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"Along Those Lines ..."
by George G. Morgan
Click Here for George Morgan's Archive
| Family Associations--June 12, 1998 |
The task of locating information about a family surname requires investigation in many directions. "Along Those Lines ..." often gets questions from people via E-mail asking for help in locating others of a specific surname. I can't help everyone individually, of course, but maybe I can provide some suggestions. Tracing Surnames There are many reasons and motivations for tracking surnames. They include: ~ Searching for lost relatives - Yes, this one is pretty obvious. If you're reading this column, I'm certain you're researching your genealogy and looking for relatives, both living and dead. ~ Searching for heirs - Lawyers spend a great deal of time attempting to locate heirs for an estate. One of my friends' grandmother in NJ died a wealthy woman around the turn of the century. Her estate was left to her children and grandchildren. The last son died in 1956, at which time a team of lawyers and paralegals began a multiyear search for all the heirs of the estate. ~ Investigating migration patterns - Some researchers are interested in determining where members of a family and their descendants moved and where they settled. ~ Marketing genealogical research - Perhaps you have written and published a family history and want to market it to interested parties. You certainly need to make people with that surname aware that the book is available. ~ Preparing for a family reunion - Reunions are a very popular activity. Tracing surnames can help locate the lost relatives you know about, certainly, but they can also attract other people with the same surname about whom you may not have known anything. These are some of the more obvious motivations but there are others too. Your own search may take you to libraries, archives, religious institutions, and all sorts of other places. But have you ever thought about family associations as a resource? What Is A Family Association? A family association is a a group of people who are related to each other, share the same surname, or are interested in the study of a specific surname. There are as many reasons for the establishment of family associations as there are reasons for tracing surnames. Many are initially formed as a means of allowing a single family to keep in touch with one another. Often these expand to encompass anyone sharing the same surname. The primary purpose of a family association is to promote communication. Many associations promote genealogical research and the exchange of information between members. This is usually accomplished through publication of a newsletter, either on paper or sent via E-mail -- or both ways. The newsletters vary in both quality and quantity of content materials. Some publish articles written by members. Some publish family recipes. Others may publish pedigree charts and family group sheets in order to facilitate "surname exchanges." Some publish calendars of family reunions and other events related to their surname. And some associations allow members to post queries -- notices or ads announcing that a member is seeking persons or information. There are a small but growing number of associations who have built surname databases for the purpose of helping with the exchange of information. Family associations are usually subscription-based, where the nominal subscription price covers the expenses of creating, publishing and mailing the newsletter or to defray database/data entry or other costs. The important thing is that, in joining a family association that focuses on your surname or one that you're researching, you add another resource to your genealogical toolkit. You never know from where that next, most important, missing piece of information will come! How Do I Find Out More About Family Associations? There are several ways to learn about family associations. First of all, there are two books available that have compiled all the known family associations. These are: Directory of Family Associations (3rd Edition) by Elizabeth Petty Bentley. Published by Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore, MD. (1996) - ASIN: 0806315237. This book covers family associations in the United States. You can find this book in many bookstores. It is also is available for order over the Internet from Amazon at: Genealogical Research Directory by Keith A. Johnson and Malcolm R. Sainty. Published by the Genealogical Research Directory, Sydney, Australia. Updated and published annually, the current edition is 1998. - ASIN: 0908120702. This book covers surnames all over the world and includes contact names and addresses (sometimes telephone numbers and E-mail addresses as well) of people around the world who manage family associations and/or databases, or who are the sources for information submitted to the directory for publication. It is available for order over the Internet from Amazon at: Another great source for information about family associations is available though your subscription to Internet mailing lists (also sometimes called "listsrvs"). You may remember that, in my column of March 13th, I talked about the joys of joining mailing lists. Please go back and read it again to refresh your memory of how to subscribe to a mailing list and the "Netiquette" you use when posting and responding. To locate surname mailing lists where you may want to inquire about family associations, please check the website maintained by John Fuller. Go to the Web address (URL) below, scroll down to item # 3, and click on the letter of the alphabet to learn if there is a mailing list for the surname you're researching. John does a tremendous job keeping the list up to date. Just follow the instructions to subscribe and you're off and running. The Web address for John Fuller's mailing list site is: Maybe You Want To Start A Family Association? Perhaps you're interested in starting a family association of your own. If you are, there's also a small book available that may answer all those questions you have on the subject. It is: Family Associations: Organization and Management: A Handbook for New and Existing Organizations by Christine Rose. Published by the Rose Family Association. ASIN: 0929626061. This book is available by special order from Amazon at: Summary My own experience with family associations has been varied. One family association's newsletter provided me with information which had been compiled by one of the members from cemetery records of a specific county. Another concerned a surname that had little information of use to me until I submitted a query. Then, I received several very informative responses from other members, all of which helped me to varying degrees with my research. Still another association was of no use. My recommendation is that you make contact with an association of interest to you. Tell them that you're interested in joining family associations but that, before you commit to a subscription, you would like to learn more and see a sample of their newsletter. Most will cheerfully oblige. Family associations can be another helpful tool in your genealogical research. They can be informative and a lot of fun. Check them out! Happy hunting! George Click Here for George Morgan's Archive
Copyright 1998 George G. Morgan All Rights reserved "Along Those Lines ..." is a weekly feature of the Genealogy Forum on America Online (Keyword: ROOTS). This column originally appeared in the Genealogy Forum on America Online. You may send E-mail alonglines@aol.com. George Morgan would like
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