I became a member of Ancestry.com in Oct 2014. I tinkered around the site, finding a few interesting things but never fully involved myself. In the past 17 months I have had two major surgeries and plenty of downtime. In the past handful of months, I have taken a greater interest in the site and what it offers. I upgraded my access from general to “world” because the majority of my relatives are Eastern European as well as Irish/Scot. I have had just an amazing time finding once hidden (from me) treasures. I tried using the Fold 3 (military) website with little success uncovering new material not already on Ancestry. And I guess because of that experience, I never tried the other sites that were also available for use…until yesterday. Yesterday was an AMAZING breakthrough for me as far as my research is concerned. I started using the Newspapers.com site. There I found a couple of clues on a Great Grandma from Hungary that should prove very useful. I found social clippings from the small coal camp my Ma grew up in (learned what Feted means). I found advertisements for the family trade (shoemakers). There were tons of things now opened to me.
Yesterday I posted an article where my Pawpaw was interviewed about the rationing of shoes during WWII. To see his words there, in print, just elevated my spirits. How exciting.
On the flip side, I found my Ma’s public decry of divorce. And, for those records, I will travel to the actual courthouse to see if I can find clarity regarding a couple of things that I did not know before.
I plan on writing various blogs about the things I find, the bigger finds and overcoming obstacles. If you have any advice for a novice ancestry researcher, please let me know in the comments below.
What an adventure. It is MY adventure.
Thoughts and Ponderances 