FamilySearch Indexing

I took a break from serious genealogy research during the holidays - between NaNoWriMo in November and then the Christmas holidays, I knew I did not have time to really DIG into genealogy...

Well, with the new year I was feeling down. Missing my mother took center stage and frustrations with daily life was weighing heavily on my mind. I needed something to focus on, something to help me feel "better". Of course I began with prayer. I wanted to do something for someone else. And I thought back to the Sundays when I would do FamilySearch Indexing before church.

So, I have decided that I will set aside a chunk of time every day to index. I think of all the hours I've spent at http://www.familysearch.org using the indexes and records that are available to the public, free of charge, to move forward in my genealogy search, and I am grateful for those who take a little time to index a census record, a batch of marriage records, and the like. Every name really does belong to SOMEONE and that SOMEONE may be an ancestor that you need to find out more information.

I've been working on marriage info in Illinois. Since I have kindred from Illinois, I felt like that would be a good series to work on. Some of these records have the names of parents, location of birth for the groom and bride, etc. What a treasure it would be to find that someone had indexed MY ancestors' information and then made it possible for me to find it! So, that is what I'm doing.

I am hoping that by helping with records, some windows and doors will open for me in my own genealogy research. I feel as though I'm at a brick wall with many of my names. I look at ancestry.com and only find people who have the same information as I do about my brick walls.

So, I'll focus on the indexing until I feel the push to begin back at my own lines. Who knows. Maybe I'll find my gg grandfather in one of these records I index! :)

BTW, my own grandfather became a Great-Great-Grandfather during December. I cannot imagine what it is like to see one's posterity grow into a fifth generation! And at the same time, I became a GrandAunt (great-aunt to the non-genealogist). It's exciting! :)

Dece