Facebook Groups and Drama

I am in several Facebook groups about genealogy.   I won't mention all of the names but the drama is there especially on one of them.   People can comment or ask a question wanting help or try to start a discussion and it will move greatly down hill with sometimes mean, hateful, snide remarks.   Most of the time it has been dealing with proof , sources and professional versus amateur genealogy.   I will say I am not professional genealogist I still consider myself completely new to the field but come on is there really a reason to be this hateful and sometimes mean to people just for asking for help.
There was one post in particular that comes to mind.   I think it was someone stating there were related to so and so and the person posting didn't put on their post of how they reached that conclusion or the sources the information came from.  One person stated that without sources and proof its not true. Another posted that basically unless you have a lot of money to spend then don't even start researching your family tree.
Here is my take on it.   I started genealogy to learn more about the great family that I came from.  I am not rich and I know that  I need to get out and do field research at courthouses and libraries but really is there something wrong with getting the information off the internet now and doing field research later.   And no I am not rich and no I do not have a lot of money but I will continue this research and do it the best that I can.
Regarding sources, I know that you need to source your tree for various reasons.  One you know that you are on the right path, you know the information is correct and where you got the info, and others later on will be able to find the exact same information on your ancestors.   Is my tree completely sourced right now, No it's not. Am I working on that yes I am.   Should I be made to feel less because I am new to this, or I am not a professional or I might not know as much as others No I should not.
We have to remember we are all human, No matter who you are you are not perfect!!!!!!!!!!!   Sooner or later you are going to make a mistake or need to ask a question and people should not make you feel awful for asking that question  or making that mistake.

Frank Edward and Evie Lois (Rittenberry) Maddle

I have to say, when I think of my mother's parents, Frank Edward (1930-2004) and Evie Lois Rittenberry (1931-1997) Maddle, so many memories pop up.  My grandparents had 13 children - 8 boys  and 5 girls.   My grandparents had a hard life growing up.  I am lucky enough to have about  5 pages wrote by my granny detailing some of her early life.  In having this I know so much about my grandmother growing up that she never had the chance to tell me and I have so much respect for her and my grandfather.   Did they have a lot when it came to possessions, probably not but I can garauntee you that they were very rich in deed in love for each other and for their children.   My Papa Frank served in the Army and had numerous jobs one of which was a coal miner.  A lot of times they traveled back and forth between OH and TN for work.  He done what he could to provide for the family.
My grandmother lost her father John Monroe Rittenberry in 1936.  She was 5 years old.  He passed away from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.   My great grandmother later remarried but I couldn't imagine losing my daddy at that age.   They also had a sister that passed away at the age of 2.   
Both my grandparents suffered losses and grief and hardships.   But through it all, they had each other and they had their children and family.   I am very proud that I am the grand daughter of such wonderful and loving grandparents and I miss them each day.

Memories

Isn't it funny how when you are working on family history, especially on the generations of the family that you knew personally, how it brings back so many memories.  I was organizing notes this morning on mom's side of the family.   She has 12 brothers and sisters so lots of aunts and uncles and cousins.    As I was writing down what I remember and what I know of each one so many memories came back.   Unfortunately, for us and mom's side my aunt Miranda passed in 2010, she was the first of the siblings to pass away and she was always my favorite.   I spent so many summers with her and my uncle Kenny.   I have to say because I had heard them both say it so many times, they thought of me like their daughter not only their niece and I loved them both so much and miss them greatly.   My summers thru some of elementary school and high school were spent with them.   We would go and spend a lot of times with my grandparents and at my aunt Sheva's and at my uncles house.   Oh the times we had.   
I also spent a lot of time at my Aunt Faye's house and at my aunt Sheva's.   I have so many memories of weekends spent in middle and west TN with my aunts and uncles and cousins.   When we would go to my aunt Faye's or any of my other aunt's houses most of the time the rest of the family would gather there also.   I can now only wish I would of been interested in family history then because they would always tell stories and everything.   Unfortunately most of the time that is how it goes by the time we get interested in family research the ones that could of told us the best stories of our family such as our grandparents have already passed.  

