52 Ancestors Week 31: Help

From Amy Johnson Crow:  Week 31

I get by with a little help from my friends...

This week's theme is "Help." When did an ancestor give or receive help? My first thought is of the neighbors who brought meals to my great-grandparents and their children while they were sick with the Spanish Flu. Another route you could take is when you've received help in your genealogy research. Who helped you and what did they help you discover?

Everybody needs somebody sometime....

"HELP! I need somebody.....HELP! Not just anybody...."

    When you're alone on your genealogical adventure, it can sometimes feel like it's a bit overwhelming. Let's be honest. When you dive into the records for the first time you can be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of decades and even centuries worth of information at your fingertips. You might get worried or a little scared and that's okay. You are never alone in the genealogy community because someone will always be on hand to help you through the various trials and tribulations that come from being a genealogist.

One of the many birth records I found with some 
help.

    I will be the first to admit that I've needed help from time to time. I'm not going to lie. I've needed a LOT of help over the years and I'm grateful for all of it. From my distant cousins who went to Gesualdo, Italy and got records to the various genealogists over at WikiTree who have helped me and several others find all the information that's out there and have given me insight as to how I can go about doing my own research. After all, if you feed a man a fish he can eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.

    I could ramble on and on about who has been helpful. But, I think it'd be best to focus on just one person. I put a bunch of names in my lucky Boston Celtics hat and drew my good friend, Kathy Nava. Very scientific of me, I know. =)

    Kathy is a rising star over at WikiTree. She has been very helpful in the last two years with our 2021 Year of Accuracy Challenge and this year with our Celebrity Challenge. She has also been a member of my team, Team Italy, for the various "thons" where we compete with other WikiTreers to connect profiles or clean up various errors around the site. She has also taken it upon herself to go the extra mile to get various records for me at her local Family History Library. That's pretty cool and so I thought I'd turn the mic over to her and show the world what we WikiTreers are all about in the form of an in-depth interview. Let's get started!

Chris: Hey, Kathy! How are you doing? Do you mind telling the readers of my blog a bit about yourself?

Kathy: I am doing fine. I grew up knowing I was adopted. I was born in New York and moved to Northern California when I was 2 years old. I was 18 years old when I got married and we are still together 36 years later. We have 5 children - 2 boys and 3 girls - and 4 grandchildren - 2 boys and 2 girls.

A few years ago I did a DNA test not realizing that I could find my biological family. I found my biological father who died in 1981. I found my biological mother who is still living in New York. Our relationship is good right now. Genealogy has been my hobby for about 10 years. If has been my saving grace during the pandemic as I have made many friends online on WikiTree.

Profiles for 31 million humans?! WOW!

Chris: WikiTree is a great place to meet friends. I've met many great ones there including you. I've found the community to be very helpful. What about you? What kind of help have you found there?

Kathy: Everyone is so helpful. When I first went to add a profile I wasn't sure how to. I wasn't used to the coding that is needed and trying to find an answer within the help pages wasn't working. I asked how to add a source and someone responded very quickly. I was amazed that an actual person responded so quickly. I have gotten more involved with WikiTree then I ever thought I would. Anytime I need help with something I can ask in discord or in our G2G forum and get an answer within a few minutes. This is a world wide site so someone is always online which means help is a few clicks away.

If I am not familiar with an area then I go to the Family Search Wiki and look up the information there. If I am still unsure about something I ask on WikiTree as there is someone that will know the area and tell me where to search.

Chris: I like that aspect of the community, too. I remember when I first started and I had loads of questions. Everyone was so eager to help me. I was a little taken aback given my prior experience with people online. I've found the community on WikiTree and the genealogy community as a whole to be very helpful. If people have an attitude, it's a lot easier to shrug it off than it is elsewhere on the Internet. 

I know that you're a member of the Italy Project on WikiTree. How did that come about?

Wanna join? 

Kathy: I have no idea that I had Italian ancestors until I did the DNA test and matched all these people with Italian surnames. I was very surprised but it made sense as I have always loved Italian food. I realized that it would take me years to get "across the pond" to Italy and find my ancestors. My paternal grandmother was born in New York but her parents were from Bisceglie, Puglia, Bari, Italy. I wanted to know them as people and not just a name on a paper. I posted in discord asking where I could find records. I was told that I should join the Italy Project as they are the people who know the ins and outs of resources in Italy. I joined and I have had so much fun in the project. We all learn from each other. I know that if I need help in Calabria that you are the go to person. Everyone is so willing to help all you have to do is ask. If you need help with reading a document you just need to post it and someone will help. It is always good to have another set of eyes. No question is a stupid question.

