The theme for Week 26 is "Slow." We living in a rapid world. Everything seems instantaneous. What is something an ancestor did that would seem slow by today's standards? (Farming and laundry come to my mind.) What about a line that has been slow for you to research? Click here to check out all of the themes for 2023.
Last week I talked about how Genealogy is not Fast, but some things with Genealogy seem to take forever. I remember when I started my Genealogy journey back when I was 20 years old, that was forty years ago. Anyway, if we couldn’t visit the repository, we might have to write for information.
I kept a correspondence log to record my outgoing correspondence and then would patiently, or not so patiently, wait for a response. It wasn’t uncommon for months and even years to go by before hearing anything back. My mailbox became my wishing well.
I would write to older family members, introducing myself by giving my parent’s names and ask specific questions, such as “Do you know who your maternal or paternal (depending on which side I was needing) grandparents were?” I would send them a pedigree chart, and many didn’t know how to fill it out, so I made sure I would start with the information I had about them, their parents and ask for the next few generations. Whatever they knew. I even sent family group sheets to know more about them and their children.
I had people write back and attach their own hand-drawn charts that I didn’t know what I was looking at. It didn’t matter, they replied. Many didn’t. I even had a reply many years later, when a spouse was going through her deceased husband’s files and found my letter. It arrived when he was alive, but he set it aside. Oh, the information that was lost when he died.
I still have the treasured letters, I have scanned them and placed them into my computer, however, I have also kept the originals. They seem too valuable to just toss after I scanned them. These are one-of-a-kind letters, with valuable family information, I will never throw them away.
Talk about slow, scanning all my documents from pre-computer days, I purchased my first computer back in 1988. But scanning didn’t really become affordable or easy until about the early 2000’s. I had a hand-held scanner before that, but for big scans, you had to scan sections and piece them together. Plus, you had to be smooth with your movement. Later I purchased a flat-bed scanner and just placed the sheet on the scanner. It did an okay job, but still it was a lot of work sometimes just to get my computer to talk to the scanner. Plus, it took up so much space, I had my hubby create a small roll out table that stored underneath my desk when not in use. Now I have an all-in-one printer, that prints, faxes, scans, copies, and web. Even though I don’t fax because I don’t have a landline, I can fax by scanning and sending it through a special online website. Anyway, the scans are so much nicer and in color. Plus, with smart phones, we have scanners on our phones, just take a picture, send it to our email and like magic, we have a scan or copy of whatever we want!
Now the only thing slow might be my internet connection. If I am on the road and want to look something up, my bandwidth might be slow or not found. Then I would have to wait until I was in a better reception area.
Since, not everything is available on-line, many aspects of Genealogy can be slow. It might be months before I am able to take a short road trip to the desired courthouse to view records in person. Or if I send for a request, it might take a while before I hear anything back. Anyone who has sent a request to the state of New York, will tell you that they may still be waiting for over two years. Plus, when Covid reared its ugly head, Genealogy requests took a back burner to all other requests.
I am a firm believer that all good things come to those that wait. But why do we Genealogist have to wait so long.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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