Since this is the official blog of the Mississippi Genealogy Society, I thought I’d start posting some search hints and tricks that are specific to Mississippi. I also thought I’d start by promoting collections available at my day job.

Many of you know I am the College Librarian at Millsaps College. What many of you might not know is that Millsaps College is the home of the J. B. Cain Archives of Mississippi Methodism. We are the official repository for the Mississippi Conference of the Methodist Church and some of its antecedents here in Mississippi [1]. 

The archives is a great resource for those of you searching for your Methodist ancestors. My suggestion is to start by visiting our research guide located here. This research guide is a great place to find information regarding the collections found at the J. B. Cain archives but will also guide you to online access of the New Orleans Christian Advocate, the Mississippi Advocate, and more [3].

Recently, during our Winter Virtual Seminar, researcher J. Mark Lowe was impressed by the name index of Mississippians mentioned in the New Orleans Christian Advocate. The index was created by J. B. Cain, a prominent Methodist church historian whose work resulted in the creation of the archive.

However, the Christian newspapers aren’t the only noteworthy collections. If you peruse the various tabs and hyperlinks on the page, you will find lists of memoirs and obituaries of notable Methodist ministers, a list of church registers residing in the collection, and finding aids for the United Methodist Women’s Society and the Manuscript Collections of notable Mississippi Methodists[4].

If you’re looking specifically for a name of a family member who belonged to a particular church, you’d go to the church registers and records tab, scroll to the hyperlink that says Church Registers and Records, and voila! [5] A document providing the list of church registers in the collection will open. Then you can check to see if the church your ancestor attended is on the list. Once you've found the church you're looking for be sure to schedule an appointment with us to scroll through the church register in person.

The library and archive staff are willing to answer any questions you might have about the process. Please understand that the J. B. Cain Archives of Mississippi Methodism is currently open by appointment only. If you want to schedule a visit, please email librarian@millsaps.edu.

Also, it's best to know that there are other genealogical resources housed in the Millsaps-Wilson Library. I just wanted to highlight some of the most used items from the J. B. Cain Archives today.

Other than that, I do hope this information is helpful to your search. Have a good week and I hope to get you more useful tips soon. 

P.S. Here's a classic view of the old archives reading room [6].

[1] Millsaps-Wilson Library. “The Archives.” Millsaps College, 2024. https://millsaps.edu/academics/millsaps-wilson-library/the-archives/

[2] Millsaps-Wilson Library. "J. B. Cain Archives of Mississippi Methodism: Overview." Millsaps College. Hyperlink to an Overview of the resources found in the J. B. Cain Archives of Mississippi Methodism is provided. Accessed 22 April 2025. https://libguides.millsaps.edu/methodist/overview

[3] Millsaps-Wilson Library. “J. B. Cain Archives of Mississippi Methodism: Finding Aids.” Millsaps College. New Orleans Christian Advocate hyperlink is provided in blue lettering at the top of the page. Accessed 21 April 2025. https://libguides.millsaps.edu/methodist/indexes

[4] Millsaps-Wilson Library. “J. B. Cain Archives of Mississippi Methodism: Finding Aids.” Millsaps College. The memoirs and obituaries and United Methodist Women’s Society hyperlinks are provided in blue lettering at the top of the page. Accessed 21 April 2025. https://libguides.millsaps.edu/methodist/indexes

[5] Millsaps-Wilson Library. “J. B. Cain Archives of Mississippi Methodism: Church Registers and Records” Millsaps College. Accessed 21 April 2025. https://libguides.millsaps.edu/methodist/churches

[6] Millsaps-Wilson Library. "Reading Room at the J. B. Cain Archives of Mississippi Methodism." Photograph. 2017. Millsaps College Archives, Jackson, Mississippi. Accessed 2025. 

