In your genealogy research, you’ve found a new contact. Now, you’re trying to decide how you want to go about communicating with that person.
Here’s some things to keep in mind.
If you use Ancestry.com, you can communicate only through the website’s in-house system. Often, you never hear back from those you’re trying to contact. Either they don’t know anything that could help in your research, don’t feel comfortable replying, or don’t have an active account. I took one lady four years to respond to my inquiry about her late father.
Often, it’s hard to decide whether to communicate via email, text, voicemail, or Facebook connections. Some people establish a separate email for genealogy. So my suggestion is, if the person is an important new connection for research, you need to establish up front the preferred method of communication and keep to it. If I get an important genealogy-filled text, a mode one lawyer-cousin of mine seems to prefer, I can turn it into an email to myself to save and preserve the research information.
Sometimes, you might have to tell folks you don’t communicate via certain methods. For instance, I’ve decided not to use Messenger on Facebook. Once you set the terms, be consistent. It is also best to reply, in some form, to any type of research communication you get. At least acknowledge that you got the email and will get back. Ignoring people could ruin your chances of ever finding out if they have something important to share. Also, remember that not everyone is as intense on genealogy and research as you might be and might have other things going on in their lives that take priority.
Researching history of your house in Atlanta subject of lecture
Patrick Sullivan, historian with VHB Consulting, will speak on “Researching the History of a House in the City of Atlanta” at the Georgia Archives Lunch and Learn Lecture series on October 11 at noon. The event is free, but bring your own lunch. For further information, see GeorgiaArchives.org or call 678-364-3710. The Lunch and Learn series is held at the Georgia Archives the second Friday of every month, year round. So put the date on your calendar.
PeopleLegacy website
PeopleLegacy.com is a website I recently discovered that appears to be free and worth exploring. You can search nationwide for burial information, including folks whose names may be on a tombstone before they are deceased. This could help you locate a lost family member who got buried somewhere you did not expect. If it’s a recent burial, in a cemetery that has an office, you could ask office workers how to contact the family.
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