From sidetracked to on-track ...

Happy Fourth of July, everyone.  Our house is just too quiet, as our children relax and celebrate the holiday at their homes.  I miss the grandsons and their parents, but we have been fortunate to have celebrated previous holidays with them. So, I am directing my energies elsewhere today. 

It has been quite a while since my last post, and there is a very good reason why.  I knew it, and  I broke the rule. What rule?  Research one family at a time.  This is difficult to do when the Staub, Smith, Wilt, and Groft families overlap.  But then I discovered some of my Wildasin ancestors married one of the aforementioned Staub ancestors.  I got sidetracked, and my punishment was three days of sorting, rechecking my database, and filing.

Another rule that I broke I made up myself:  all newly found research should be added to my database within 24 hours and not tossed aside.  I couldn't read my writing and some papers became mixed with others making it confusing to make sense of it all.  After three afternoons, I finally got the mess contained, a new filing system established, and have photographs to scan. 

In a nutshell, this is what I have been up to and where my work is headed:

• Nothing new or earth shattering has been uncovered. 
• The Staub family lineage data entry is complete to my satisfaction.  However, I won't be satisfied until I confirm each person with the U. S. Census data, city directories, farm directories, and church records and that they really did exist and that the information is accurate.  Good citations are a MUST in any research.  The wonderful lady who gave me this information told me where she got the information and that much of the information came 'word of mouth,' but that is not good enough.
• I plan on identifying each of the relatives who joined a religious order and who also served in the military.  I found several who fought in the War of 1812 and Revolutionary War as well as most recent wars.  This research will not stop the final step, and that is to create a DVD to provide to family members. The Staub book will be too expensive to print - double sided the number of pages totals nearly one ream of paper. 

Be safe this holiday and remember to be ever grateful of our ancestors who fought for our independence.  Their sacrifice ensured our freedoms that we enjoy today.