52 Ancestors Week 6: Social Media

+20 votes
790 views

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 6

The theme for Week 6 is "Social Media." Social media can connect us to people we otherwise wouldn't have encountered. Have you made a family history discovery via social media? (What about in the social column of their newspaper -- that was basically their Facebook!) Have you ever imagined how an ancestor would have used social media? Write about it this week.

The gossip column was also pretty much Twitter. Times have not changed THAT much. So, here we are in the 21st century. How have you used social media in your genealogy? I have some....ideas for a blog and ironically I will be tweeting it.
in The Tree House by Chris Ferraiolo G2G6 Pilot (882k points)
Social media and genealogy go hand in hand. Case in point: https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2023/02/52-ancestors-week-6-social-media.html

17 Answers

+21 votes
 
Best answer

This is a photo of me, on the left, with two other members of my DAR chapter, Muskogee Indian Territory Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. This 25 Jan 2022 photo has been on social media because we are with Denise Doring VanBuren. At the time this photo was taken Denise was the 45th President General of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. 

The four of us are at the Mayo Hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In today's media the 2022 Paramont+ television series Tulsa King, the main character Dwight "The General" Manfredi, portrayed by Sylvester Stallone, resides in the Mayo Hotel.

by Alexis Nelson G2G6 Pilot (932k points)
selected by Susan Laursen
Amazing photo Alexis with member from DAR

Thank you for sharing
Susan, thank you for your sweet comment. My husband said that I should explain that the President General is the lady wearing the blue sash. I remember in the painting of your queen, she had a beautiful blue sash.
+19 votes
This is as close to social media as I have engaged in. No Face Book, No Twitter, No letters to Dear Abby.
by K Smith G2G6 Pilot (455k points)
Good for you, K Smith.  Don't give in if it's not your thing.
I take that back. I have written Dear Abby, as in our own Dear Abby Glann, in which I corrected myself and readdressed her as Dear Cousin!
+19 votes

And another one without SocMed accounts. And what is even worse: In the past, I was so hooked on them, I developed media dependency syndrome. (If that doesn‘t fit last week’s theme - OOPS!) So, I miss out on looking for cousins on Facebook etc., and won‘t use most online databases like Archion or suchlike. But hey, there  are enough printed books, the data of which haven‘t been uploaded yet, so these tomes will probably last me a lifetime :-)

by Oliver Stegen G2G6 Pilot (235k points)
+20 votes

They had Social Media Influencers over a century ago.  The Maxwell Motor Company was among the first to try to sell cars to women.  They sponsored Alice Huyler Ramsey's coast-to-coast drive across the United States. http://wikitree.com/wiki/Huyler-47.  She was the first woman to accomplish this in 1908.  That had an impact on my grandmother's cousin, Dr. Catherine Travis, who in June 1910 bought an A.A. Maxwell.  http://wikitree.com/wiki/Travis-2561.  The Hartford Courant newspaper (June 23, 1910) mentioned the people who received their A. A. Maxwell cars and Dr. Catherine Travis of New Britain was among the lucky ones.  Below, early Influencer and Racer, Alice Huyler Ramsey with her Maxwell.

by Pat Miller G2G6 Pilot (267k points)
Amazing photo Pat beautiful lady and car thank you for sharing

Thank you, Susan for your comment. smiley

+19 votes

It's interesting that you ask if I've imagined how an ancestor would have used social media, because that is exactly what I did in this week's blog post. I found a clipping from an old newpaper that told of my great-uncle's visit to his father's farm. Then I created a simulated Facebook post to show how he might share that information today.
You can view the blog post here.

by Kim Kolk G2G6 Mach 2 (27.9k points)
edited by Kim Kolk
What a great, creative idea.  I love your pseudo-FB post.
+17 votes

I didn't think I would solve this within ten minutes. I looked if there are profiles with the surname "Tweet". There are. And there is literally only one that is unconnected. Checking FamSearch, it turns out that his father-in-law has a profile here, he is a notable with a Wikipedia-page and his daughter is named in it. The only problem: The first document that gives away the connection between the couple Tweet is the birth entry of the oldest son. Which is a bit - not really great when you want to keep privacy.

by Jelena Eckstädt G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)
+20 votes
Had a nice example of this just before Christmas.  I was researching descendants of one of my great grandmother's sisters, and the names came down to a living person with a distinctive name.  Normally doing a search for most names on Facebook is futile because there are dozens or hundreds of results with the same name.  But in this case, the name came right to the top of the search list.

