Follow Friday A New Missouri Research Help Site.

Follow Friday, I am highlighting another state research community on Facebook.  FamilySearch has added another favorite state of mine. Oh, did I say favorite, hmm maybe not.   How about a much visited state to search for ancestors. My grandfather was born in Missouri and his grandparents came there in the 1820's.
Research in Missouri is not always easy, not necessarily because of the records. Rather because of the attitudes of many of the early settlers, case in point Daniel Boone. 
Daniel said the reason he went to the upper Missouri under Spanish rule was because one, the description by other men who had been there, "These men talked of the beauty of that region: they had stories to tell of the grizzly bears, buffaloes, deer, beavers, and otters..."1.       
Daniel went to Missouri for elbow-room.  He was looking for less government involvement in his life.  It worked for a short while under Spanish rule then American enterprise came upon his again and he submitted this time. Just one example of those that went there because the east was "crowding them" 1. 

I put a link below to his book written originally in 1844.  It has great insights into a pioneer mindset.

FamilySearch as started the Missouri Genealogy Research Community on FaceBook.
It is based on the principles of Ask a question, Find an answer, and Teach others what you know.
Stop by and join in the conversation or share a story about an area, ask if anyone knows a surname. We hope to see you there. Yes, I already liked Missouri and it comes in my wall feed when someone has something to say.  One person said 'Y'all will never known what you will find in Missouri..there is a reason it is the Show ME! state'
Would love to have fun with you as I tear my hair out searching for my hard headed Missourians who eventually became Okies. Go Figure.

1. Daniel Boone: His Own Story   By Daniel Boone, Francis Lister Hawkes

52 Weeks To Better Genealogy - Challenge #44 - Giving Back

This Genealogy challenge fostered by Amy Coffin http://wetree.blogspot.com/ . 

Trademark Genea-Bloggers

Genea-Bloggers on FaceBook issued the Week 44 challenge: Research ways to give back to the genealogy community, to examine some different ways genealogists can donate their time and effort in kind. 
I being a habitual volunteer have come across some new diverse ways to volunteer besides the usual methods of Random Acts of Kindness,volunteering at a library,  taking pictures of tombstones, or Indexing for various online websites such as Footnote, Ancestry, and FamilySearch.  I do them all.  Not to toot my horn, just saying, I work with them.  It is so exciting to see others faces glow as they find new information that wasn't available to them before.  I love it!
The newer methods I have become involved with actually evolved in my life through the Genea-Bloggers. (If you are interested in making your own Genealogy blog to connect with like minded or same surname searching people click here and you will see a well oiled machine to assist you.)  I love blogging.  I love sharing.  A few of the bloggers started making FaceBook sharing and Twitter sharing available on their blogs.  I was already on Facebook to watch over and share with my grandchildren, so I began to search for the networking blogs they were talking about.  I joined that community and now through the networking and share connect on other blogs, I have been able to begin bringing my marginal genealogy friends closer to the research community and help them in their quest.
I then joined Twitter.  I at first floundered wondering what on earth is this social media thing.  Then when I added the element of TweetDeck to Twitter. A whole new world of information opened up for me. I could set filters for genealogy, family history, history, and people who were in the know or promoting their websites or information would come flowing in.  The next natural step was for me to visit the site that had been tweeted about and see if it was something my friends would benefit by or if one of my Genea-Blogger friends would benefit being promoted.  They gave so much to me it was only natural to give back to them.  This is a wonderful tool to aid in bringing more resources to light for the marginal web surfer.
The new FamilySearch Wiki and WikiTree are great new areas for volunteering.  You can build your own page about a family based on the how and why of your research.  You can add to information that is already there.
Within in the FamilySearch Wiki there are social forums, Area forums, just a wonderful format for sharing.
I love giving and I give to see joy in others faces.  Life is AWESOME!