Family historian remove your blinders! set aside personal biases!

 

Family historian remove your blinders in order to chip away at the brick walls. How? Re-examine your documents. Set aside personal biases. Do not accept "No" for an answer. Ask again another day. Do not be fearful of asking questions. With 30+ years in genealogy, I find that I still need this reminder.

Learn the meaning of documents in the time they were written. What were the laws at that time? What was the culture? Many new historians read the military pension application card as "Invalid." The Merriam Webster dictionary offers two meanings. The researcher may grab the first meaning, "being without foundation or force in fact, truth, or law" and move on to other records. In reality, the meaning is "suffering from disease or disability." Men did not apply for a military pension until absolutely necessary for family support.

Set aside your biases. Do not clump everyone in a category. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) hosted a Farm and Family night in Springfield, Illinois on August 31, 2016. While working on a family display, I called my 93 year old relative several times. Being raised in a non-talking family, I assumed everyone would be closed mouth about their past. "Call anytime, I will be happy to answer your questions." The questions flowed, such as what was it like growing up? Answer: "Just like any other city girl... We had a dairy farm and were not allowed near the cows. We always had one hired man and during the summer more." The milk was sold to Bowman Dairy. The Elsner farm had electricity before the town of Frankfort. All the children graduated from college. The ladies did not work in the fields, until WWII. Every family farm life is unique. The John Kampe farm did have the variety of cows, horses, pigs and chickens. His son, William became a stockman. He was one of the first in Frankfort to drive a truck full of cattle to the stock yards on the south side of Chicago. Henry, William's son and my dad, would tell of herding the cattle to what is now Van Horne Woods. As a boy, he collected arrow heads.

Learn context and time for asking questions. Some of us were raised in the don't ask or don't tell time warp. My mom, born 1919 in Illinois, had to go out the back door when family came in the front door. Adults talk about adult topics and little ears are not welcome even in the other room. I was raised to sit in the back corner and be seen and not heard. This very strong message was played out when I went to watch my dad work. He was a court reporter. I had no idea of protocol; when the judge came in and the court worker said, "all rise" I just sank deeper in my chair. This was for everyone else, not me! Did I learn differently later. In each situation, your response may be different.

Ask questions. Keep asking questions. Keep the question time short, allow the person to tell you want they want to tell, but keep on topic. If our own preconceived ideas do not interfere, we will learn a good deal.