Homestretch of source analysis

I wrote a couple weeks ago about analyzing the various genealogical sources that I’ve accumulated through many years of research.  It’s been an arduous process and even though I haven’t finished, I can see the end in sight.  An unforeseen advantage to source analysis is looking over the document again and trying to figure out where it came from, and the date that it was found.  I’ve found during this process that even though I think I’ve logged in all of my data into my research log that’s not always the case. 

When I’ve found items that haven’t been recorded in my log, I’ve added them in.  Some of the documents I’ve looked at many, many times and I believe that I could recite them by heart.  However upon rereading them again, I surprisingly find little tidbits of information that tell me something I didn’t know. 

The journey through the mountain of papers has almost been like going on a research trip, but without the travel hiccups, terrible coffee, and courthouse dust or mold.  Yes, it would’ve been wonderful to do more research, but I feel that analyzing my data has helped me to see that some sources aren’t as great as they could be.  Then there are other documents that tell me things that I didn’t realize they were saying.

As I go through the various records, I’m slowly filing the items away with the appropriate ancestor.  I have yet to do anything with the handouts that Elizabeth gave my class.  I’ve overlaid tables on some of them, in preparation for when I use them for each of my ancestors. 

I’ve noticed while reading through my sources that I haven’t really been able to reconstruct a group of people that my ancestors associated with.  Before taking on this task, I had some names accumulated as people that were in various ancestors’ social circles, but haven’t come up with too many new names.  

This whole process has caused me to think about information that I’ve found online about the Womble family and revisiting the idea of contacting those unknown distant relatives who might give me some more insight into the Womble family.

Humidity, Snakes, and Genealogy

I know I haven’t posted anything in awhile and the reason why was that I’ve been busy preparing for and taking Elizabeth Shown Mills’ Course 4: Advanced Research and Methodology course at IGHR.  This course and other genealogy classes are offered each summer at Samford University’s Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research (IGHR).  I had always been interested in taking this course even before I began working on the NGS Home Study Course.

Once I was registered for the course I began reading the first two chapters of Mills’ book Evidence Explained per her instructions.  The truth be told I was somewhat familiar with these chapters because I had referred to them when I was taking the Home Study Course.  I spent a lot of time before the course being nervous because I heard more than one person tell me how difficult the course was for them.  

It was a difficult course, but not impossible.  I believe that the Home Study Course helped me to be prepared for it.  The most difficult aspect of my sojourn at Samford was the humidity and the warnings about snakes.

I first saw a sign informing me not to prop open the doors to the dorm because snakes had been seen in the area and they could enter the building.  The signs had a ‘cute’ animated drawing of a snake.  I didn’t think too much about the possibility of seeing a snake, and was bothered more by the intense humidity.

I’ve summered many times in Knoxville, Tennessee and felt confidant in my ability to deal with any humidity that the south might throw at me—of course I was wrong.  When I arrived at Samford in the pouring rain the temperature seemed to be in the low 90’s, and yet it was so damp that I needed a jacket?!  I felt like a nut wearing a jacket in that warm weather, but other people I saw were doing the same thing. 

As the week went on the humidity stuck around longer than the rain and kept the sidewalks moist even though the sun was blazing.  Eventually, the heat prevailed over the dampness and dried nearly everything out with the exception of the students.

Fortunately, I didn’t encounter any snakes while at Samford.  I did hear an interesting story from someone while eating breakfast on the final day.  They and their dormmates had returned from eating ice cream that night and returned to find a copperhead in front of the door to their dorm.  Someone threw a brick at the snake, but it didn’t move.  They screamed and yelled at the reptile trying to get it to slither away from the door.  Nothing seemed to work, the snake seemed content to lie in front of the door.  At last, it eventually slithered away.  The interesting thing was that there weren’t any snake warning signs in their dorm.

Nearly every day of class left me feeling not only tired but also eager to seek out more sources for my genealogical research.  However, as the days passed I realized how crucial it was for me to go through the sources I had accumulated and appraise each one and evaluate the various pieces of information they contained.  Looking at each element in an objective light. 

Since my return, I’ve tried to devote a chunk of time to evaluating my sources.  I started out with the ancestors that I’m directly related to and then will branch out to look at the sources for those of collateral kinship.

Elizabeth gave the class some really great handouts to use to help us see the holes in our research and consider what other records might be available.  I can’t share those here, but will share any findings as a result of my working with them.  So far the only thing I’ve done with them is scan them and overlay a table over them in my word processor.  It’ll be interesting to see what comes of using them.

Yes, I’d love nothing more than to go out and search for more documents on my ancestors, use those research tactics that Elizabeth drilled into us, but I see the importance in analyzing what I already have.