June 26, 2008

Try, Try, Try Again!

Today I received a new contract, and I have spent the entire day working on it.

Just when I thought I couldn't locate any more information for this client, BAM! Along comes another break and I am inundated with information!

I love tying families together with Census Records. This is a great tool for building family trees. Not only can we find family members who may, or may not, have survived in family history passed down to us, but we can also see just how often family members have moved!

In searching for family members prior to 1900, when transportation was extremely different from that of today, I am often amazed at how often, and at what great distances our forbears traveled and moved!

Today alone I witnessed a man who was born in 1827 in Ohio, who moved from Ohio, to Indiana, to Illinois, to Missouri, and finally to Kansas, all by 1860. And in 1885 his 90 year old mother moved from Ohio to join him in Kansas! Wow! Can you imagine?

I always count it a privilege to work for my clients. And I don't believe there has been a single client yet who I have NOT given free hours of service to! I often don't charge for an hour here, or two hours there. I get so lost up in the moment that I find it is not only entertaining for me, but it truly is MY PASSION!

I hope that you are doing what you are passionate about, too. When you can work at a job that is your passion, well, it just doesn't seem like work at all!

Blessings to All!
CBH

Wednesday - 25 June 2008

So, here I am, adding yet another task to my daily schedule! I've decided to chronicle my journey as I work through the mounds of dusty papers, journals, ledgers, tax rolls, birth and death certificates, indexes, wills and land grants!

That's me and my hubby on the right in a photo taken last October. We live in the beautiful mountains of Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Johnnie is a long-haul truck driver and is gone five days a week, which accounts for my long, [endless] ,hours of genealogy research.

I've begun to sell my services on eBay and am getting a rather wonderful response. I keep my services priced low for those individuals who might not otherwise be able to afford the high cost of a genealogist or family historian. So far, I have had only wonderful reviews! The Feedback has been fabulous!

Yesterday I finished up with a client who gave me a first. I have never been asked to uncover slavery documentation before. So, I went into the case presuming that we would uncover such. And we did! I was able to get the client exactly what she wanted. While black historical documents have not been my forte, I was rather proud that I was able to unearth these. It was a wonderful accomplishment for me. This morning I was able to email the client with a successful report and copies of the documents she had so wanted.

Today I have received another contract for forty-hours of research, and have spent two hours on the project so far. It looks to be quite successful. In just these two hours, I have uncovered public records, census records, death records, military records , an obituary and an SSDI. Whew! It's been a whirlwind evening!

In the midst of trying to run a successful research business, I am also the editor, and sole writer for "The Monroe Bean's", a monthly newsletter about the Bean family of West Virginia. It's a family based newsletter that contains historical research, as well as all the latest family news.

I am also an author and am currently working on a historical novel based on the life of my great-great-grandfather. As well as co-writing a science fiction novel with my hubby. By the way, Johnnie is a wonderful genealogist as well, although I think sometimes he lacks the confidence to admit it!

I subscribe to several genealogy magazines and online newsletters and blog feeds. I would suggest that anyone who is interested in genealogy do the same.

In the next few days we will post a list of our favorite online genealogy websites. These are wonderful for research.

Since it is well past midnight in my little neck of the woods, I will get ready for bed.

Until tomorrow evening, keep the dust out of your eyes [and nose] as you perform your research, and keep your pencil always sharpened!