** What Is A Source?

** Mine Is Name Most Unusual

**Library of Congress Digital Newspaper Program

** Images of America: Washington

** Offers From FamilyTree Magazine

What is a source? One dictionary definition is so vague as to be meaningless: “a place, person, or thing from which something comes or can be obtained.” See Google search for “define source.”

A source is the identity and location concerning where you got the information you are using. 

That isn’t very artfully said but genealogists are talking about sources being reliable or unreliable. A source is a source. If I got my information from a book in the local public library, the citation information about the book and the place where I found it constitute the “source” of my information. Any questions about the accuracy, reliability or whatever of the information have nothing whatsoever to do with the “source.” If I think your information is wrong or unreliable and you provide me with a source, I can go an check to see whether or not you are correct. Absent a source, I have to guess where you might have gotten the information and from my perspective, I have to assume, since you did not tell me where you got your information, that the information is unreliable and quite likely wrong. When people say a “source” is unreliable, what they really mean is that the information obtained from the source is unreliable. (From: James Tanner ‘s   Genealogy’s Star blog back on  5 Dec 2015.)

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My maternal grandfather’s surname was Gurney. Mother always wondered where her surname originated. And why was the hospital carry-cart called a gurney. Well, I sleuthed and learned that the name originated in France and was DeGournay, meaning of the village of Gournay. A fellow of that name came to England with William the Conqueror (1066) and eventually the name morphed into Gurney. As for the hospital cart? I asked Grandma Google (who knows most everything!) and she said a fellow surnamed Gurney had invented it. Duh.

I have a Gurney ancestor with the first name of Bezaleel. Where did that come from in the early 1700s in Connecticut? Especially when he had siblings Elizabeth, Mary and Thomas. WELL!  It’s a name from the Old Testament, Exodus 35:30:  “I have called by name, Bezaleel…… and have filled him with knowledge in all manner of workmanship.” And Bezaleel was called upon to build the ark for the covenant!

Now why blather you with all of this? Do you have unusual first- or surnames in your family tree? Have you done any sleuthing to learn where that name originated??

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**Save the Date !!

**The Way Things Used To Be

** “This is a V-Home!”

** Genealogy Blogs: A Good Deal

** Quotes from Shipley Munson

The Northwest genealogy Conference for 2016 is history and it was a stupendous conference. You’ll see the several postings on this blog spotlighting various aspects of those four days. And guess what? The Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society announced the dates for 2017:  August 16th-19th. And guess what too? You can register NOW at the 2016 prices for the 2017 conference. Click to www.NwGC.org. 

I’d bet at least 30% of the folks attending this conference were from out of state: Canada, Oregon, Nevada and Texas! You and I are among the other 70% who live within fairly easy driving distance (discounting traffic, ugh) and if we start dropping dollar bills into a jar today we’ll be able to attend the NWGC in 2017. Hope you will. A little bird told me that Kenyatta Berry will be one of the main speakers. Know her from Genealogy Roadshow?

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Isn’t this the way it goes? When touring an old historic mansion, and in the kitchen as we looked at all the old gadgets, it went like this:  “I remember using THAT!” To “I remember my mother using THAT!” To “I remember my grandmother using THAT!” To “I haven’t a clue what that is!” What kitchen tools do we use today that our great-grandchildren will not be able to identify???

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World War II was much more real to our parents and/or grandparents than it is to us. We find it quaint to realize some of the problems and customs that war brought to the American people. Take this from the National Office of Civil Defense, 1942:

This is a V-Home!

We in this home are fighting. We know this war will be easy to lose and hard to win. We mean to win it. Therefore, we solemnly pledge all our energies and all our resources to fight for freedom and against fascism.

We serve notice to all that we are personally carrying the fight to the enemy in these ways:

• This home follows the instructions of its air-raid warden.
• This home conserves food, clothing, transportation and health.
• This home salvages essential materials.
• This home refuses to spread rumors.
• This home buys War Savings Stamps and Bonds regularly.

We are doing these things because we know we must to WIN THIS WAR.

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Do you read the daily newspaper? Or watch the local and/or national news daily on TV? Or listen to the news every day on public radio? Great! But where to you get your genealogy news?? There are several genealogy blogs to which you can subscribe FOR FREE to bring you regular news and updates in the exploding world of genealogy. For instance:

Ancestry.com  —  Click to the website, and you don’t have to be a member to scroll clear down to the bottom of the screen to where it says Ancestry Blog. Click that and then about mid-page on the right, under Notifications, click “receive updates from Ancestry blog by email.” Regular blog posts, or updates, will come into your email in box. Simple as that.

MyHeritage.com  —  Almost the same as for Ancestry. Click to the website, scroll down to the bottom, under Community, click on Company Blog. Then on the upper right, click Sign Up. Simple as that.

FamilySearch.org  —  Click to the website, near the bottom is Blog. Then enter your email address into the “subscribe to our newsletter” box on the right. Simple as that.

Dick Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter has been the reigning king of genealogy blogs for a decade or more. Click to EOGN.com, scroll down on the right and sign up/subscribe. The free edition is plenty wonderful!

Now if you do this, you will have subscribed to FOUR regular genealogy newspapers!

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Perhaps you’ve never heard of Shipley Munson. But he is the creator of RootsTech and Chief Marketing Officer and Director of Outreach for FamilySearch. What he says is worth noting.  I scribbled down these quotes from him at RootsTech 2016:

• No living person should be researched later! We should, indeed, document the living.
• Innovation is alive and well in family history!
• What will the great-grandchildren of your great-grandchildren wish you had preserved for them??
• It’s not them vs. us. It’s just us; we are all cousins.