Right before Christmas, my family drove to Destin for a little getaway. My wife and I packed our swimsuits, towels, shorts, sandals, buckets, chairs, and a few extra clothes and made the trek to the little beach house my mother-in-law rented for our group. The weather was warm, not too humid, and the crowds were nonexistent.

We spent most of our time that week strolling the beach under the full moon, sitting in the hot tub, going on dolphin watching cruises in the gulf, and even swimming in the mid-December surf. We made memories with the family. Cousins played with cousins. Sisters shopped with sisters. And me? Well, I read a book. That’s what beaches are for, right? Beach reading?

Okay. Okay. I didn’t always read. Nope. One morning towards the end of our stay, I found myself at the beach house with Grandma—my wife’s mom. That morning, I kind of coerced her to sit down with me for an oral history interview. Family history style. The audio turned out perfectly and I was excited to hear stories of her parents, grandparents, and other tales from her childhood. I let her talk until the rest of the family broke up the interview when they came home for lunch.

Shortly after my chat with Grandma we came home. It’s then I decided to transcribe the interview and attach some documents pertaining to the folks she mentioned. Let me say this about my project—I fell straight down the genealogical rabbit hole. Like magic, I was no longer in our world but had hopped straight through the proverbial looking glass.

My hunt for documentation concerning the people, places, and other ideas Grandma mentioned led me to find stories the family (specifically my wife and mother-in-law) didn’t know. Some of these stories are tales straight out of a Zane Grey or Louis L’Amour novel. Others are of the romantic variety. (I hope to write a few of these stories down someday soon. Unfortunately I don't have time to tell them to you today.)

Either way, everyone has been so excited to hear the news about what I found and to make connections with those who’re no longer here. Most exciting to me was when my wife started sending me articles on aspects of the oral history interview she found fascinating.

In our time together, I’m not sure I ever remember my wife doing any kind of genealogy research on her own. But this time, after hearing her mom’s stories, she was interested to know more and went on a hunt. These experiences, our research, have led to great conversations with our children when we told them what we found. I do hope they catch the genealogy bug too. Either way, there are still more stories to discover, more memories to share, and more interviews to conduct. There are even more memories to make like those we made with the rest of the family in Destin.

Overall, that one interview with Grandma has led to several rewarding experiences for me. And none of it would have happened had I not interviewed her. It’s safe to say I can’t wait for the chance to interview her again. When I do, I’ll be sure to chat with other family members as well. So please, take this as a reminder to interview (and record) your family members. Spend some time picking their brains, listening to their memories, and enjoying the moment. Then afterwards you’ll research those stories and use them as a jumping off place for your hunt. Because trust me. Those interviews are where the magic happens.

Hello friends of the Mississippi Genealogical Society!

It’s April. Officially spring.

As the azaleas, tulips, roses, and flowers bloom, we move away from our fantastic Winter Virtual Seminar featuring J. Mark Lowe. Throughout late January and into March, members of the society sharpened their skills, worked on research in real time, and built friendships during our weekly meeting with this fantastic researcher. He even brought guests most weeks. Guests like the fabulous Dr. Abbott, who reminded us to Write Our Story first.

I’d like to take a moment and express my gratitude for the fun the two of them have brought to us the last month or so. Thank you. Truly.

That being said, now that we’re in the second quarter of the year, I’d like to put out a call for suggestions. Whether it’s a meeting topic, a presenter, speakers, workshop ideas or more, please send us a note with what you’d like to see from the society. This is your society. Your place to learn and grow as researchers and hobbyists in the genealogical field. Please help us become your go to place for all things genealogy in the state of Mississippi.

And if you want to donate your time and talents to the society, we’ll take that too. We’re currently in need of help running the zoom portion of our monthly meetings. Plus we need some awesome social media posts. And blog posts. We need more blogs than the few I put out on Tuesday afternoons. There’s so much to do and we want you to be a part of it all.

