Phones. Oh my.

One of the tools a genealogist has today that is overlooked the most often is our phones.

I can hear it now...but our great, great, great, greats didn't have phones.

Of course they didn't. But you do and so does the county offices where they lived. So does the genealogical society where they lived. If you don't want to use your phone, then send them an email.

Make a list of the places where you need more information. For example I need to find out how to get more information from two counties in Ohio regarding burials. I can call or email their genealogical society to see if they have clues how I can find out where my ancestors are buried. Most of them died before the State of Ohio required death and burial records. Some died after they were supposed to keep them, but there were several years where very few complied with the new rule. It was around the turn of the century (1900) when it was actually rewritten and mandatory.

In my own county, I need to call the local courthouse to make sure they are the place I need to go to get the death certificate of several ancestors.

The list is usually endless of the information you need to fill in the missing chunks.

Make your list. Select a day of the week to make your phone calls. Personally, I'm going to select Wednesday as my day of the week. Monday's are busy days for these various offices. Friday's are pretty useless since everyone is getting ready for their weekend. I suggest selecting Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

Remember, tracing our ancestors is important to us, but it is not the main purpose of the majority of the people we'll call. That's a secondary portion of their job. Be flexible enough to not call on the first or last day of the month, too.

As an added bonus, another overlooked source are the censuses prior to 1850. I realize the 1840 and earlier census only list the head of the household. But if you know the head of the household's given name and surname, the information contained in those earlier census can be goldmines of information to tie one generation to the next. You're not hurting me if you don't want to take the time to sort through them, but you're hurting yourself and your ancestry.

Is it worth it? When I found and was able to trace a missing brother, for me it was more than worth it. It's why we do this. Or it's why I do it. I don't do this so I can copy what others have done before me. I do it so I can gather even more proof that this person who lived long ago was my direct ancestor. Or a sibling of my direct ancestor. There is nothing that beats the feeling of finding another line to your family. Unless it's finding one of your direct ancestors that you thought you'd never find.

Use your sources. All your sources. Make sure you are still having fun. Genealogy is and should remain fun. If for some reason it isn't, figure out what you need to do to get the fun back into it. Then do it.