I sent him a 'friend request' and a private message explaining that we were probably third cousins, and he responded within a day or two.  He passed the message on to his retired father, who then emailed me with a bunch of great new information and some really valuable old photos of the parents of this great grandmother, first photos of them that I had ever seen.
by Peter Wetzel G2G6 Mach 1 (20.0k points)
+18 votes

During my 9X great-uncle Richard Lovelace's lifetime in the 17th century, the social media that we think of today (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) did not exist.  But Richard's poetry, influenced as it was by his experiences with politics and his associations with the important figures of his time, seems to qualify as "social media."  I wrote about him here: 

https://annesgenealogyadventures.blogspot.com/2023/01/52-ancestors-2023-week-5-social-media.html

by Anne Agee G2G6 Mach 4 (42.2k points)
+15 votes

This week the US Black Heritage Project is honoring the "Queen of Twitter," singer Dionne Warwick and Former President Barack Obama, who I guess could be called the King of Twitter since he's currently the #1 most followed account.

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1535317/52-weeks-of-us-black-heritage-notables-week-6-social-media

by Emma MacBeath G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
I loved the music of Dionne Warwick, Emma.  I saw her perform in the early 1970s.  What joy.  Thank you for this post.
+17 votes
If you have ancestors from small towns, their every move is probably documented in the local newspaper. This somewhat mimics the way people report their everyday activity on social medial. I know my father's family had newspaper reports of relatives coming for visits or even dinner. These social notes in the paper have been a great source for getting the feel of what everyday life was like.
by Jody Green G2G6 Mach 2 (21.9k points)
Very good point, Jody.  I noticed this too for many ancestors. And I was left chuckling over the newspaper announcing that my grandmother was planning to take a train to Toronto for the weekend.  Then the next day they reported which train she'd be on.  And three days later they reported on what a great time she had in Toronto.
+13 votes
Before I gave up Facebook forever, I connected myself with lots of cousins and my half siblings. I quit using Facebook during Lent in 2021.

My ancestors would have been super depressed and overwhelmed by the information on Facebook. They would have done the old fashioned way: letters, phone call, face to face interaction.
by Eileen Robinson G2G6 Pilot (242k points)
+12 votes
Not a fan of social media, the only real reason I even have a Facebook account is to keep up with what my kids are doing. I did enjoy one of the answers here about local newspapers, I love the tidbits I find in these.  The daughter of one my great uncles was quite a budding actress in her high school years. Their local paper followed her performances closely and make for interesting reading even now. I wonder how she would feel if she knew people were still following her career 90 years later.
by Steve Heininger G2G6 (9.0k points)
+11 votes

For the modern day, my uses of Facebook:

  • People asking me for help finding their relatives
  • I've asked someone for DNA and family confirmation
  • I've asked someone for help on a mystery brickwall that I broke down using DNA
  • Multiple uses of confirming family relationships
As to the past and using the newspaper: I got lucky in finding a newspaper article about a family reunion that not only confirmed relationships, but added many new ones. I created a FSP for it that I use as a Source: Wyrick Family Reunion, Oklahoma 1937.
by Eric Weddington G2G6 Pilot (557k points)
+9 votes

Facebook was actually very helpful in putting me in touch with the Boston Fire Historical Society.  For a modest donation, they searched their archives and send me good quality scans of G Grandfather Hogan's service records, several newspaper clippings, and three great photos, two offical portraits of him in uniform and one really great shot of he and his crew with their shiny new fire engine circa 1918. 

by Dorothy O'Hare G2G6 Mach 9 (92.9k points)
+9 votes

I used to be on My Space; then it died. Then I was on Face Book for awhile; then I ventured out into life & got inundated. I was pretty active on Twitter; but they banned me for life. 

Since I have my degree in MultiMedia Web Graphic Design & Development, I know how to appeal to social media, I just don't participate in it.

by Living Brunson G2G6 Pilot (109k points)
+8 votes
The earliest form of social media aka. gossip I can recall circa 1960 is the newspaper and the telephone. You never knew what you would hear when you picked up the phone in the good ol' days of the 'party-line.' In some ways was like a chat room. I have never been a fan of the popular social media sites, I do like the interaction on our Tree.
by Marty Franke G2G Astronaut (1.0m points)
+6 votes
I found a who bunch of my step cousins thanks to a Facebook group that researches the line of Dr. Patrick Napier.

Another Facebook group is for descendants of those that died during the Witch Hysteria of 1692.

I really have no clue which of my ancestors would use social media.
by Bonnie Day G2G6 Mach 3 (34.2k points)

Related questions

+13 votes
8 answers
+33 votes
33 answers
+12 votes
6 answers
+19 votes
12 answers
+14 votes
15 answers
+19 votes
14 answers
+20 votes
16 answers
+20 votes
24 answers
+18 votes
11 answers
+19 votes
21 answers

WikiTree  ~  About  ~  Help Help  ~  Search Person Search  ~  Surname:

disclaimer - terms - copyright

...