.   An excellent place to locate maps of early Nebraska territory and state can be found on Internet at Nebraska Counties, 1854-Present.  

It's a nice state to call home.  Because of Nebraska's rich history, it's a great state in which to do genealogical research.  

Geni.com --- free and great!

Whether you are a beginner in genealogy or have been researching for a while, there is a web site that is free and designed to assist you in building your family tree.  You can also share your research with family members, including those who are not into genealogy.  By entering your data and building your family tree, you are not sharing it with the world.  Only people that you invite can access it.  

There's more than building a family tree at Geni.com.  You can share family photographs, create profiles and timelines and celebrate special events.  It is as easy also as importing a GEDCOM file into Geni.com ... no retyping of information.   You can also export a GEDCOM file from the data you have created.  

One of the most interesting features of Geni.com is the ability to map your ancestors.  You can customize the maps for locations of your ancestors, where they lived or where they were born.  

As you network with friends and family, you can send messages and share news.  You decide who is in your group.  While you are using Geni.com you can also search for your surnames not only within your tree but in other trees.  You will not be able to view all of the information in the family trees of other submitters unless you are invited.  

There are over 20 million profiles on Geni.com.  Yours can be there as simply as registering and logging in.  In the near future they will be adding family video sharing.  It is such a great site that TIME magazine named as one of the top 50 websites of 2008.  

The Life of a Genealogist

Is there any other life?  It's the best!  However, genealogy can consume every minute of my day and into the night.  Such has been the last seventeen days.  I have been scanning hundreds and hundreds of documents and photographs.  Sorting them into appropriate categories, sharing originals with my sister-in-law, I have barely come up for air.  

This afternoon I finished my project.  There are photographs left and a few documents, but basically it is over.  Those can wait, maybe a week or two or perhaps a couple months ... definitely not tomorrow.  

It is amazing what happens when you are scanning.  I am behind in reading genealogy blogs of others.  I noticed that my daughter found time to blog at Growing up Genealogy.  Good for her.  She's not scanning.  I have had no time to check all the new newspapers that have been added to Ancestry.com's subscription service.  There's no hurry as I have a subscription.  Maybe tomorrow! 

Because I have been living in the digital world, I decided to check out some of the places I have ignored.  These include HBLL Online Collections where you can search the holdings of BYU, Utah newspapers and many more, all with one click.  It's a great place to look for manuscripts and books, then download them in PDF format.  It is really growing.

I have also discovered the digitals at Illinois Harvest, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.   Particularly if you have ancestry in that part of Illinois, this is something you will want to search.  I found many news articles and obituaries for relatives.  And now that I have finished with my scanning (for the moment) I don't feel guilty about searching all day and night. 

The University of Missouri Digital Library will also keep me busy for a few days.  They have both text and image collections.  With so many Missouri ancestors, I will undoubtedly find a lot of good things.  

Each time I find a Utah ancestor, I have to check out the Historical Photographs from the Harold B. Lee Library.  There are seven collections to search individually or all at once.  The photographs are of excellent quality. 

Have you checked FindAGrave lately?  The site keeps getting bigger and bigger with photographs of tombstones and also individuals or family on it.  It's a great place to find missing information along with the photographs.  

If my genealogy mind doesn't switch me back to scanning, I need to check out the web site, 250+Killer Digital Libraries and Archives.  Just think of that ... over 250 places to look for digital images.  My mind is swimming already with ideas.  

It's great fun to be a genealogist today and tomorrow and the next day ... never been better! 

The Joy of Scanning

A few days ago I rearranged my genealogy/computer room.  This also entailed rearranging the office supply closet.  With my scanner located very close to my desk, I began scanning documents and photographs.  This has been an on-going project for several years, but now close to the end, it becomes challenging and interesting. 

Having documents scanned, along with proper citations, certainly helps in trying to locate them and share them.  I have also located a number of photographs that needed scanning.  At some point in time my mother-in-law made photocopies of old photographs and shared those with me.  The quality is not good, but it's better than nothing.  My sister-in-law and I now wonder what happened to the originals.  Our next quest will be to locate them.  We hope they did not meet the fate that many old photographs do ... the dumpster. 

The joy of scanning documents is that my memory is refreshed about various lineages and this leads to more research.  I am not becoming distracted though, so the scanning will continue.  Another joy to this project is that it keeps me at home and saves on gas in the car!  

How safe are your documents?  Now is a great time to start scanning them.  I also recommend backing them up to CDs, DVDs or better yet an external hard drive.  

Love of My Life

As I prepare to decorate many graves of loved ones, I am mindful of one special person who was in my life.  The final resting places of our ancestors are special. 

My dearest husband ...

As I decorate your grave this first Memorial Day after your death, I am mindful of how quickly this first year has gone.  Day by day after you left me, I thought the days could not be any longer.  They passed so slowly and each step I took seemed painfully sluggish.  What was I supposed to do with my life?  An empty life without you in it.  It was a life that I had known for almost forty-six years with you, by my side, in my arms, my thoughts and in my waking and sleeping moments.  Now as quickly as I could blink my eyes, you were gone from me. 

Four days before your death, you told me that I should resume my genealogical research, my passion for genealogy, my writing, teaching and lecturing.  You knew that you were not going to be with me much longer.  I had cared for you for three years.  We cried together, laughed together and prayed together.  After you left, I knew each day that I must return to my genealogy.  I knew you were proud of me and my work.  Each day I grew stronger and more secure in what I was doing.  

There is not a day that goes by when I am researching ancestors, mine and those of others, that I do not think of you.  All the memories of our life together come rushing back.  Like a surge of energy, I know you are here guiding and encouraging me.  You will always be here in my heart, my mind and soul.  I know you are with the ages and those wonderful ancestors and relatives who paved the way for us and our life together.  

You are still the love of my life!   .... Ruby