Meet our Members: Jemima Winder

Question

Hi everyone!

It's time to get to know another one of our wonderful WikiTreers. This week's member is Jemima Winder.

Jemima became a Wiki Genealogist in February of 2021. She is a new Team Leader in the England Project.

When and how did you get interested in family history?

My sister bought DNA tests for the family a couple of Christmases ago which coincided with me wanting to find out who all the old photos in my mum's house were of.

What is your genealogical research focus?

I've only been going just over a year so still trying to map out my own ancestors.

Are you are interested in certain surnames or locations?  

My ancestors mostly come from Yorkshire so I am learning lots about that county as well as whaling and smuggling.

How long have you been on WikiTree? Why did you start getting involved?

Just over a year.  I needed somewhere to record all my research findings and didn't want to pay a fortune.  As soon as I stumbled on WikiTree I knew it was for me.

What do you spend the most time doing on WikiTree?

I love making connections - it's addictive and so satisfying.  I am also happy to disappear down rabbit holes.  In fact, I've discovered that getting lost on WikiTree is the perfect painkiller - it made me totally forget about the dental surgery I'd just had!

Which project are you most involved in?

I've recently become a team leader for Worcestershire in the England Project so I hope to connect with others interested in the area to rethink what the goals should be.

Do you consider your work here to be part of your legacy?

No - I'm just a bit of a geek.

Do you have a story about how someone was helped through your participation on WikiTree?  

Well, I'm a computing teacher so have started a genealogy club at my school. It helps pupils learn about social history while developing their research, collaboration, and digital literacy skills.  

What could we do to inspire more people to participate in our mission?

I'd love to see more short help videos (ideally not all American) on how some of the more advanced features work. Some are still a mystery to me and as a working single mum I don't have hours to spend on the forums. I imagine a lot of people get daunted by trying to wade through so much text to find out how to do stuff.

Comments

Congratulations, Jemina!  And what a wonderful interview!

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Hey mami looking good

Answer 1

Thank You for opening up and sharing with us Jemina ! I have to admit I find it bit addicting also!!

Answer 2

I love the idea of the genealogy club in school!  I've seen how genealogy makes you learn history, geography, even math, and some language!  It enhances learning, because it makes the subject relevant to what you are working on!

Like you, I also find making connections very satisfying!

Answer 3

Congratulations, Jemima, and thank you for all you do for our tree.  It's wonderful that you're expanding the Yorkshire tree.  I see you have ancestors from Sculcoates.  My own Yorkshire ancestors, Anthony Bowes, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bowes-832 , and his wife Ellen Oman, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Oman-485 , were from Beverley and Withernwick, near Hull.  Keep up the great work!

Answer 4

Congrats, Jemima. I'm happy to hear that you are integrating genealogy into youth extracurriculars. There is so much to learn from research like this, for example, I am learning German to help with reading documents and communicating with non-English speaking cousins.

Also, Yorkshire Dales is where a group of Greenwoods came from before they emigrated to Wisconsin, and eventually led to the adoption of my second great-grandfather, for we would not be Greenwoods were it not for that event. Even though they are not blood to me, I should still look into that area of the world, if only for curiosity's sake.

Answer 5

Congratulations on being nominated as member of the week, Jemima.

To have a genealogy club at school is a very nice idea. I would have loved it when I was a pupil.

Answer 6

Nice to meet you, Jemima. It's pretty cool that you are able to do WikiTree with teeth aching. I probably wouldn't ...

Answer 7

Hi Jemima and welcome to WT!!  I loved what you said about short tutorial videos.  That's a great idea as the alternative is an awful lot of reading.  Keep up the great work and thanks for all you do!

I also have a whole bunch of ancestors in Yorkshire, mostly around Whitby and Pateley Bridge.