Chipping away at our brick walls.

Not much progress since last fall, but there have been a few little glimmers here and there. We have had a couple of low-level matches on the DNA samples we have posted, and time will tell if those result in anything helpful down the road. Also, an Ancestry posting has led us to John Waite and family's emigration record from England to New York. Not certain this is our family, but it's provided some hope, and is worth further investigation.

Ontario visit

For months now, Dad and I have gone through the files at home and online with a fine-toothed comb. We have hired a professional genealogist in Toronto, and asked many other volunteers with various societies in Ontario to help out. All in an effort to break down the brick wall around the Wait(e) family.

Tomorrow we will fly to Toronto, where we'll spend a couple of days at the Archives of Ontario to search for a series of vital records and whatever else we can find. We'll leave as early as possible on Wednesday morning to drive to Cornwall, which is about 4.5 hours away. We've lined up someone to help us at the historical society there, and then we'll go to Morrisburg, where someone from the UEL association has offered to meet us. Thursday we'll drive to Ottawa, and we'll have 2 days to do our research at the national archives there. We've also got a distant relative to visit in Ottawa, and it will be wonderful to meet in person, as we have all been searching for the same information about the Wait(e) family for many years.

I've got my laptop as updated as possible, my camera, the GPS for the rental car, and a reasonably light suitcase. No doubt dad will have less, but then again, he's not really into much technology. Wish us luck, as we're going to need some on this trip!

The Uncles' Journey

I'm not sure where the time has gone, but we're into the month of September, and dad and I are making some progress with our plans for our trip to Ontario. We've got our flights booked, and now we need to sort out where to stay and what our itinerary will be. We will fly into Toronto on October 13th and will fly home from Ottawa on the following Sunday.

In the meantime, Uncle Lynne and Uncle Bob came to Calgary for a quick visit, and we had a fabulous BBQ at mom and dad's place last night, with everyone there except Dylan (he was soaking up the sun in the Shuswap on a houseboat). This morning they packed the car and with dad at the wheel, left for Saskatchewan. They plan to spend about a week traveling through the province, and checking out some old haunts along the way. I am sure they will have a wonderful journey, and will tell stories the whole way! They will miss their brother Glen, certainly, but I have a sense he will be with them in spirit.

I'm at home with the significant task of listing all of the research and documents we have found for the Wait/Waite family. We have decided to hire a professional genealogist, and she has requested this information in order to avoid repeating any of the work we have already tackled. I hold out hope that she will have some strategies that will conquer our challenge, and will either link the two generations we think should be tied together, or will disprove that theory and will link us to another group of Waits.

I also plan to visit the Alberta Family Histories Society library again this week, as there are a couple of key volunteers who may be able to help us before we leave in October. There are many people here who have done a great deal of research in Ontario, and the resources in our local library are rich, indeed. I was particularly happy to receive an email this morning regarding our monthly SIG (special interest group) meeting, which will focus on Wills & Probate Records -- these will be important for us on this trip.

So, I hope the Smith brothers enjoy their time touring Saskatchewan, and I may just find a little new information before they return next weekend. Either way, it's always great to visit with family, and we had a wonderful family gathering last night. Memories in the making, and I treasure them.

Just DO it!

I've really struggled lately to do the things I set out to accomplish. I have many items on my list, and they are certainly not all about genealogy, as I have many other interests in my life, such as photography. It's becoming clear to me that I need to write my goals & "to do" list on a big whiteboard or something in order to stay on track.

I spend a fair amount of time researching our family history, but I'm not great at organizing the data. Dad is better at that. I go and find bits and pieces, and rarely keep it straight in my head. He knows instantly what goes where, and whether the information is relevant. We have binders and folders and at least 2 programs on the computer. I really need to go through each person in our main line and ensure we have the source documents in a place we can find them. Ideally, each image would be scanned and entered electronically, and the originals would be filed. I need an administrative assistant!!

I am also a procrastinator. I think we all can be at times. Mostly, I put things off when I don't know what to do, or when a situation seems uncomfortable or awkward. Right now I want to make some headway with two brick walls, but in both cases my best hope is to use DNA to determine our ancestry. In once case, I have the DNA, and just need to figure out how to use the data with a new database. In the other, I need to ask someone I don't know very well for their DNA. If I knew they shared my interest in genealogy, it would be easier, but I'm not sure. So ... I have a letter ... and my relationship with the post office has never been all that strong, so I hope to get it mailed soon. I've had the letter ready for a few weeks now. What I DO know is that nothing is going to happen if I don't mail the letter, as this person has no idea what I'm looking for.

This blog is a bright spot in all of this, however, as I like writing, and if I can commit to posting about once each week or two, I will make progress in my genealogy overall. I have many photos and memories, and Dad has written out some of the tricky parts of our family history. Many of those stories would be good starting points, and now I have decided to use this blog as a place to hold some of the memories, so it's all worthwhile.

Today I purchased a helpful book online, "The Big Genealogy Blog Book." It was written by Amy Coffin, who I met through Twitter not long ago, when I first started. I looked at her blog and commented to her that I liked it. (Check it out: http://wetree.blogspot.com/)  She encouraged me, and told me it was easy to start a blog. I jumped right in and tried it out, and she was right! It was so easy! It's taken awhile to figure out how to let people comment, and how to post pictures, but over time I'll acquire new skills and I'll improve the blog. I have a lot of work to do before mine is anything great, but at least I'm getting the information down, and there is a place for family to find out what I'm doing.

I may not post regularly on my blog, and I'm not a "New Year's Resolution" kind of person, but today's a start, and I intend to keep it up. Perhaps if I make a note on my calendar each week? Amy's book will help, I'm sure, as it's a well-written, easy to read guide, and just the kind of resource I like. Not too heavy, but practical and helpful. I suppose you'll see how well it works for me in the weeks ahead. ;-)