Family History Alphabet: V is for Various

My theme for the Family History through the Alphabet is the Attributes we need as family historians: the skills, experience and talents we need to bring to our research. This week is the letter “V”.

V is for VALIANT: perhaps this is a stretch but we certainly need some level of courage to keep plugging away at our research despite “brick walls”, obstacles, confusion and all the new skills we need to learn. We also need to be courageous enough to approach unknown relatives to learn more stories or appeal for photographs.

Do you feel a bit vexed by your family history occasionally?

V is for VEXED: This is how we feel when one approach after another fails to resolve our research mystery, or when an ancestor gave a glib answer like “County Clare” or “Bavaria” or when technology conspires to challenge us, or……

V is for VACILLATE: Do you do this too when you’re not sure which family to research or which story to take up next? It’s all too easy to be overwhelmed by the opportunities available to us for researching. Not to mention the potential distractions of social media (oh yes, and chores) rather than tackle the research problem on our check-list.

V is for VAGRANT: Let’s hope that this obsession hobby of ours doesn’t send us broke and we don’t end up in the poorhouse like some of our distant ancestors.

V is for VACANT: You know, the look when you can’t work out what they were doing or how to make sense of what you’ve just discovered.

V is for VAGUE: That’s when one of our real-life family thinks we should engage with daily life while our minds are fully absorbed centuries ago with long-departed family.

V is for VOLUNTEERING: There are many ways to volunteer your knowledge and time to help with family history. You might provide advice to a genimate about a particular topic. You might transcribe records from microfilm, for Family Search etc etc. You could edit some articles in Trove. Or you might be involved with your local family history society, or give talks or, or, or…..

You’ll be victorious if you persist valiantly despite the vagaries of research.

V is for VICTORIOUS: This is what we’ll be if we bravely persist with our family history research despite all the stumbling blocks. I don’t promise you won’t gain two questions for every answer you find, but isn’t that part of why we love it all?

And as for the Family History Through The Alphabet followers and bloggers, we’ll soon be victorious when we reach the letter Z…only a few weeks to go now.