So this is your call to arms. Join us. Research with us. Give us suggestions. And if you’re new to Mississippi or genealogy, tell us about your family. We have a meeting on April 19 with Dr. William K Storey, author and Millsaps College professor. If you like what you see, pull up a chair and stick around a while. We always need new additions to the family.

On Sunday, a friend cornered me at church. She said, “Wyatt, I need to pick your brains for a minute,” and pointedly looked at two books she held in her hands. Both wore black covers and one had the date 1949 on it.

“How can I help?” I asked.

“My dad recently gave me these journals from my grandfather and great-grandfather. I figured I’d ask you what I needed to do with them before I do anything else with them.”

Now I know what she really meant was, “How do I preserve and take care of these?” And I answered that question immediately. However, before I went on my long and detailed rant about preservation and storage and washing her hands before she touched them and other standard archival practices I felt she needed to know, I should have said something else. I should have said, “Read them.”

First and foremost, I should have made sure that she planned to read them, not just assumed that she would. I should have expressed how important I think they’ll be to her and not because I think they’re important because of their age. You see, I don’t care how old they are. I don’t care if they’re from 1913 or 1949 or some other time (they are from 1913 and 1949). I mention this because sometimes people think age is what brings the value to items like these. Unfortunately, age isn’t what makes them important. I think they’re important because they’re from her family. And because of that, I truly hope she reads them. And treasures them. Those journals from her ancestors are filled with priceless words and thoughts. They’re also filled with the opportunity to feel the connection to her grandfather and great-grandfather in ways she never knew before.

Truly, how many of us who dabble in genealogy would love to have journals from our ancestors? I don’t have any. The closest thing I have is one letter from my grandfather. It’s actually not a letter. It’s a note he wrote when he annotated some sheet music for me. He wanted me to learn Stardust on the harmonica and took the time to arrange and annotate the song for me with his own arrangement. I never expected him to go out of his way for me like that. And in the end, his little note became tangible evidence my grandfather not only knew my name, but thought about me as well.

Photo from the author's personal collection

You see, it might have been easy to doubt whether or not my grandfather knew me. He lived at least 500 miles from me, had a good 20-30 other grandchildren (some of which I knew, others I didn’t), and he called every single one of us “pumpkin.” He said it in his quiet voice that almost sounded like mumbling. Every time he called me pumpkin, I wasn’t sure what to think because he called all of his grandchildren by the same pet name.

Then one day a few years later and after I grew a few feet taller, my grandfather learned I’d been dabbling in the harmonica. As someone who toured the local circuit of rest homes and office gigs with his harmonica group, this new knowledge excited him. We jammed. We learned new music. We both learned the Dances with Wolves soundtrack, which was popular at the time. We had a great time. It was our thing. Harmonicas became a special moment for someone like me, who grew up most of my life not really knowing my grandparents. You see, two of them died before I was born, the third died when I was 5, and the only remaining one resided 500 miles away. Growing up that far away from your grandparent makes you suspect when they start calling every kid around you “pumpkin.”

So after the jam sessions and the harmonica lessons died down, and my grandfather dropped me a note, one with MY NAME ON IT!, it dispelled all doubt on whether or not he knew my name. Plus it was beyond cool that he was thinking of me.

These days I wish I had more than one paragraph written in a shaky hand from my grandfather. Boy, what would I do for a journal or two? So, my friend, please forgive me if I gave you all the advice on how to preserve those journals without making sure you’re going to read them. But even more important, my friend, take it from me. Read them. Read them and appreciate the treasure you’re working to preserve.

GEDCOM. The acronym reminds me of the ones used by the U. S. military, something reminiscent of the DEFCON system. A friend of mine said it sounded like some new, fancy business. When I first heard the term though, I thought, “Great. Is this one more expensive addition to my hobby that I’ll have to know and use?”

I had already jumped in the deep end of genealogy and was barely afloat. Frankly, one more thing to buy or subscribe to sounded silly, even if the word itself felt mysterious and difficult and slightly militaristic.

