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Gathering Nuts |
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Gathering Nuts |
I am a great believer in stories. Facts are meaningless without imagination; without a story to weave them together and give them life. That is, after all, why we call it "History." While genealogy is, in its purest form, the scientific study of genetic lineage, what you will find in these pages is more the story of the lives of our people -- a Family History.
The first tidbits of family information that I ever received came from my Grandparents, Norman and Velma (Short) Craig, and from my great aunt Rhoda Hyde. I have always enjoyed history, and their collections of stories, photographs, and newspaper clippings absolutely fascinated me. Suddenly the facts I had always read about in history books came alive with real people. The dates seemed considerably less important than the reasons and ideas behind them.
It is my hope that by displaying these facts, and fictions, and stories, and traditions that bind history together, I may help someone else discover that fascination in themselves.
A genealogical "purist" will certainly cringe at the work I am presenting on these pages. I have only just begun validating some of the data with "original" records. Most of the information that I have presented has been obtained from secondary (or worse) sources. I have included records and stories from family members, books, web sites, and other sources of "unknown quality".
There is an ongoing debate about whether the rising popularity of Internet genealogy is doing nothing but spreading misinformation. It could be argued that by placing the information I have collected on-line, without having first confirmed it all first-hand, I have contributed to this pervasive spread the weeds of misinformation. Through the years, however, I have stumbled into a great amount of information that somebody believes to be accurate.
In the end, I have tried, as much as possible, to conform to the National Genealogical Society's Standards For Sharing Information With Others. Forgive me though, if at times my imagination pulls me away from the cold harshness of clinical analysis, and leads me on magical paths through enchanted lands, to discover tales of dragons and fairies. I am, after all, only an amateur. I spend hours of my free time at the library, or on-line, or talking to people, not because I am trying to prove to some higher court that I am genetically linked to Superman, but because I enjoy learning about people and their dreams.
True, part of the attraction of this area of study for most of us is in the unpuzzling; looking at the facts, and stories, and circumstances and uncovering a solution. The goal is to correctly solve the puzzle. But if we must check our imaginations at the door, and are bound by only the barest of facts, the game becomes just another chore.
We live in a time of massive, easy-to-obtain information. Collecting details about a person has become as easy as pushing a few keys on a computer. The danger, as always, lies in the fact that more information often leads to less privacy. It is certainly not my intent here to abridge anyone's right to their privacy.
I have vigorously avoided posting any information about anyone living, or anything that may cause harm to the living. If you are aware of anything presented here that may be injurious to anyone, please let me know and it will be removed immediately.
I have discovered that, like so many other things legal, copyright law can confuse even the lawyers. It is a nearly impossible task to know for certain what items may or may not be published on a web site such as this. I have found the copyright table at ProGenealogists to be extremely useful, although, in my ignorance, I have simplified my own guidelines to the following:
In keeping with these guidelines, all graphics and music found on this site were obtained from sites claiming to be Public Domain (not copyrighted, or "Linkware"). Any previously published materials presented are (hopefully) no longer under copyright.
If you notice something that violates any copyright (real or imagined) please let me know and it will be removed immediately.
I am far from being a true "webmaster". This is only a hobby for me, so please forgive any major layout, or programming blunders. My goal is to create the right "atmosphere" for the weaving of my family stories. Again, I have attempted, where possible, to follow the National Genealogical Society's Guidelines For Publishing Web Pages On The Internet. And again, I have stretched a few of these guidelines, or even ignored them completely as the "artist" in me cried for attention.
While viewing these pages, please let me know if you have any problems or suggestion that might help an ignorant "webbie" like myself.
What an impossible task this would be without an electronic database to sort it all out! I am nothing if not an amateur at this genealogy game. I have tried three or four different software programs to track my family information, and have finally settled on The Master Genealogist by Wholly Genes, Inc. Most of the genealogy reports found here were created with that program. Although harder to learn initially than some other programs, the flexibility, and technical support are what make it worth while.
To learn more about The Master Genealogist, your may go to the Wholly Genes web site, or subscribe to the TMG help list at Rootsweb (Be prepared -- this list if full of helpful experts, and is VERY active!)
If you have arrived here by way of my "Gathering Nuts" home page, you probably have already noticed that I tend to take things a little less-than-seriously. Like stories, I believe that humor is one of the spices of life. How can we really enjoy anything else if we cannot first laugh at ourselves?
If any of my little jokes unintentionally offends you, please try to remember that this is also my family tree, full of my family's nuts, with my genes. I am not poking fun at you; I am only enjoying us!
In telling our Family History, I have endeavored to present the facts as accurately as possible, without breaking any laws, or stepping on anyone's toes. I have not knowingly included anything that is questionable, without noting it to be so. For those who wish to build on this information, or who wish to verify the accuracy of the data, I have tried to include source citations for the majority of the information presented. Mistrust it if you must, but have fun while doing it.
For those who just appreciate a good story, I present you with my collection of the nuts from my family's trees. Sit back, relax, and enjoy!
David Craig
"Gathering Nuts" - The Hows and Whys; © 2000 David Craig; revised Saturday, 08-Sep-2018 08:31:04 MDT