Chris: Haha! Thanks, Kathy. You've been helping me with Calabria, too! You've been going to the LDS library in your area looking up records for me like the ones I've been posting in this week's blog and records for other people. It feels good to pay it forward doesn't it?

Kathy: Yes, it does feel good to pay it forward. If people like you didn't help me along the way I would still be a beginner in genealogy. I have gotten so much help on WikiTree and I feel like paying it forward is the way to pass along the knowledge that I have learned. Everyone starts out as a newbie and the way to learn is by asking questions. Not everyone learns the same way so by asking questions you will may get 4 different answers. One of those answers will help you or all 4 answers may help you.

Chris: I know what you mean. I remember someone once telling me four Tedescos might be my ancestor and I just had to pick one. I was like "No, dude. That's not how this works. You don't just pick ONE GUY to be your fourth great-grandfather." That was probably one of the worst experiences I ever had in a genealogy forum. I haven't been back there since. So, now I stick with WikiTree and I ask questions in various Facebook groups. It's a good idea to always go to where people aren't going to be jerks. Hopefully!

I'm glad I was able to help you as much as I did because it's nice to be helpful. We all have to start somewhere. Even I did. Do you have any interesting stories of how you helped someone or they helped you?

    Yes. Every other week we have a guest challenge where we research the family tree of a celebrity. There are images that are not available to view online. You need to be at a library which has an affiliation with FS or at a FHC/FHL.  I am lucky as I can go to my local FHC which is about 5 minutes away. I have been able to view the image which has helped with adding another generation to the guests tree. It feels good when you are able to help build out someone's family tree whether they are a celebrity or not. Some people are home bound or don't have access to a library affiliate or a FHC/FHL and being able to get an image for them to help them with their family tree makes me feel good. 

    During the Holidays last year WikiTree had a Secret Santa project. I posted about wanting help with finding the father of my mom's grandpa. There was a story about her father being a Baron and I was trying to prove/disprove that story. I was hitting a wall and not finding anything about him. An Elf was able to find a record with his name on it. I was so excited. I was able to give my mom a name for her grandpa as a Christmas present. If it wasn't for WikiTree I would still be looking for his name.

Chris: Wow! That would have been tragic. I know if it weren't for you and other people who have helped me, I'd still be trying to find  Angela Gatto's birth certificate in San Pietro. Luckily I did and I pushed that branch forward! (Technically backward.) I still need to work through all the Gullos and Butruces, though. 

I really liked that Secret Santa project we all did and in a way you were mine since the following February you gave me a bunch of documents from San Pietro to check out. I can't thank you enough for that. We definitely have a great community don't we? So many helpers and so many stories!

Kathy: I love the WikiTree community. There is so much collaboration on WikiTree. It makes researching your family so much easier when you are able to talk to others who are researching the same lines.

I have ancestors in England and I have been scared to do research there as I'm not familiar with their records/repositories. Thanks to the England Project and their Orphan Trail I have been learning about how and where to check for documents. Also they have a list of what sources are acceptable and which ones aren't. There are family pedigrees that have mistakes in them and those mistakes keep getting used as people don't do their research.

I wish that some of the projects had a "trail" of some sort where you have to build a profile using the sources that are project accepted. In the United States, we have areas that the courthouses were burned and all those records were destroyed. What are the other places that have documents in those areas?

Chris: City halls, might. Several documents might be duplicated and sent elsewhere. If a courthouse in Farmington, New Hampshire burned down, chances are a duplicate could be found in Concord, New Hampshire.

That's just one tip! (Free of charge.) Before we go, do you have anything you want to say to anyone reading the blog?

If you haven't already joined WikiTree please join as a guest and take a look around the site. WikiTree isn't for everyone. When you create an account you are greeted by a real person and everything is free. We have fun and enjoy working on our families.

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    So, there you have it. WikiTree is great for helping people and helping people do genealogical research is a great thing to do. You help people make discoveries, prove/disprove family lore and have a great time while doing it. I wish the same could be said for those group projects we had to do during school. At least with genealogy we all have one goal and less attitude.

    This was just one example of the helpful attitudes I've encountered in my travels. I've been fortunate that so many people have been eager to help me research my family tree and make discoveries. I've tried to pay it forward as well and it's a great feeling to help people. Instances like this show that you aren't alone on an island when you're doing research. Find some people who can help and discoveries will be made if you know where to look!

See ya next time! And thanks go out to Kathy Nava for agreeing to be part of the blog! I should probably do this again some time....