Help – Information Please
I’m often asked, “What information do you need?” or I’m told “If you need more information, please let me know.” And I say “If you have some information that you think would be helpful, please send it”.
My desire is to provide to each grandchild or great grandchild a word picture of the lives of their grandparent(s), aunts, uncles and other family members. This picture could be in the form of a biography or some other family history story. And a few photos are always helpful.
So where does this family history information come from? Well! It might start with a birth announcement or news of a marriage or maybe an obituary. But that is just the beginning. Remember the goal is to collect enough information for a picture of the family member. The history of grandpa and grandma is much more interesting when we can read about the events that happened between the BMD (Birth Marriage Death). And that’s where you come in. It is up to you to add color to these pictures, to add hi-lights and details to their lives.
These highlights might be available on social media, send me an invite (im2ed@www.edquade.com) or a link. These highlights may already be available in a biography. Some details may be found in a resume. Maybe there is a newspaper clipping about participation in some special event or even an award that was received. Or maybe you are the only one that can provide information about the events.
So you can help by providing details of as many of the following items as possible and applicable:
- Birth information, when, where, special circumstances, length, weight…
- Names, First name, Middle name, more middle names, Last name…
- Given name, Surname, Maiden name, Nick names, Alternate Names….
- Names of both parents, Maiden name of mother.
- AKA (Also Known As) names, what, when….
- Adoptions, Step children, Foster children, all that were part of the families.
- Birth parents of adopted, step, foster children.
- Special childhood events,
- Places called home, when where, what happened here or there.
- Religion, what, when where…
- Grammar school, what, when, where…
- High school, what when, where…
- Post secondary education, schools, majors, certificates, degrees, honors, when, where…
- Places of residence.
- Occupations, who did you work for, where, what did you do, when did you begin…
- Military information, years of service, honors, ribbons, places served, when, where…
- Community participation and other activities of interest, when where…
- Honors and other recognitions, when and where….
- Vacations that were special…
- Photos of individuals and of families. Digital are the best for me.
- Marriages, Divorces, Who, when, where, what
- Parents of spouses so spouses have parents – Surname and Given name and other names.
- Deaths, Funerals, Memorials, obituaries, burials, interment, cremation, when, where, ….
- And please include other things that you may feel are important.
- Newspaper clippings of events.
- A more complete list of Fact Types is provided for reference at the end of this page.
Please don’t forget to include the places as most things happen someplace. The date of an event is always important so please include that. Many events such as occupations or employments have both a beginning and an ending date so in such cases please include both dates.
In general I am not out to prove, as a genealogist might, the lineage of any individual so I do not pursue official documents of birth or any other events. If and when such documents are provided or are available I will do my best to properly reference such documents for any extracted relevant facts and events in the lives of family members. I do try to document all of the sources of the information that I collect and enter into the family history. So in addition to the details of events that you might provide, it is always very helpful to have the source of those detail. So for example newspaper clipping would include the name of the newspaper and the date and city that it was printed. If I don’t have that information on a newspaper clipping I record the source as UKNP (Unknown Newspaper). Information provided without documented sources are(I try) credited to the individual providing the source as “Personal Knowledge”.
Please use the following form for feedback to include updates to your family information. This will not become a comment on this post but is an email to me with your updates. Thanks for your help.
Following is a more complete list of Fact Types defined in the software:
- Adoption
- Alternate name
- Ancestral File Number
- Annulment
- Baptism
- Bar Mitzvah
- Bas Mitzvah
- Birth
- Blessing
- Burial
- Caste
- Census
- Census (family)
- Christen
- Christen (adult)
- Confirmation
- Cremation
- Death
- Degree
- Description
- Divorce
- Divorce filed
- DNA test
- Education
- Election
- Emigration
- Engagement
- Excommunication
- First communion
- Graduation
- Illness
- Immigration
- LDS Baptism
- LDS Confirmation
- LDS Endowment
- LDS Initiatory
- LDS Seal to parents
- LDS Seal to spouse
- Living
- Marriage
- Marriage Bann
- Marriage Contract
- Marriage License
- Marriage Settlement
- Marriage-AB
- Military
- Miscellaneous
- Mission
- Namesake
- Nationality
- Naturalization
- Occupation
- Ordination
- Probate
- Prperty
- Reference No
- Religion
- Residence
- Residence (family)
- Retirement
- Separation
- Soc Sec No.
- Stillborn
- Title (Nobility)
- Will
My father Dale Gray is on Ancestry.com I created a family tree on http://www.geni.com. The farthest back we gotten on my Gray side is Alfred’s (Alfie) dad George T Gray. George’s parents were born in England. My grandma’s side the williams go back to the first boats over from england.
Thanks again
Ira
Thanks for the info. I have a lot of info on my dad’s mom Kathryn (Lucile) Williams side of the family but not much info from the Gray side. All the info I had was just the names that my dad remembers so I was searching on google and your site kept comming up. Its nice to a little more about my family. Blanche Gray (Burlison) my great grandma.
Ira Gray
Thanks for your response. I always like to know how people find my web site because I take measures to prevent Google and other search engines from finding it. I have no objection to family paging through but have not wanted it to be public.
Your comment on Tuesday got me currious enought that I got on Ancestry and searched out the Gray’s in my tree. I added some more Gray family members and a bunch of census information. I’m not done yet, I still have one disconnected person, Mary Ann Gray is not connected to the other Grays. Are you just using Google for your searching or some service like Ancestry? Using any tools like Rootsmagic or Family Tree Maker?
My father is Dale Leroy Gray. His father is Elmore Leroy Gray. Elmore’s father is Alfred Gray whose name was actually Alfie and he had a twin sister Efie. Alfred married a burlison. My grandfather also had brothers and sister whitch I know are named Hiram, Gideon Paul and others. I’m trying to help my father do research on his family and would like to know if this is a match to your family. Thanks Ira.
Ira,
First, I’m very curious as to how you found me and my web site. Especially related to a Gray family line?
I have sent by private email the source information that I have on this family. It is not much. It is from the Miller side of the family. I think the source will speak for itself. I have not tried to match any of this family up with online sources. There may be some help in that.
Ed Quade