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Thursday 2 August 2012

M is for Muddle, Mix Ups, Mistakes, Memories & Moods - plus Much More

Having just finished a quick sprint through one A-Z challenge from Ros at
http://genwestuk.blogspot.com/, I could not resist participating in a further series from Aona at
http://www.gouldgenealogy.com/2012/05/take-the-family-history-through-the-alphabet-challenge/.

My focus here is on what we experience on our family history journey
M is for

Family History is Mesmerising and Marvellous - a fact.

At the other end of the scale it can be a case of Muddle, Mix Ups and Mistakes amidst a Mountain of paperwork.
  1. How do you record your research?
  2. How do you organise all those research papers, precious documewnts, and precious photographs?
  3. Do you get mixed up betwen ancestors of identical names?
  4. Have you made crucial mistakes in following false trails, makng wrong assumptionsor wrongly transcribed a monumental inscription. I admit to making all three.
Particularly when I was working full time, I did my family history in fits and starts, usually over the winter months when the garden was not beckoning for my attention. Not something I would recommend.  When I returned to it, I had to gather my thoughts together, try to work out at what point I was, and waste time simply catching up.
So my Motto - Maintain Momentum.    Being retired now helps! 

Memories Matter - until joining Geneabloggers, I had never thought of my own memories as being part of family history.  Now I am an enthusiastic follower of  the various blog prompts that ask us to record our childhood for future generations - all part of the family history journey.


Family History evokes so many different emotions and Moods,  which  I have tried to capture in this A-Z series.  So,  as we are half way through the journey, I thought I would summarise my thoughts here.  They may well act as prompts to others for further blog  postings.

A - Adventure, Anticipation and Admiration
B - Brickwalls - but never Boredom
C - Coincidences, Celebrations, and Contributions

D - Disappointment, Doubts, Discoveries and Detail
E - Elation, Excitement, Examining, Exchanging, Exploring, Empathy - and Exhaustion
F - Fun, Frustration and Foolish False Trails

G - Groans, Grumbles & Gripes plus Gratitude
H - Happiness, Help, and Honouring Heroes
I - Inspiration, Identity, Impasse, and Imagination


J - Jubilation, Joy, Journeys, Juggling, Jargon & Jingles
K - Kith & Kin, Kindness, Kudos & Keeper of the Family Archives
L - Lament, Lessons, Lure, Luck and Likeness


And finally my great grandmother Maria Rawcliffe, whose photograph set me off on the ancestral  trail.

6 comments:

  1. My cousin seems to have a photographic Memory and can recall facts with ease. Not me. I need to have a program to sort and record all my notes, photo's and memories.

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  2. I do have some photos and documents scanned, labelled and filed. But I must admit to having a BIG pile in the to-do pile. It does take efforts, but it worth it in the long run.

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  3. It's oh so easy for all that paperwork to keep us muddled and I certainly don't have a photographic memory like Sharon's cousin. I really enjoyed this post.

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  4. This post made me smile Susan. I certainly get muddled, mixed up, make mistakes and all of it but somehow it finally all comes together. Thanks for putting "the smile on ma dial" :-)

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  5. I used to remember everything, or so I thought, but the older I get the more when people say "remember when..." I am liable not to remember. I enjoyed seeing all your letters at once.

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  6. I smiled at Kristin's comment...when we're young we think nothing will escape our long-term memory :-)

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