Monday, August 20, 2012

Genealogy Scavenger Hunt

I was looking for a way to "recharge" my genealogy enthusiasm. I've found that as my life gets busier, genealogy tends to take a back seat like some forgotten glove that has slipped between my car seat and the center console. I know it's there but somehow don't remember to fish it out. So I decided to go on a genealogy scavenger hunt.

What's that? Well, I have a lot of online genealogy websites bookmarked and even a fair number of subscriptions out there for sites like Ancestry.com, Fold3.com, Genealogybank.com, etc. So I picked an ancestor - Robert Hugh Montgomery 1830 (Ireland) -1905 (Maryland) and decided to find everything I could in an hour for him that did not include Federal Census records - which I already had.

About 30 minutes in, I had discovered his headstone at findagrave.com, his military burial card for Arlington National Cemetery at ancestry.com, his son's death certificate at familysearch.org, and his marriage record also at ancestry.com. I also discovered from these records that he was a retired US Army Major who served in the Civil War. So it was on to fold3.com to see if I could find a pension record - YES! It's there!

Then I took a few minutes to write this post but you'll fogive me if I cut this short to return to my scavenger hunt. Hmm - maybe an hour isn't enough. The laundry will have to wait. My husband just brought me another cup of tea and I feel the Internet calling.

So, if you find that you are uninspired while researching your family history, try something different. You may just be surprised.

Happy Hunting!

4 comments:

  1. What a great idea Kathleen! Next time I'm using some not-so-ladylike language aimed at one of my ancestors, I'm going to take a break from them and pick some random person in my tree and do this!

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    1. Thanks for the comment and it's nice to know I'm not the only one with colorful language.

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  2. I have tried something new lately that I love. Along with my love for Find a grave someone shared Billion Graves app for my phone. I love it! Makes finding those special grave request so fast!
    http://thebranchesonourtree.blogspot.com

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  3. Thanks for the comment and link to your blog, too.

    We stay out of old cemeteries this time of year in the South due to the snakes, though. I'll grab the app for the cooler weather.

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