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Sunday, November 4, 2012

We Do Things Differently, Meeting Up With Another Researcher

He does it his way, and I do it my way. This applies to genealogy too. Several months ago, my husband and I went to the Dover, Library in New Hampshire so he could do some research on his family. Neither of us had been to the library and I was going along for the ride. I brought a yellow folder and a list of things to look up, I always have an ongoing list that I can grab at a moment's notice. He brought an empty small notebook and I think a pencil. Yes, he found some information, something he could have found at almost any library, and I did too. I was far more curious as to their holdings (spanning three genealogy rooms), and he didn't care at all. He had his thing, and that was all that was needed.

I was determined to stay longer to see what else they had and to talk to an older man looking at books in the stacks. I wondered if he was a genea-blogger because I recognized his flip-pal on the table. What a delightful conversation we had, and no he didn't even know what blogs were. But he knew about doing genealogy, the old fashioned way. And, he owned the flip-pal, something I don't have.

When it was time to leave, I assumed my husband would want to check out the cemetery, knowing that his ancestors were buried there. Nope, no interest whatsoever! What kind of genealogist is he? This is perplexing, since he loves going with me on my searches.

So there we have it, he doesn't plan, doesn't look around in the library and doesn't do cemeteries. Yep, we do things differently. But he was happy. I imagine a number of people are like him.