Last month I reported about a chance opportunity we had to get closer to my ancestors at a cemetery on private land. It was a spur of the moment decision to make the stop, but we would not have even known the cemetery was nearby if we had not done a bit of preparation before hand. We tend to do a lot of driving around the country (USA), and when we can, other countries. So for us, as we drive, if we plan our stops well, we occasionally have time to do some communing with our dead ancestors. This month we have again had the chance to do just that, twice. A few stops proved more positive than some others. Preparation, a little or some more, can help make side trips, or any trip, more fruitful. Family tree data, map markers, and notes are essential planning tools.
Of course, our family tree is our most useful tool for preparing our trip. We need to have places in our tree. For example, when we find birth, marriage, death, burial, directory, etc. records these event all happen at a certain place. When the records are attached to the tree the place name is also added. Depending on what family tree software we use we can view a map of these places. Below is an example of the map and view options in the ancestry app on iPad OS.
You can see that the map is built based on the places from the records. The names are there as we zoom in and tap on the various markers.
That said, we do not use the map in the ancestry.com app as we travel. We use our car GPS, Google Maps, Apple Maps, etc. So there have been times when we have marked places on our maps so that we can see them as we travel. We use different icons to mean different things. Google Maps provides a space to make notes on the pins/markers as well. So we have icons that represent family and notes on the pins about what we should find at the location.
Not all of the stars and other pins are about family or ancestors. That is why we use different markers.
This time we were venturing from Florida to Illinois. We stayed a night in Clarksville, TN. As we were looking at the drive for the next day, we knew it would be a relatively short one. We also noted that we had options to drive through the southern Illinois and some Kentucky locations where my maternal ancestors had lived. So we quickly checked our maps and determined where we would do the next day. It was amazing to see the place where my grandparents were born. So many of the names in that branch of the family tree were found in the cemeteries we visited. We also stopped for lunch in one of the small towns. The people were so friendly and we noted a few colloquialisms that my mom, grandmother, and that side of the family use that we have not heard anywhere else. We will go back to spend more time in the area!
With a little preparation, including things we are already doing such as including documentation in our family trees and using maps and GPS software, we have been able to make the most of those legs of our trips around the country to visit our ancestors and, albeit in a different time, get a bit of an experience of them in these places.
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