Lucky for me, GEDCOM isn’t all that difficult to understand. It’s a file format. That’s all. Like jpeg or pdf or docx, it’s a format for electronic files that allows for the transfer of genealogical information. In fact, the word GEDCOM stands for Genealogical Data Communication.

People save pictures to jpegs, documents to pdf or docx, and audio files to mp3s. Genealogists save their family tree information to GEDCOM files. That’s it. Easy enough to understand, right?

But why am I telling you all of this? Well, my mom called me the other day. I was coming home from Disneyland (California, not Florida) and she had some genealogical questions for a friend.

Can I export my family tree from Ancestry and upload it to FamilySearch? That was the question.

Why, yes you can. All you have to do is export your family tree as a GEDCOM file and upload it to FamilySearch. You see, GEDCOM files work within the proprietary systems of various websites and software. Roots Magic, Family Tree Maker, My Heritage and more all support GEDCOM files. Now, the extent to what information will transfer from one site to another varies. This is because GEDCOM has been released as an open source system and various entities can tailor it for their own purposes.

Whoa. How does that impact me? It means that Ancestry might allow you to save pictures (or some other form of data) in their GEDCOM files but FamilySearch won’t (I say might because I don’t know all the minutiae about what a GEDCOM file will save on Ancestry vs FamilySearch and I’m not about to learn). It also means that not every bit of information will transfer. However, the important part is that the basic file will store the most important information and allow you to import it elsewhere. (A note. If you do happen to download a GEDCOM from Ancestry or elsewhere and upload it full sale to FamilySearch, it will create a number of duplicate ancestors in the family tree for users everywhere. This is because Family Tree is one shared tree for everyone. Therefore, it’s best to use your GEDCOM file to import only the information into FamilySearch Family Tree that is missing or new. If you do happen to upload your entire tree, please help merge the duplicate files or otherwise keep the tree as clean as possible.)

As you might expect, the nerdier, techier fans of genealogy sometimes argue over the capabilities, capacities, and features of what GEDCOM files can do, but my purpose here today isn’t to weigh in on the pros and cons of the latest file type. Nope. My purpose here is to say this—don’t be afraid of the term GEDCOM. And don’t be afraid to download a GEDCOM file from Ancestry, My Heritage, FamilySearch, Roots Magic, Family Tree Maker, or wherever you store your tree. Back up your work every now and again. Feel safe knowing you’ve backed up your work and that if you decide to change platforms, you should still be able to recover most of your information. Or if you need to, export and import your work to a new site, like my mother’s friend, who by now has downloaded her Ancestry tree as a GEDCOM file and imported it to FamilySearch.

Anyway, that’s all for now folks. GEDCOM is still a thing, it’s not all that mysterious, except for those who go DEFCON 2 just thinking about using a computer. If you need to learn how to download a GEDCOM file from your favorite site, there are plenty of tutorials online. In the meantime, I hope you have a nice day and good luck on your hunt.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Sometimes I try to do all the things. I write out a research plan. I cite my sources. I keep a research log. I feel productive.

Then the hour grows late and I realize I’ve been at my computer enjoying the hunt and I think, “It’s late. My eyes are bleary. Tomorrow’s a new day.”

That’s about the time I reluctantly step away from the screen, brush my teeth, and get ready for bed. Right about the time I’m drifting off to sleep I think, “Why didn’t I try searching his name as Marcus or Markus instead of just Mark?” Or some silly other little thing I didn’t do or record in my notes.

Then I toss and turn in my sleep because, “Tomorrow is a new day.”

I remember one of my first visits to the FamilySearch Library. It was known as the Family History Library then, and I knew next to nothing about genealogy. To be fair, it still feels like I know next to nothing about genealogy.

This was sometime in 2011. I was newly married, in the middle of a career change, and looking for graduate school programs. Nothing about the grad school offerings truly excited me, leaving me with some extra time for my hobbies. Because of a chance encounter with a professional genealogist, I dove into the deep end of the hobby. Full force. No looking back.

