WikiTree Community Blog

In addition to being a great platform for recreating family history, WikiTree is also a brilliant resource for collaborating with others on special community projects. Two such projects currently in the works are for Twins and another for Centenarians.

Our reigning Queen of WikiTree, Joanna Tolson, took the initiative to kick start these pages in an effort to bring together Twins Throughout the Ages and Centenarians: Our Link to Ages Gone By. Wouldn’t it be fascinating to see if there is a deep, historical link to all things twin? Or learning the secrets of living into the truly golden years by connecting with others who are or have known a Centenarian?

If you’d like to take part in these global activities, just create an account and start building your family history. After setting up a twin or centenarian on your tree, you can add these individuals to the respective pages by editing their bios and adding [[Category:Centenarians]] or [[Category:Twins]].

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted about my personal historical journey. But I can assure you that I have been busy trying to dig up information from the trenches. To date, everyone I have approached (other than my mother) simply shrugs their shoulders and tells me to ask the next person. Now with all this pass the buck stuff going on, I’m starting to wonder if I really am the milkman’s kid and that everyone is covering up some dark family secret – but then again, I look just like my sister who is fourteen years my senior. This would have been one dedicated milkman. Realizing yet again that my family has no idea where we actually came from, I decided to call the State of New Jersey’s vital records department and order a copy of my father’s birth certificate – not that easy. I was directed to their Web site where it details the documents required to obtain such a record from their state. I was pleased to learn that for genealogical purposes, you don’t need to establish proof of relationship – which is good, since I could be the milkman’s kid. Here’s what I did need to provide:

• Full name on the record
• City or county where the event occurred
• Year the event occurred
• Copy of my driver’s license (with photo)
• Completed application form (printed off from Web site)

To be safe, I also included a copy of my marriage certificate which lists my maiden name. I’m assuming that most states function in a similar manner. Now, if you don’t have a license or your license does not include a photo, here are some alternate forms of ID that you can use:

• Vehicle registration
• Vehicle insurance card
• Passport
• Voter registration
• Green card/Immigrant visa
• Federal/County ID
• School ID
• Court documents
• W-2 for current/previous tax year
• Utility/bank statement from within the last 90 days

New Jersey offered an expedited service through VitalCheck, which I’ll talk more about in an upcoming post. I opted for the non-expedited service, because I’ve already waited 34 years to learn about my roots. I think I can wait another…16 WEEKS! Wow… This is worse than waiting for a passport.

So here’s my plan… Get my father’s birth certificate and confirm his parents’ names and places of birth. Order their birth certificates and follow the same process. I’ll do the same on my mother’s side once I get a feel for things. If I am doing anything terribly wrong, please point it out to me. Ideas, suggestions and tips are welcomed! Oh, and if you know anything about the milkman…please keep it to yourself.

My quest continues… And lo and behold, I have made some headway in my very unattractive attempt to recreate my family history.  My mother remembered her grandmother’s last name - although she cannot remember her first.  It’s McClellan, which takes me back to my childhood days and the colorful stories my grandmother shared about growing up on Prince Edward Island (Canada).  They always seemed like tales taken from Anne of Green Gables!  Aside from my dear mum’s epiphany, I had my own light bulb moment.  All this time my dad’s obituary has been sitting in my office, which lists the name of his mother - including her maiden name.  So Ella Unknown is no longer a mystery - she is Ella Jasko.  This got me thinking about obituaries in general, so I did a quick search on Google and found another great resource.  It’s call ObitFinder, which, according to its Web site, “searches obituaries from more than 650 national and international newspapers and the US Social Security Death Tax Index to provide the most accurate and timely obituary information available.”  I was able to acquire the birth and death dates for three of my grandparents using this in-depth site.   Not bad for a novice… More pieces of the puzzle filled in.

Hope your journey is just as exciting!

Aside from wikis, social networking and German Shepherds, my greatest passion in life is the history of Queen Elizabeth I. She stands for everything royal, strong and admirable. As Queen, Elizabeth managed to overcome all adversaries. Her reign in fact is considered one of England’s most notable periods, dubbed the Elizabethan or Golden Age. This weekend I have been busy creating Queen Elizabeth I’s family tree here on WikiTree. It has been an honor and a privilege. If you are just starting out here, I encourage you to stop by and take a peek. It’s a great example that can be used as a basis for building your own family history.

And please… If you have something to add to the life and times of the Virgin Queen, please do. This is a wiki and I’d - she’d - love the help.

It should come as no surprise when I tell you that I love wikis! That’s right. I love everything they’re about and everything they stand for…collaboration, the sharing of knowledge and the quintessential fact that if you happen to write ‘their’ instead of ‘there’, someone else can come along and fix the typo for you - like your older brother or dear Aunt Mable. And to imagine…only five short years ago I thought a wiki was a bar in the Caribbean. But everything I love about wikis started to concern me when I considered the family history that I was creating here on WikiTree. What if someone came along and changed my father’s name from Melvin McCann (stop laughing) to Charles Manson? Or inserted by ex-husband where my husband appears on the tree? That would not go over well. So I went to the source, Chris Whitten, the King of Wikis and the founder of WikiTree to get the answers to these questions.

He completely reassured me by explaining the feature called ‘Family Network.’ This allows only a limited number of people – the relatives you approve – to access and edit information within the primary branches of your family tree. You control who is in that network. Now if you allow your cousin Ned – who happens to be a real trickster – and he changes your mother’s name from Christine to Ednahellostupid, you’ll have to make some edits.

Now for people on your tree without any direct living relatives – like your great-great-grandfather – anyone can access and edit the information. As Chris explains, “These areas are completely wiki and they don’t have the same Family Network restrictions.” Which is good, because I’d really be creeped out if my father’s father’s father complained that someone had edited his information. But seriously, what’s really cool about this and why WikiTree is so unique (as explained by Chris) is that “a distant cousin of yours could edit this same great-great-grandfather without needing to have a relationship with you. This is important because the further back in time we go the more that strangers share the same ancestors. Our ancestors’ stories become part of world history.”

The bottom line is that your most important information is secure and only accessible to those you allow onto your Family Network. So what are you waiting for? Start building your history today – wiki style! I am!

About a week ago, I took the plunge and started down the path of reconstructing my family history.  As I began entering data into WikiTree (which is really easy to use and navigate), the simplicity of the endeavor became apparent.  Creating a family tree was a cinch!  I had branches blossoming in a matter of minutes and my family tree was coming to life!  No one could stop me now… Boy, was I in for a rude awakening.  The second I finished entering data on my immediate family, I found myself wondering who my mother’s mother was and not knowing my father’s mother’s maiden name.  So naturally I picked up the phone and called my mother, Christine.  She also came up empty handed and could not for the life of her remember small details such as where my father was born or how many siblings her mother had.  All she could say was, “Remember the funny aunt?  You know, the one that had the camp on the lake.  What was her name?” And, “I think your dad was born in the town he was raised in, Trenton, no Freehold, no the other town next to Freehold.  Oh, what was it?” Wasn’t that why I was calling her?

So the bottom line is that I am at a point where I cannot go any further without getting my hands on some vital records such as birth certificates.  But I have no idea how to go about this.  I live in Maine, but my father was born in New Jersey.  Can I obtain birth certificates online or do I have to write to a certain government agency?  Would Maine have a copy of my dad’s birth certificate? Do they offer a class on Genealogy 101? 

These are all questions that I need to find the answers to.  So stay tuned…  And if you know a thing or two about genealogy, please feel free to post your thoughts, comments and recommendations below.  I need all the help that I can get.