Ancestry Magazine

The first genealogy guide I bought included the neatest checklist—“Three Hundred Places to Find Your Personal History.” The list was one of those wonderful gifts that keeps on giving. For the first time I realized how many fascinating historical records are out there. Unfortunately, it was also a bit depressing because so many of the most enticing items on the list were off limits to me at the time.

As a bride, I had moved hundreds of miles away from all of my relatives, so I found myself short on almost everything under the “home sources” portion of the list. Complicating things further, I was adopted by my mother’s sister, and I knew nothing about my father’s side of the family other than his name. With no clues for me to find in old albums, Bibles, biographical sketches, diaries, journals, or newspaper clippings, I’d have to try to find other relatives who might have information in their heads or in their homes. We were raising a young family and working on a tight budget, so travel was out of the question.

It was the word “certificates” on the list that led me to the first breakthrough on my dad’s side. His nephew was my baptism sponsor and finding his name on my certificate was the key to finding a long-lost cousin. With a lot of detective work, I was able to find an address and I was richly rewarded for writing him. He responded with a beautiful letter full of family history. As a huge bonus, he gave my address to his mother—my father’s only living sister. What a thrill it was when she wrote, welcoming me back to the family.

Working with newly discovered details, I was able to check off dozens of other sources on the alphabetically arranged list. The list helped me find biographical information about a doctor in the family in the American Medical Association records and fascinating details about other family members in old bank records, birth certificates, cemeteries, city directories, deeds, draft registrations, guardianships, insurance papers, military records, naturalization documentation, newspapers, passports, patent and pension records, photographs, religious records, and more.

Every time I return to the list, it sparks new ideas for research; yet it also makes me realize that many of these records are in peril of being lost forever. Working at the National Archives taught me how nature has a way of eating away at our past. Moisture, dirt, heat, light, and insects are some of the natural forces continually working to make paper products self-destruct. Add fires, floods, tornadoes, and other disasters, and major collections can be lost in a blink. It will take time and the collective work of thousands to ensure the preservation of our historical records, but there are ways we can work together to save our collective and personal history—one record at a time. Stay tuned for more ideas on how you can participate.