A word of caution before you begin ... our family has a tendency to talk that has, at least in my case, carried over into our writing. Some of these posts may be a little lengthy. But I assure you that every word is there for a good reason and I hope it will be worth the effort. So, grab a cup of coffee, sit back, put up your feet, and settle in to enjoy the read.
If this is your first visit to our blog, take a minute to read the first two posts: this one tells what is going on and the one below is a very key bit of family history.
Who Are We and What Is This?
Let me begin by saying, if you don't know who we are, visit our About Us page to learn more. Basically, we are two sisters who have joined forces to do our family genealogical research. What this blog is - right now - is a very, very small sampling of what we have discovered. What it will be - in the end - is a repository for our research results that can be shared with everyone who is interested in them.
Why a Blog?
For 15 years, my sister and I have been researching our family tree. On our journey, we've collected stories, pictures, videos, documents, memorabilia, and even DNA. We've gone up and down the family branches - some resulting in amazing discoveries and others causing us to pound our heads on our desks. It's been a fascinating ride. But all along the way, we got one question over and over, "When are you going to be done with the genealogy?"
The simple answer is never. By its nature, genealogy can never be completed; there's always something more to uncover. But what we think people were really asking is, when are you going to share all this with us in a format we can understand and use?
So we considered the options: book, newsletter, website, our tree on Ancestry.com. All have positives and negatives. A blog, though, combines the best of all options. It's set up both like a newsletter and a website. Posts can function as shared stories in a newsletter but it's on the Internet, so accessible to all who are interested. You can set up static pages for media galleries and specific information, in addition to the shared stories. And most importantly, it comes pre-coded and is free to use. So, while we aren’t ruling out eventually creating a family tree book that you can put on your coffee table, a blog is our choice for now (in the hopes that no one else will die before we get around to sharing everything).
What’s In The Blog?
First of all we want to emphasize the blog is a companion tool to our family tree on Ancestry.com. In the end (i.e., when I finish finally putting it all up), you'll find most pictures, stories, and information about specific people over there. If you're not an Ancestry.com member, we have to issue you an invitation to view the tree; see our Links page for details.
There is actually not just one blog, but two. This one, TreeQuest: The Truth Is Out There, deals with the maternal side of our family. The other, TreeQuest: An Unexpected Journey, will be dealing with the paternal side; it is still a work in progress.
We hope to use these blogs to provide two things: (1) a central location for our discoveries and (2) a research tool for our fellow genealogists.
Our static pages will provide media galleries, brief family charts, virtual graveyards, and teaching tools to help explain using Ancestry.com and understanding the DNA tests some have taken for us, among other things. Our home page will contain our genealogy posts. These posts will range from introductions of new photo galleries or videos to profiles, stories, and general tidbits about our ancestors, the places they lived, and the circumstances they lived under. As we have chosen to participate in the 52 Ancestors A Week Challenge, once a week we’ll try to put up a post that introduces you to a new person on the family tree, regardless of how much or little we know about that person.
We also will be discussing research methods, sources, and useful information discovered in our searches to share with all of you, particularly our 3rd, 4th, etc. cousins who are also researching these family lines. Genealogy is a lot more complex than just following a paper trail up. It involves understanding historical, regional, and cultural issues and sometimes following people not even related to find those who are. So sharing is an essential part of success.
Though we are starting off small, in the end, we hope that everything we know or have learned is going up here to share with all of you. Our goal is to update it weekly and though we are busy people, we will do our best to stay on schedule.
Following the Blog
Waiting for someone to post something new is annoying. We suggest you avoid that by choosing to “follow” our blog through subscribing to it via email (don’t forget to make sure the emails don’t end up in your spam folder).
Posting Comments & Making Suggestions
We welcome and appreciate any comments on our posts. If you don't know how to post, visit our How To ... page for directions. And if there is a person or subject you’d really like us to write about, let us know. We will happily consider any topic requests.
What About Privacy?
This is an important subject. First off, no living person’s information will be included on this blog without their express permission. Anytime we refer to you, we’ll use initials.
Second, Ancestry.com’s policy is that any living people on a tree - whether the tree is Public or Private - is automatically hidden unless we specifically change the settings to include them when issuing an invitation to someone to view the tree. And we’re only going to do that for immediate family members – the direct descendants of our grandparents. So your information there is private; no one will see it who doesn't already know it.
Third, if you are using any passwords that include information or dates significant to you, your parents, grandparents – STOP NOW. It has never been safe to do and it certainly is less so now that the tree is public.
Anything Else?
Nope, that’s it. Wander around and enjoy the site and thanks for coming by.
© Tree Quest: The Truth Is Out There 2014 All Rights Reserved
Woo! Congrats on going live! :)
ReplyDelete