Families from Marano Marchesato, Cosenza, Calabria
How to do this
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Families from Marano Marchesato, Cosenza, Calabria How to do this
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The Evolution of
this Project Introduction
I often get letters from visitors in cyberspace asking me about my research. I am glad to be of assistance and thought that this little write up was in order so that each interested party gets the best advise that I am able to give. Please feel free to write me personally if you would like to discuss anything further. (back to top) How I began…reading, interviewing, planning While I was interested in my family history many years earlier, I began seriously pursuing and recording the details since the Spring of 1998. The first thing I did was check out all the books I could on the subject of genealogy from the library. I read them and prepared my plan of attack. As was suggested in most books, I sought interviews with as many of my oldest living relatives that I could talk to. Once I found out the exact name of the town that my grandparents came from, I visited my nearest Family History Center operated by the Church of Latter Day Saints. There I was able to check in their library card catalog (which is now on-line) to see what, if any, records they might have microfilmed from my grandparent's home town. (back to top) What I found…great info at the Family History Center Happily, I found that the LDS had microfilmed all the civil records (birth, marriage and death records) that were recorded in the town between 1809-1910! Since the records were recorded on 16 microfilms, I started by renting microfilms that would contain information that I already generally knew, my grandparent's birth records. Once I located those records, I found out the ages of their parents at the time of their birth and then was able to mathematically calculate the approximate birth year of my great grandparents. Once I came up with that approximate year, I knew which microfilms to order to find their birth records …and so on. (back to top) Where I found myself…too much family!?! Eventually I ordered all 16 microfilms from my family's home town. By this time I had found so many grandparents and different surnames that it was hard for me to keep track of whom to look for. It was at this point that I decided to attempt transcription of all records. (back to top) I prefer to spend my time transcribing marriage records because I feel each record provides more genealogical facts than either birth or death records. I start by transcribing the index for a given year, leaving several lines between each entry. I then transcribe each record in the blank spaces, including all genealogical details about the bride, groom and their parents. I usually leave out details such as witnesses unless I know for sure that it is a relative of mine. (back to top) When I am home, I enter the information into my family tree program. First I search the program to see if any of the individuals in the marriage party are already on my file; if they are not, then I create new "unattached" families. If they are, I get excited, especially if both the bride and groom's families are on my file and "not yet" related to each other. (back to top) Documenting and Referencing…very important! While I enter my facts on the program I pay special attention to documenting and referencing my sources. Documented sources ensure that the work can be utilized by others. Additionally, it is with the documented sources that I create the indexes of the civil records that are published on the web site. Since this is a rather technical and bizarre process of mine, I will save further explanation for those that really REALLY care. (back to top) I found that practically anything that can be printed out can be published on the internet. I use an internet publishing program to make the informational town pages of the web site. I use free services on the web which allow me to upload my GEDCOM file and then automatically generate and publish the family group sheets and pedigree charts. While web publishing tasks often take time from my research work, I am constantly on the look out for new programs and services which make updating the pages easier and quicker. (back to top) Sharing the Work Once I began publishing my findings, I advertised the site on mailing lists and other web sites. Soon folks began to visit and in no time I was contacted by researchers with families on the database. One researcher jumped in and started transcribing records as I do and is forwarding the information to me for recording and publishing. Others have sent me their researched pedigrees which I have implemented into the database. What has been most exciting about all this networking is the fact that I have found two distant cousins! (back to top) As the project continues, I hope to find new ways to make things go quicker; while transcribing is time consuming, recording takes even longer. Nevertheless, I look forward to finding more relatives of long ago and meeting other researchers with similar interests. (back to top) |
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