Golden Opportunities

A viewer asked if we could help research his family roots. So we did a little digging of our own, and found out that we live in an area rich with genealogical resources. We hit the “mother lode” when we found our next guest. Vicki Blum Vigil is the author of “Finding Your Family History in Northeast Ohio.”

Question: When people express an interest in personal family history, what reasons do they typically give?

Answer: I think as we mature, we have more time to ponder why we're here, and we begin to understand that who we are is informed by who came before us. Genealogy is often a trip of self-discovery. You will often find that our ancestors had similar likes and abilities.
Sometimes people do research for medical reasons.
And we often like to pass down our legacy to our children-not just ours, but our family's as well.

Question:How do you start tracking down your genealogy?

Answer: Start with you. Create an ancestor chart-you are number 1 on the chart. Continue back with your parents. Men are even numbers; women odd. Your father is number 2 on the chart. Your mother, number 3.
Fill in the information you know: birth date, marriage date, and date of death. Also write the location of each.
Most of us will start missing information when we hit our grandparents. Go back as far as you can. The blanks form your to-do list.

Question:Once you've got your to-do list, how should you proceed?

Answer:

• The first thing you should do is look around your home. Old letters, school records, scrapbooks, photograph albums, etc. may contain missing names or locations that can help you track down additional information.
• Call relatives and tell them your interest in tracking down family history. Ask if they have any photos, scrapbooks, etc. that may help you on your search. Some relatives will show no interest. Others will help.
• Visit cemeteries. You can get a lot of information off of the gravestones or from the cemetery's office.

Question:I understand that Cleveland has numerous genealogical resources that can help in your search.

Answer: The Western Reserve Historical Society houses all of the United States Census records-only 5 or so places in the country do. These records may list a relative's occupation, native tongue, native tongue of their parents, members of the household, and more. This information can help you find names from a prior generation (say if a grandmother moved in with a family and is listed), nationality (borders change frequently, but native tongue can give you a clue), etc. You can also discover the names of neighbors, which may lead you to additional relatives.
The WRHS also has a collection of Bibles containing genealogical information that may also help you find information on family members.
The Cleveland Public Library is home to many resources as well. They have city directories, which contain information similar to the census records, but which were published every two years. You can search the Annals of Cleveland-news synopses of Cleveland's ethnic newspapers from the mid-1800s to mid-1900s. Plus, say you have a relative in the Chicago area. The CPL can order microfilm from that area and have it shipped to CPL for you to look through.
The Mormon Church has gathered many, many genealogical records you can use for information, whether you are Mormon or not. The records are housed at Family History Centers around the world. There are two in the greater Cleveland area, one in Akron, etc. They have access to birth, marriage, and death certificates. They also have passenger lists that may help track down information on immigrants.
The Cuyahoga County Archives on the near west side has earlier birth records than what are housed in Cleveland, records of people who enlisted in the Civil War (with their actual signatures), and naturalization records.

Question:Any other advice?

Answer: Don't feel the need to do all your research alone. I always encourage people to join a local genealogical or historical society. They have access or knowledge of resources, online information, etc.
There are groups that meet according to location (greater Cleveland, west side, east side, etc) and also societies that meet according to ethnic group. These groups can be helpful if you need translations, would like to visit another country, would like to pay for research from another country in that country's currency, etc.

When you're ready to begin a "family dig," Northeast Ohio's resources can yield rich information. To learn more, pick up Vicki's book. We'll tell you how next. My thanks to Vicki Vigil