Beginning Lesson #11 LOCAL HISTORIES Harold and I have been deeply moved lately by television reports of the terrible tragedies the weather is causing in our great nation and throughout the world. This morning there was a report of the seven Israeli school girls on a field trip who were killed by a Jordanian soldier. Earlier today on Good Morning America, the comment was made that despite these terrible tragedies, people pull together and become stronger. Entire communities pull together. I have seen this in our own south Florida in the terrible aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. Many silent heros sacrificed their time and talents to help the unfortunate victims. Others who could not travel to the area sent food, clothing, bedding, money -- whatever they could spare, to help their fellow men without regard to religious, ethnic or cultural differences. Its at times like this one' s true colors are shown -- providing a true test of the human spirit! Similar stories are unfolding in the Ohio and Arkansas area of this country. Unspeakable destruction has completly uprooted the lives of residents there. Collections of memories, family papers and photos have been whisked away without a moment's notice! As genealogists we especially appreciate the loss of such precious evidence of one's heritage. I pray that those concerned will be comforted, and applaud the efforts of those who provide support in time of need. During the last two months I have been doing a lot of research on the Irish potatoe famine of the mid 1840's using surviving reports from newspapers and diaries. I recall that Germans left the Palatine region following a winter so cold that "birds froze in flight." (Journal of Johannes Conrad Weiser.) We have ancestors who have survived the Johnstown flood, a plague of locust, frontier Indian raids, bouts of cholera, death in childbirth, political coups and the establishment of trade unions. Somehow despite the onslaught of war, the bubonic plague and reigns of terror, our ancestors lived to provide some form of subsistance for their children. As you continue your family history research, you'll need to move from finding the original documents of birth, marriage and death to reading contemporary diaries and printed local histories. From these write-ups (however biased) you can see the economic, cultural and yes even barometric influences on the lives of your progenitors. Where do you find local histories? () Check your local public library, as it might hold a copy of <A HREF="aol: //4344:167.my970225.1419764.541365760">Bibliography of American County Histori es</A> , compiled by P. William Filby, 1987, Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, Maryland. ISBN 0-8063-1126-6. () Look for articles on the locality in the <A HREF="aol://4344:167.my960405. 1395092.512863567">PERSI Index</A> . You can obtain a photocopy of an original genealogy magazine article on the subject that interests you. () Ask other reseachers what they've found useful for understanding more about your ancestor's village, county, state and country. That's one good thing about online <A HREF="aol://4344:167.gf$chat.1414699.535147509">chats</A > here in the AOL Genealogy Forum. () Review the LDS Research Outlines (available at local LDS FHCenters) on the locality you are interested in. They will provide a brief history of a locality, and provide a bibliography for further study. See my column area called <A HREF="aol://4344:167.myrtfhc.1414158.531675763">Using LDS FHCenters </A> , and another item called <A HREF="aol://4344:167.my970207.1418885.53946 6533">Locating LDS FHCenters</A> . () Read Ancestry's <A HREF="aol://4344:167.my961022.1413693.530663245">The So urce</A>: A Guidebook for American Genealogy. You'll get a good background sketch of the locality in question and lots of tips for further reading. () Check the vertical files at the public library where your ancestor once lived. () Review old issues of the local newspaper (perhaps now on microfilm) which provide photographic and journalistic witness to the events of the period.