For me, diving in meant drinking from the firehose. Often. I watched webinars, some of them too simplistic for my skills, while I found others way too advanced. I signed up for Ancestry and FamilySearch accounts. And of course I went to the FamilySearch Library (I obviously didn’t live in Mississippi then). Looking back, I might have nudged myself in a different direction, one that would have led me to libraries and archives earlier, but that’s a different story.

Anyway, I remember an early trip to the library, where I spoke to one of the professional genealogists on staff. She kindly pointed me in the direction of some materials and let me do a bit of research. On this occasion, I got lucky, found a few documents, and photocopied them. I went back to pack up for the day and on my way out I ran into the same genealogist. She asked if I had found anything. I showed her my photocopies. She kindly encouraged me to cite my sources on the page and even helped me to write them out. The I asked her the big question.

“Okay, so I found all these documents and information about my family members. So what do I do with them?”

She looked at me quizzically. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“What do I do with all this information? I like knowing it. I like learning it. It’s interesting and fun, but can I use it? What do I physically do with it? Isn’t it like reading a book? It's just for me. I’ve read it and now what?”

This kind woman still looked confused for a moment. “You can write a book, you can create a visual family tree, you can collect photos, and meet distant cousins, or you can even join a lineage or genealogical society.”

Her answer sounded flat in my ears. The way she looked at me . . . I knew she knew I wasn’t convinced about her answer, even if some of those answers were correct. And even today, they’re still good answers. But at the time I didn’t understand something about genealogy and family history that I’ve come to know and feel today. You see, I still want to do things with my genealogy, whether it’s to write or collect photos or to share family stories with others. But what I didn’t know then was just how many people are out there who deeply yearn to connect with their ancestors. They want connections that are deep and poignant and transcend a need to “do something” with the information found during a search. And though it might have sounded trite to my ears to write a book or collect some photographs, these are small ways that can lead to the deep and powerful feelings of connection the hobby can provide. But those aren’t all. If you help other people with the research into their families or join a society and make friends with others in a group, these activities will enrich your life.

My life is better because I’ve made friends with others who share my love of the hobby. It is better because I can share family stories, stories I never knew until recently, stories I share with my children and point out the similarities between them and their ancestors. It is better because I get to help others make discoveries at work when I am in the archives or even if I share a few of the tips and tricks I’ve learned with other researchers in the genealogical society. It is better because it inspires me to go and do more every day. To live more every day.

So, yes, go ahead and write a book, collect photos and newspaper clippings, join a society, or just share family stories with friends. Go ahead and do the research into each family member. I guarantee if you find things to do beyond the research, even small things to do with the information you gather or the skills you’ve learned along the way, your life will be better, livelier, richer.

Prove me wrong.

P.S. RootsTech is this week. For those who can't go and would love the opportunity to learn new skills online, please sign up for the event for free here. RootsTech has a special place in my heart because the first RootsTech played an important role in my discovering genealogy. 

This is a great opportunity for those who love the hobby to absorb, learn, get inspired and share with a worldwide community of genealogists. 

After church services yesterday, a friend of mine, William, approached me. “How are you?” he asked. “Have you been busy doing family history?”

Have I been busy doing family history? On the 13^th of February we met with J. Mark Lowe as part of the Mississippi Genealogical Society’s Winter Virtual Seminar. On the 15^th of February Jennifer McGillan of Mississippi State University Libraries presented to the Society. On the 20^th, we met with Mark again. Somewhere in between those meetings I managed to find some documents of a coroner’s inquest about a family member who died of poisoning (more to come on that later, I hope).

It’s been a whirlwind month, full of research, stories, and building the Mississippi Genealogical Society community. I explained all of this to William, who responded by saying, “You know—I’m not really very good at the entire family history thing.”

His statement struck me as funny for a minute.

“Do you have any pictures of your parents on your phone, by chance?” I asked.

