Saturday Fun Challenge- 20 Questions Part 4

 From Randy Seaver's GeneaMusings: 

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1)  Ellen Thompson-Jennings posted 20 questions on her Hound on the Hunt blog three weeks ago - see Even More Questions About Your Ancestors and Maybe A Few About You (posted 27 June).

2)  We will do these five at a time - Questions 16 to 20 tonight (we did 1 through 5 three weeks ago, questions 6 through 10 two weeks ago, and questions 11 through 15 last week)

3)  Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook post.



16)  If you’re into DNA which would you say you work on more? Genealogy or DNA? Or about the same?

I do more genealogy. At some point I need to learn to do more than scratch the surface on DNA. So many directions and so little time it seems.

17)  Do you think that your genealogy is ever really done?

Umm, every time you push back, there are two parents to research, so twice as many new people added. Also, I tend to want to pursue the siblings and their children down to the present time to find where they are. It’s impossible to get that all done!


18)  Did you ever search an ancestor’s name on the internet and you were surprised at what you found?

Most definitely! People lead/led interesting lives and you never know where this pursuit might lead.

19)   Do you ever feel like your ancestors are nudging you in the right direction in your research?

I have joked about pulling into one cemetery and a collateral relative was sitting on his tombstone waving to me to get my attention. In reality, as I pulled in that day, I spotted the surname in large letters on a stone not far from the main driveway. His in-laws that I was especially looking for were right beside him. At various times I have had these very easy discoveries that I can’t help but wonder if I was guided to somehow.

20)  If you could give one piece of advice to someone new to genealogy, what would you tell them? 

Have fun and cite your sources! Seriously, even if they are not totally in a proper format, get something down to tell where you found the information. Not only does it give creditability to your research, but it helps you if at some point you need to go back and reexamine that record. And you will need to. I’ve created simple templates for common record groups that I keep in a file so I can copy, paste and then fill in the information. They may not be perfect, but I have the basic information down.