Genealogy: Getting it Out There

If you want to connect with others who are working on your family lines, you have to get your lines published to various social media and genealogy sites. I have had wonderful success posting my surnames and family history to my blog and to Pinterest, but it took years before relatives found me. My advice? Be patient.I have had Pinterest boards dedicated to three of my surnames for a while, now, but I recently added a fourth. Carrier Commons, my new board, is for my father’s maternal line. All Things Roueche is for my husband’s family. Gillis Galore is my maiden name. Make it Mansfield is for my mother’s maternal line.

My Carrier board has family photographs, links to helpful genealogy resources for French Canada, and images of ancestral hometowns.

My Gillis board has pins that link to my father’s childhood as well as my own. I love to read about other people who share my surname and about places named after Gillis’. Search town, newspaper, and tourism websites for images and ideas.

One thing I have tried to do for my Mansfield board is to find images of places my ancestors may have lived or passed through. Even a screen shot of a Google map or Street View can help illuminate their history.

Roueche is such an unusual name, it can be fun to just search on Pinterest or other search engines and see what I can find. I also try to focus on the pursuits of my daughter, nieces, and nephews with this board.

Basically, the boards are populated with three kinds of pins.

1. Pins I make from family photographs and documents that I own or that have been shared with me directly or on some other social platform.

Above is a photograph that I scanned from my grandmother’s album. Below is a pin I created by downloading pictures from Find A Grave.

2. Pins I make from things I find online, such as maps, biographies, regional photographs, etc.

3. Pins that I re-pin from other boards highlighting places where my ancestors are from or that feature the accomplishments or history of people with my surnames.

It only takes hearing from one cousin to make all this effort worthwhile. A single shared story or photograph can be so meaningful. One connection to a distant relative can restore communication with an entire branch of the family.

Keep trying.

Feature image: The corner of Mill Plain Blvd. and Gillis St. in Vancouver, Washington.

 

This entry was posted in Genealogy and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.