{"id":1067,"date":"2016-07-07T10:13:07","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T17:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/genealogyjottings.com\/?p=1067"},"modified":"2016-07-07T10:13:07","modified_gmt":"2016-07-07T17:13:07","slug":"reading-genealogically-speaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/genealogyjottings.com\/?p=1067","title":{"rendered":"Reading, Genealogically Speaking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" src=\"http:\/\/genealogyjottings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/070716_1712_ReadingGene1.png\" alt=\"\" \/>Often when I hear a program by a professional genealogist, I learn that I should try to familiarize myself with the history of a place before I begin doing research for that locality. This is good advice.\n<\/p>\n<p>The study of what we consider history was current events for our ancestors. They lived in a time and place affected by the politics and economics going on around them. Events such as wars, natural disasters, and financial panics can explain their actions.\n<\/p>\n<p>Nearly every day I make time to do some genealogy reading. This summer I am enjoying a well-told tale about the peopling of British North America by Edward Bailyn, <em>The Barbarous Years: the Conflict of Civilizations 1600-1675,<\/em>. I have numerous Colonial lines, so I need to know about the relationships between colonists and Native Americans and about the relationship of the colonies with England. I need to know about the laws of the time for things like licensing and indentures. I need to know about the importance and activities of religious groups. Bailyn describes it all.\n<\/p>\n<p>I often take notes as I read. Anecdotes from specific times or places can add interest to my family stories.\n<\/p>\n<p>I also update a handy timeline of American economic crises. From this I can tell at a glance whether a sudden move could be explained by widespread financial trouble. The list includes:\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1764, England prevented the colonies from making paper money,\n<\/li>\n<li>1819, a recession after the War of 1812,\n<\/li>\n<li>1837-43, a prolonged recession,\n<\/li>\n<li>1873, a banking collapse,\n<\/li>\n<li>1893, a railroad collapse,\n<\/li>\n<li>1907, the panic of 1907,\n<\/li>\n<li>1929, stock market crash and beginning of the Great Depression.\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Reading enhances my understanding of the time periods when my ancestors lived. Good background knowledge makes me a better researcher. Those genealogists who advise us to do this have the right idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Often when I hear a program by a professional genealogist, I learn that I should try to familiarize myself with the history of a place before I begin doing research for that locality. This is good advice. The study of what we consider history was current events for our ancestors. They lived in a time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genealogy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogyjottings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogyjottings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogyjottings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogyjottings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogyjottings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/genealogyjottings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1068,"href":"https:\/\/genealogyjottings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067\/revisions\/1068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogyjottings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogyjottings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogyjottings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}