“No, but I have a couple of my sister who passed away,” he said.

“Do me a favor, download the FamilySearch Memories app.” Now, I’m not the best at collecting photos on my phone. I’m also not the biggest social media user. But to be fair, there are some cool functions that are easy to use over at FamilySearch. And what is FamilySearch Memories if it isn’t social media for genealogists?

So, I showed William how to download the app and upload the photos of his sister. It turns out the photos were in his email, a modern-day shoebox where digital photos grow dusty and linger if someone leaves them untouched. Nevertheless, we found the photos, stuck them on Memories and tagged his sister in the photos so that other relatives could view the pictures.

By this time, which took all of five to seven minutes, a couple of other friends wandered along and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Family history,” William said. “Look at this!” He started showing them the photos he posted to the app.

“Ooh teach me,” one of them asked.

And William was off, showing the others how to post photos to FamilySearch Memories, all the way down to my admonition, “Now you need to be sure your photos are of people fully clothed and no kissing. It’s one of FamilySearch’s requirements for the photos.”

They all got a good chuckle from that one and soon enough, the four of us pulled out some chairs, sat in a circle and chatted about our families. We discussed family stories, how to get started in genealogy, common friends who are interested in their lineage, and more. One of them said, “I need to show these guys at work that app. There are three of them who love genealogy.” Another one stated, "I wish Davis was here. Out of all my friends, he’s the one who could tell a story and I imagine he could write a profound history of his family.”

After an hour we decided to call it quits for the day. It’s now a full two days later, and I’m still struck how fun it was to sit with a few friends and chat about family. It didn’t take much to start the conversation. It started with a question. “Hey, do me a favor?” and asking William to upload a photo. Then he showed someone else how to do it. Neither of them got “good at family history,” yesterday. But they did something. One thing. They preserved a memory for future generations. And they found a small community with likeminded interests.

If you’re one to enjoy family history, research, preservation of stories and memorabilia, or any of the other facets of genealogy, please join our community here at the Mississippi Genealogical Society. We’d love to have you, research with you, chat with you, see your pictures and more. Let’s just make sure we’re pulling stuff out of the old shoebox, literal or digital, and sharing it with others.

Let’s just do it fully clothed. And no kissing of course.

Picture this. You’re at dinner with some friends. Maybe you’re on a date. The food is good. The conversation lively. There are laughs and fun and time passes way too quickly. You don’t want the evening to end. None of you do. So someone asks, “Where do we go next?”

But at that point the energy dies because no one knows exactly where to go or what establishments are open, whether or not to get dessert or grab a hot chocolate, or call even to call it quits. Everyone flounders with bad ideas about your next destination. Potentially, you might end up at some late-night coffee shop, the same one you went to last week. And the week before. In the end, you fall into the same routine. You don’t like it, but you don’t know what other options are available.

Have you ever had an experience similar to the one I described?

In my time as a librarian and archivist, I’ve had a number of less-experienced researchers who’ve expressed similar ideas to me about their research habits. “Where do I go next?” they ask all too frequently. They’ve had fun researching their ancestors. They have even found an interesting document or two. But soon enough they’ve exhausted their research on Ancestry and Family Search. In their heads, they know more might be out there, but where? Other researchers, professional genealogists, librarians, and archivists have given them hints, told them to check out an archive, an historical society, or some other repository, but they’re still note quite sure where to search next. In the end, they go back to FamilySearch or Ancestry and look at the same databases for the same results they found in the past.

To be fair, the scenario I just presented to you implies that I’m going to give you advice on where to physically go next. I’m not. To be fair, we don’t have time to cover all the different Choose Your Own Adventure options that are available in this short blog post. But I am going to discuss a skill I try to instill in students the first time they visit an archive. This skill is at the core of all research and it’s one I find students consistently struggle with.

