UFT-L Archives

From: "Rhonda McClure" <>
Subject: [UFT-L] Notes & News 8 Oct 1998
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 10:20:56 -0400

NOTES AND NEWS FOR OCTOBER 08, 1998

--
DON'T BE TOO LATE

I often hear genealogists saying that they are going to talk to Great Aunt
Josie the next time they can get out to visit her. Don't wait! While it
would be really nice to get to see her face to face and perhaps video tape
or audio tape her for later generations, it is possible that your chance to
interview her face to face may never come.

If you know that you cannot get to an older relative in a timely fashion,
you will want to make a point to either call or write them before time gets
away from you. I would have loved to have the chance to get my grand aunt on
videotape, but I am so happy that I didn't wait. I have about a dozen
letters from her that give wonderful details and stories about the family. I
enjoy taking them out and reading through them. Had I waited until I had a
chance to see her, then it would have been too late and I would have missed
out on a lot of information.

You can write to your older relatives. In fact, they will love to receive
letters from you. Share what is going on with you and your children and then
pepper the letters with questions about the family. Most of the relatives
that I have written to have shared wonderful stories and names, dates and
places for me to use in researching my family history.

Sometimes you need to be creative in asking questions. If you just write to
the relative and ask them to tell you "all they know" it is possible that
they will say they cannot remember much. However, if you ask them about
specific events and people, you will be pleasantly surprised at the
information that you will receive.

If you get the chance to visit them, that is great. You can always ask their
permission to video or audiotape them. And having their letters, you have
some stories and names that you can ask them about while taping.

One important aspect to keep in mind about videotape or audiotape is that
the longevity of such mediums. With the letters, you can protect them in
special document preservation materials, thus prolonging the life of the
letters. However, audiotapes and videotapes have a limited life span. If you
do have all the information from a relative only on tape, be sure to make a
printed transcript of the interview. It would be a shame to lose such
valuable information because of the limits of the technology.

So, don't wait! Write or call them so that you don't miss out of some great
family stories.

--
THIS WEEK IN SHAKING YOUR FAMILY TREE

Each week, the Ultimate Family Tree web site publishes the latest Shaking
Your Family Tree column by Los Angeles Times syndicated columnist, Myra
Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.. While you need to own the Ultimate Family Tree
program to gain access to her weekly column here, we are posting the title
so you can see what informative topics she tackles. Best of all, in addition
to posting her weekly column, all her columns for the last ten years or so
have been archived into a fully searchable database right here on the Web
site.

Thursday, October 08 1998: "Genealogy: On- and Off-line "

--
CHATS AND CHUMS

Each week we like to get together and chat in "real time." This means that
at an established time we all gather together to share our recent finds,
learn about various resources, get tips or short cuts on using Ultimate
Family Tree. However, once in awhile our chat schedules get out of synch.
So, if you happen upon the web site on a Friday night on or about 11:00pm
Eastern or on a Sunday night near 10:00pm Eastern, stop by the Chat room. We
enjoy welcoming newcomers to genealogy as well as to the web site. And we
hate to think someone might be missing out on the fun we are having.

In addition, we try to have specific themes to some of the chats. So, check
here to see what is up coming. And if you would like to see a particular
subject, feel free to e-mail me at and let me know
about it.

Upcoming events:

Friday, Oct 9th Genealogy Social at 11pm ET (Genealogy Chat)
Sunday, Oct 11th Computer Classroom at 10pm ET (Computerized Genealogy)
Wednesday, Oct 14th General Genealogy at 10pm ET (Genealogy Research)
Friday, Oct 16th Genealogy Social at 11pm ET (Genealogy Chat)
Sunday, Oct 18th Computer Classroom at 10pm ET (Online UFT Tutorial)
Wednesday, Oct 21st General Genealogy at 10pm ET (Genealogy Chat)
Friday, Oct 23rd Genealogy Social at 11pm ET (Genealogy Chat)
Sunday, Oct 25th Computer Classroom at 10pm ET (Genealogical Computing)
Wednesday, Oct 28th General Genealogy at 10pm ET (Genealogy Research)

--
DON'T BE A STRANGER

Be sure to drop by the chats and introduce yourself in the Information
Exchange area. And by all means feel free to drop me e-mail at any time at
. I will get back to you as soon as possible. If there
is something special you would like to see addressed in the newsletter, or a
guest speaker or topic for a chat you would like, let me know.

So, until we meet again on the message areas or in the chats - happy
hunting!

Rhonda M

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• [UFT-L] Notes & News 8 Oct 1998 by "Rhonda McClure" <>