Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Remembering 9/11


I didn’t have the television on that morning, so I didn’t hear about the attack on the World Trade Center until I got to work. At the time, I was teaching computer applications at a small vocational rehabilitation school. To think that terrorists so boldly attacked American citizens on our own soil was unimaginable to all of us. It was a difficult day as students and faculty tried to deal with what it all meant for the security of our nation.

Things have changed since 9/11. The new security measures in place at our nation’s airports mean longer waits before boarding flights. It’s inconvenient, but necessary. Osama bin Laden is dead, but unfortunately the threat of terrorism is not. Regretfully there are those who view all Muslims as terrorists; I understand fear, but not intolerance.

On this Patriot Day, I remember those who lost their lives and wish peace and healing for their families. I thank those who protect us from terrorist threats on a daily basis. I pray for tolerance for those who, despite having different religious beliefs, mean no harm and only wish to live peaceably with others.





© 2012 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - What Type of Genealogist Are You?


Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post for today asks What Type of Genealogist Are You? The mission for those responding is:

1)  Read Lorine McGinnis Schulze's blog post What Type of Genealogist Are You? (25 August 2012).
2)  Answer the questions, and write about them!!
3)  Share your opinions in your own blog post, in comments on this post, in a Facebook Status, in a Google+ Stream post, or in a Twitter microblog.


There is no doubt that I am the Hunter/Detective type; I love research, for my own ancestors and for those of clients and friends.

Based on that, I am neither a Gatherer/Ancestor Collector (although I know several) nor an Ancestor Finder. And although I have been frustrated at times with collaborative genealogy, I am not a Hoarder; I want share my research but not necessarily in online trees. Not a Junkyard Collector either, although you couldn’t tell that by looking at my desk!

I haven’t submitted any articles to scholarly journals (yet), but I am a Scholar in that I want to have proper source citations and I try to include them even on my blogs so that people will know where I found my information. The longer I am involved in genealogical research, the more I am becoming an Analyzer; in my personal research, I find if I go back and look at documents again, there are clues I didn’t see before!

I wish I were more of a Planner. I try to use research plans and logs, but sometimes I get caught up in the thrill of the hunt, or sidetracked by some tidbit of information, and I get off track.

So there you have it: I’m a Hunter/Detective, with some Scholar and Analyzer thrown in for good measure!


Sherlock Holmes in "The Five Orange Pips"
By Sidney Paget (1860 - 1908) (Strand Magazine)
 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons


© 2012 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research