Starting Over...

Starting Over..

Since I am going to start over, I figured this time I would concentrate on one family line at a time.  All of you know what I speak of when I say that as we search we come across so many things that leads us into so many different directions that makes it  hard to stay on track of that one line.   I will probably go off the track a couple of times , I can't say that I won't but i am going to  concentrate on my paternal surname Lemons.   My mother is actively researching her own maternal surnames Rittenberry,  Mccloud, Rittenberry and Crook , so I will cocentrate on my father's side.

I will start out with my grandfather Johnny E. Lemons.  I know when he was born, married, and when he passed. I know the locations and who his parents are.   With my grandmother Imogene Cunningham, I also know the same information.  Luckily growing up we lived basically right next door to my grandparents and I miss them every day, but that is another story.  We have always lived in a small community so people know us and they knew my grandparents.  That is the good thing about small towns and the small communities that some of us live in.   We have grown up with these people, and they have shared our joys and our sorrows and they are a great wealth of information if we just stop and talk to them every once in a while.

I was also lucky enough to have boxes of information from my father's line.  I have old pictures, newspapers clippings, and  obits that his cousins had clipped from newspapers.  I have a family Bible from the same cousins, along with books on the  county and on the community of which we live.    I have all of this stuff but yet none of it is labeled or put in the right places on the computer or transcribed and the info extracted.    I do have a lot of work cut out in front of me, but I have to say, I  look forward to every bit of it.

Things to Accomplish

I am sitting here reading genealogy blogs and thinking to myself when it comes to my own research what is it that I wish to accomplish?  I have made so many of the classic mistakes that one starts out doing when they start on their pursuit of  family history.   I was one of the folks that would click and add to my tree without paying attention to the details of the records in order to get my family tree done as quickly as possible.  I didn't pay attention to records or to insight and the thoughtful words of those that tried to help.

Thankfully I know better now and I know that there is so much more to researching and adding people to your family history than being on a website click, click, clicking away with no regard to what you are doing.  I want to know as much as possible  about each person that is in my family.  These are our ancestors, they faced wars, plagues, things that we can't imagine, or  maybe we could and that is why we want to try to find them.   I want to take each person that is in my family tree and find each and every thing that I can find out about them.

The great discoveries, the accomplishments, even the failures, whatever it is I want to know.   I have started my tree over and I have went thru my notes and I have gotten rid of anything that might no be right and that I had no proof for in order to start over right and in the correct way.   It's so easy to get exicted along the way and mess up but luckily I have a mother and father that shares my interest and pursuing this great feat and I have 3 or 4 more cousins that are actively researching their family trees also that share mine.  
I so enjoy reading everyone's blogs so please keep them coming, your discoveries and techniques are a great asset to anyone reading.

Wiki tree, family search trees and more

I have not wrote in quite a while.   Right now sick at home, is one reason that i am writing.    Anyway, the past couple of days I have looking into Wikitree and the now accessible family trees on familysearch.    I already had a tree on wikitree but hadn't really fooled with it til Saturday night.  Then today I started one on family search.   I think that both of these are great ideas.  I love the idea of being able to put the information out there so that others who might have the same ancestors can contact me.   I started genealogy to find out about my ancestors.  Whatever that I find I would willingly share with someone else.   Here is the thing, I found it on the internet on ancestry.com or on family search, if I found it someone else can too so this is why I have no problem putting it back out there.   Also if you are not going to share information with others why put a tree on the internet at all to begin with.

Also here lately there has been a lot of fussing about going on on some of the genealogy facebook pages.  I seen a couple of replies the other day that upset me greatly.  I still consider myself a newbie at researching my family.  We all make mistakes that is what makes us human, no matter what no one is perfect.  To down someone or to fuss at someone because they might not be at the same calibur that you think you are is disgraceful or to say you more or less have to be rich to research your family tree, is not right either.   I don't have the money to go to every courthouse in every county of the US that my family lived in, but I can get on the internet and try to find what I can there and maybe be able to visit a lot of these towns later on.