Discovering the Story of Our Ancestors Lives

It does not take long for anyone involved in genealogy to become fascinated with the lives of their ancestors. Filling in the missing pieces become an obsession. Each new document we obtain becomes a piece in this puzzle.

As genealogists, we are also historians. The site I found for this week, DoHistory shows how one historian fitted the pieces of a life into a story of a mid-wife at the end of the 18th century. But, the best part is that the site goes on to tell you how you can do the same with the life of one of your ancestors.

You may not want to do anything as elaborate as the author of this story. Nevertheless, the strategies used will help to flesh out your ancestor. I found it helpful to begin exploring this site by starting with the link "Doing History" and following the subsequent links. This gave me an idea of how the author of the book "A Midwife's Tale" built her story.

The "Archive of Primary Documents" is especially revealing. I found the best view of the documents to be by document type. Many of you may have experienced the search in many varied topics to gain an understanding of your ancestor.

The link to genealogy will teach you how to create your own family story as a genealogist. There is a lot there. You may want to set aside a few hours to explore and peruse the information. The History Toolkit is the heart of this site.

The links to other websites contains some excellent references to women's history. As it is the women in our family who often become our brick walls, knowing more about the history of women will help to tear down these blocks.

I hope you have enjoyed my series of three off beat sites. They are not strictly genealogical sites, but will help to broaden our research.

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