It's not always about facts

With some research coaxing & tech, clues can reveal facts.

It's not always about facts. And It's not always about 'only online' or 'only offline'.

Really, it's not. Usually after visiting with a relative {and 'visiting with' is code for 'interviewing' in my book and the visiting could be Skyping or a letter written longhand.}, genealogy and family history research can be about what was remembered, said, and ~ at times ~ what was felt.

For instance, when I first started researching, it was what I remembered my Dad telling me about his Dad, Big Paw Paw. Things he remembered his Dad telling him. Things he remembered 'feeling' at the time. Things he remembered knowing, or observing, at the time.

All far from being facts. And closer to being clues. And all very, very important to finding the facts about Big Paw Paw and his origins.

His name was Joseph Marshall.


He was born 17 Jun 1896 and raised in Galveston, Texas.


He died in 1968 in San Antonio, Texas.


He was a fisherman at one time in Galveston


I think he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church.


And I think because of that I was raised a Methodist.


He owned a lumberyard.


He had a mistress. I found out about her after his death.

Those recollections of his that he shared with me have led me to countless visits to the courthouse {The Bexar County Courthouse knows me almost as well as they knew my Big Paw Paw. *snort*}; have led me to the original spelling of my maiden name; have led me to property disputes; have led me to family disputes; have led me to the first German Catholic church in Texas where Big Paw Paw and his siblings had been baptized; have led me to a lot where the family farm once was on Galveston Island before it was lost during the Storm of 1900; have led me to Gorszewice, Posen, Prussia; have led me to cousins {some of which still live in the Galveston area and they found me through my personal family history blog}; have led me to 3 wives of his before my grandmother, their divorces, and their resulting stories; have led me to the fact that my grandmother had been one of his previous mistresses; and have led me to his will with a cliffhanger that involved his last mistress who's still alive. {And by then I really wasn't surprised by the drama he'd left behind.} 

Really? My Dad's recollections had me all over the place online and offline seeking Big Paw Paw's story...my Dad's story...my story...my children's story.

So, yeah. The facts are important. And technology can be key in some instances.

But so are the rumors, innuendo, and remembrances.

And it does take both online and offline work to dig up all those buried details that start as clues, but ~ with a little research coaxing ~ can reveal facts.

~Caroline

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