Craziest thing you ever done for genealogy?

[fudge stripe cookays]

Ever seen these little tidbits in the Ancestry Weekly Newsletter where people send in all the funny or interesting things they've done for genealogy? Tramping through weeds for 2 miles to get to an ancient cemetery...learning Polish so they could go back to the homeland for research...that type of thing.

I'm in the process of one of these right now. An almost lifelong Texan, and I'm moving to Wisconsin so I can finish my book. :D

Anyone else care to share? These stories are always so great.

[CBHagman]

1. I combined swing state volunteering with a trip to...

...research my grandmother's family. I'd never properly visited her hometown, which was located in one of the swing states of the 2004 election. So when I was conducting phone interviews of prospective volunteers for the various states, I impulsively decided to join their number, and of course I chose Grandma's hometown as my base.

The morning after the election, I walked up some very steep hills to a cemetery where at least a dozen of my relatives are buried. I wasn't used to the rocky, hilly terrain and contemplated the possibility that I might keel over and join my relatives in more ways than one.

The following day I was scheduled to return home, but first I wanted to walk through one of the neighborhoods where my relatives had lived. Dragging my suitcase along with me (You can no longer store baggage :-(), I traced my way through the relatives' stomping grounds. Did I mention it was pouring rain and I surreptitiously dried my socks under the electric hand dryer in the restroom of the restaurant where I had lunch? :blush:

P.S. Kerry-Edwards did win that particular state, but you know the rest of the story.

As I write this, one of my relatives is off to the same city to fill in the gaps in her research and also to see what I saw.

[fudge stripe cookays]

2. Very cool!

I have just found TONS of stuff in Iowa! If I'd only KNOWN how many connections we had there, I would have taken my notes with me to Iowa in 2004 when I was there for Dean.

BUT now I'm closer so can make a weekend trip of it. :D

I had your experience in the cemetery in NY a few months ago. I think this cemetery was built on a 45 degree angle! Quite steep! But without the wet socks. :P

[IA_Seth]

10. Iowa!

Hey if any of your lines cross through Linn County, or any of the surrounding counties really.. PM me!

Scratch that... PM me anyway with the last names and I will see if I have any info!

[fudge stripe cookays]

12. Awwww thanks!

Linn-- is that Des Moines you're in? Unfortunately, nobody actually IN Linn-- but I bet you're near the archives. Wink wink.

I had some folks in Eldora, in Hardin County, and then another woman was down in Keokuk but left. I just had an RAOGK volunteer there check for me, and no obit. Dammit! So I'll be checking most Iowa papers around her death date. She was buried in Beloit, WI with her parents, but no other information. She may have been in Blackhawk County when she died.

[IA_Seth]

14. Linn - Cedar Rapids

Not real close to Eldora or Keokuk unfortunately.

If anything else pops up thats in Linn let me know.

[fudge stripe cookays]

15. Bummer!

Will do. Hope I find something. :hi:

[catchnrelease]

3. Not too crazy but scary to a CA native

A few years ago, SO and I were taking a cross country driving trip to LaCrosse, MN. I requested that on the way we make a stop in Red Oak, Iowa where one line of my family had settled. Was hoping to find some records in the county offices.

So as we are on our way there, we are on a 2 lane road that starts in countryside and becomes corn fields on both sides of the road. I'm not kidding, I think we were on that road for 20 miles, with tall stands of corn surrounding us and could see nothing else at all. No breaks in the corn, no farm houses, no side roads.....nothing but corn! We were talking about being in a Sci-Fi movie where the whole world was gone except those corn fields and we'd never come out!

Finally, we came to a cross road that led us to the town and court house. Sadly, they said no birth/death records were kept as early as I was requesting. But did get some great info from the Catholic church there. But my most lasting memory of that trip was the endless corn fields!!!:scared:

[catchnrelease]

5. Oops!

That's LaCrosse, WI of course! :blush:

[fudge stripe cookays]

9. I wondered about that!

I get very claustrophobic when I can't see around me...when I'm on a plane and we're in a huge, never-ending cloud bank, I start climbing the walls! I need to be able to see or I go crazy. That corn would have made me mental!

I haven't been to LaCrosse yet, but I've been to quite a few other areas of the state.

[sybylla]

4. It all began with a simple request

Up until a few years ago I was a RAOGK volunteer. I quit because I was doing more work on other people's genealogy than on my own but if you have time, I do recommend it. I found out a lot more than I ever thought I could about the counties around where I live - the same counties my ancestors came to 140 years ago.

