TIP #503 I'M STILL LOOKING In past research tips, I have given you some ideas of where else to look for information on your family and I thought I would revisit this. I was reminded of this by an article in Ancestry.com dated 1/1/99 called "Searchin' Serials: Using Periodicals in Genealogical Research by Curt B. Witcher. I don't know about you, but when I first became involved in my family tree quest, I subscribed to lots of periodicals and joined a lot of historical/genealogical societies. Finally, the budget gave out and little by little, I had to let some drop to stay only with the publications or societies that seemed to provide the most information. With the advent of the internet, much of the information I paid dearly for is now available and I am most thankful! Many of the indexes of various societies are now on line and one can scan through them to see if your illusive Jacob Jumpincandlestick appears. More and more historical societies have their own web site now and list the publications they have for sale once you have determined that good old Jacob might be shown there. Let's look at historical and genealogical society quarterlies. I am the editor of our local quarterly and my first goal is NAMES, NAMES, NAMES. I search documents, county records, encourage contributions from contributors and try to look in the obscure places to find as many people as I can that might not appear all that often in print. If you are a member of a historical or genealogical society and have information on family from there, please contribute some of the information to the society. Believe me, they really will appreciate it! My greatest accomplishment in the past 15 years was attempting to help a lady find an obscure name in Barren Co. We knew he was here; he had a child married here. But then, poof! No more mention. Until I was browsing in the court house attic and found a little notation in the county clerk's memo book. There was this illusive ancestor being fined 3 cents for swearing three times in front of the judges! If a quarterly is to be a good quarterly that will help its membership, it needs to reach out for sometimes the most obscure, the records that will hopefully confirm that a person was there on a certain date doing a certain thing and hopefully mentioning his wife, children, grand-children, all about his parentage and every war they ever fought in (just dreaming!) A quarterly will normally over the course of time show deeds, wills, family trees, photos, school records, maps, Bible records, tax records, church records - a wonderful place to look. If you can't afford to join all the societies where your foot loose and fancy free ancestors were, check with your library to see if they are subscribers; or with your local historical society to check if they receive issues. If many people from your place of residence came from a specific area in KY, encourage them to exchange quarterlies with those locals societies. Do you ignore the historical publications and look only at the genealogical ones? You might be missing a lot. Many societies are a combination and their publications likely also will contain records such as photo histories of the counties (there's Uncle Bobo in the back row!), maps of the area that show where churches, cemeteries and people lived; restoration projects and historical surveys of old homes ... please don't overlook them. Here is Glasgow we have a wonderful organizations called the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center. Well - that doesn't sound genealogical does it? Ah yes, it is. Not only is it a museum with wondrous displays (including donations from family estates); but it has a large library of genealogical books and files which also includes our society's holdings including exchange quarterlies from societies all over the United States. On-line publications are a tremendous source for the researcher. The Rootsweb Review which many of you receive every Thursday contains a wealth of information and tips. It also lists new web sites, query lists, publications and tips. The Ancestry Daily News has links to maps, newspapers that are now on file, tips, classes, and much more information. Eastman's Online Genealogy is a tremendous well of information written in an easy-to-read informative style. All of these are free. Other publications are on-line or have indexes to their issues. There are also the special interest publications, running the gamut from the Revolutionary War, Civil War, ethnic books, historical biographies ... that list is exhaustive. Well, that all sounds good, but how do I find all these publications? 1 - check with your library 2 - check the PERSI list (Peroidical Source Index), Allen County Public Library 3 - check the local historical or genealogical society Listed below are some websites cited above that might be of help to you: Ancestry Daily News: E-mail mailto:ANCESTRY_DAILY_NEWS-L-request@rootsweb.com Rootsweb Review: http://newsletters.rootsweb.com/ George Eastman's Online Genealogy: http://www.eogn.com/home/ (you can check this weekly, power packed articles. There is also a plus edition for a fee if you so desire. Allen County Public Library: http://mt-spurr.acpl.lib.in.us/genealogy/ (c) Copyright 19 Aug 2004, Sandra K. Gorin Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/