Little old ladies and genealogy

Yesterday I had a delightful time in Avalon NJ teaching genealogy to a group of seniors. They were a lot of fun and enthusiastic! The fact that they threatened to tie me down to a chair and hold me in genealogical hostage didn't matter. It was rewarding to teach a group of people with a common interest.

Which leads me to today's blog...how to get the most out of your genealogy. If you have the opportunity to teach others a technique or strategies you will learn something yourself.

For years I had my gr-gr-grandmother's death certificate. The person giving the information about her death wasn't clear. I knew the name was "Lilly Dart" because gr-gr-grandmother's youngest daughter was Lilly and married to a Dart. What made the name difficult to read was that something was written on top of "Lilly." When I showed the copy of the document to the class yesterday it dawned on me that the writing on top of "Lilly" was the beginning of Daisy-Lilly's older sister! I'm still not certain who gave the clerk the information but at least I was able to figure out the name!

The recommendation I gave to my participants is to always look at with fresh eyes or with a friend. Advice given and heeded as well!