Anyway, someone contacted me about a cemetery search. They'd found a transcription of a stone by a local genealogical society and wanted to know if I could find the cemetery and photograph the stone and any others of their family members if I could find them there. Sounded simple enough, no? So I agreed. I got directions to the cemetery from the historical society cemetery transcription and drove over on a pleasant spring afternoon on my way home from the courthouse. Only I saw no sign of a cemetery. Drove up and down the road twice, three times. I'm blind, I thought, or I'm on the wrong road. I stopped at a farm adjacent to where the cemetery was supposed to be and asked about it. The owner smiled broadly at me and I wasn't sure why. He told me that the cemetery was where the road is now. It was small and when they widened the road years ago, they just plowed over the cemetery. Most of the markers were tossed along the fence line, though all that's left now are fragments and pieces. I was welcome to take a look. The stone I was looking for was one he knew was there. He sent his son along with me to show me where they were.

When I got back to the fence line, I knew why the guy was smiling. It wasn't a well-kept fence but more of a barbed wire bramble thick with trees and brush. His son did take me to the stone I was looking for which helped a lot since there were pieces of stone markers scattered along the fence for probably 75 yards. I had to shimmy under the barbed wire, then crawl on my hands and knees in sodden earth to get at the one I wanted so I could turn it over for a photograph. The requester's hopes of finding more stones there were shot. The bits and pieces left of all the other stones were hopelessly worthless as far as identifying anyone. Though I did take time to look at the ones I could get to easily.

That turned out to be my last RAOGK request. I'd still do it again. Kind of sad to think a cemetery can just be bulldozed like that - even 50 or 75 years ago. You would think people would have more respect than that.

My own genealogical searches have involved no such struggle, though I would gladly sacrifice of a pair of jeans to find my great-great grandmother's grave marker. I fear my family was to poor to provide one for her and she died before records were kept. Without either, I will never have her exact date of death or birth.

[fudge stripe cookays]

6. Wow.

And you have no idea how much people like me LOVE people like you who go out of your way to do stuff like that!

Sorry about your GG granny. Mine is buried in Clinton Cemetery, but has no stone. I'd love to be able to get her one as part of my continuing project.

I found a place this week, S! Will be headed your way come September 8-9 or thereabouts!

:hi:fsc

[sybylla]

7. I saw that you finally found a place

I think that's wonderful and can't wait to welcome you to the land of cheese and beer. :hi:

You probably don't know Sept 8th is Fighting Bob Fest. I'm sure you're too busy to go this year but you'd better mark the middle two weekends in September on your calendar for next year - one of them will be Fighting Bob Fest weekend. After living in Texas, Fighting Bob Fest will be like dying and going to liberal heaven. There are a couple of threads in the Wisconsin forum this year's fest. Check them out when you get a chance.

[fudge stripe cookays]

8. Actually I DID see the threads..

...and I"ve been hearing about Fightin Bob Fest for years. I SO want to go. But yeah...kind of a logistical impossibility for me this year.

But definitely on the agenda for next year. And hopefully reprehensor can join me too!

:hi:

[fudge stripe cookays]

11. Gah. Somebody please smack me.

I just noticed how my thread title came out. It was supposed to be "you've" ever done.

This goddamned MS. Half the time, I double certain letters I'm typing. Sometimes, I don't type hard enough and they don't show up.

I look like a giant grammar moron! :blush:

[Cybergata]

13. It looks like everyone who answered understood your meaning,

and that is all that counts. I do the same thing all the time, plus I leave off rs for your, reverse letters words, and just about any dyslexic mix up there can possibly be.

I enjoyed reading everyone's reply. I'm impressed at the things people have done in their search for ancestors. I'm also inspired. I thought all the money I've spent on books, organizations and genealogy databases was crazy, but everyone here puts me to shame. I salute you all.

[Thirtieschild]

16. Found my mother's second cousin in our basement.

Husband's avocation was pottery, we sold it out of our basement. A buyer paid by check, saying everything on the front was correct. I never looked at the info on a check but looked this time because she'd mentioned it. She'd included her maiden name, Sloan. I told her my mother's grandmother was a Sloan, she asked me where they lived, then told me the full name of her grandfather. I'd heard mother talk about him repeatedly. Small, small world.