It's the skill of asking questions about a text. Asking basic questions about the text can greatly increase our chances of finding more information. These questions include: Who created this document? Who was it created for? What year was it created? Is it real or true? What information does it give me? Are there any other organizations mentioned in the document? 

This isn't an exhaustive list nor is it meant to be a defining list of questions people should ask about a text. No, these questions are meant to help build the habit of asking questions in general.

In my experience, asking good questions leads to good answers and then to even more questions. I saw this process play out with a history class a week or so ago. Let me tell you about it. 

Meet Sing-Ung Zung. He was the first international student to graduate from Millsaps College. Doesn't he look distinguished in his senior photograph from the 1908 Bobashela (Millsaps College’s yearbook)?

Recently a professor asked if he could bring his class to the archives and search for more information about Sing-Ung Zung. The history class already knew a little about him from the Bobashela entry. Personally, I didn't know anything about him. Because of my ignorance and because of my desire to be well prepared, I looked at various records in the archives to try and learn more about Millsaps College's first international student. Unfortunately, my search came up empty. I searched under the terms "international students" and "foreign students" and more. I searched the archive's name index. I tried various other strategies as well, all to no avail. Then other tasks at work bogged me down and slowed my preparation.

By the day of the class, I realized I hadn’t done the basic task I should have performed in the first place. I should have gone to the 1908 Bobashela entry, the one the professor had told me had been the genesis for the class's interest in the subject. The same entry pictured above. I opened the yearbook and I read the text. While I read the passage I asked basic questions about the paragraph I read. Surprisingly, even in an entry with so few words, I found a lot of clues on where to go next. 

So I ask you now to read the text and ask questions. Let them spring up from the written description of Mr. Zung and see if there are any clues on where you would search next. 

Did you find anything to help engage in the search? The students did. They started with what I thought were the two most obvious questions. Does the archive have registration and admissions information? Their reasoning was this: if Mr. Zung was graduating, then he had to be admitted and register for the college. Great question, right?

The technical answer their question is no, the archives don't have registration and admission records. But the registrar's office and office of records does. So the students would need to contact the records office for that kind of information. Either way, they win. They win because they succeeded in prolonging their search and found another research opportunity. Then I asked them to try again.

This time they asked the second easiest question. And this question was easy for them because some of the students had prior knowledge. Does the archive have access to the Collegian? Please note the paragraph about Mr. Zung states he was a contributor to the Collegian. Some of the students knew the Collegian was an early student publication, and this prior knowledge led them to ask whether or not the archives has access to the publication. The College archives does have access to the Collegian, but some of the students knew that prior to class and had searched the Collegian digitally. This digital search led them to a stand still. Why a stand still? Because their search yielded some information, but not as much as they'd have liked, they disappointed. They felt as if they had exhausted every avenue to find information about Mr. Zung. 

I asked them to try again, to ask more questions. I could sense they didn't want to, but I encouraged them and they followed my lead.

If you feel like you could use some practice asking questions about a text, please read the entry about Mr. Zung in the photo above. Are there any other questions to ask? Do you see them? Take a minute and find more clues about Mr. Zung from what you read. Think, "if I was Mr. Zung's descendant, what would I want to know?" Then write them down. (To be fair, I'm not going to tell you what questions I asked. I will, however, give examples of the questions the class asked that helped us find other records to search, regardless of whether we found information on Mr. Zung or not. The idea here is to learn to ask a number of questions that can help researchers find alternative routes to new information.)

Did the group of students finally ask other questions? And if so, what? They did. In fact, it turned into a deluge of questions, but I had to prompt them first. I asked them, “What do you do for fun while on campus? What do you do here that people might remember you for?” And for them it clicked.  They reread the passage and asked--what is the Galloway Literary Society? Who was Galloway and why was the society named after him? Does Galloway have anything to do with the church down the street from us here in Jackson, Mississippi? Wasn't Galloway one of the founders of the College? Does the archives have records on either Galloway or the Literary Society? If so, do the speeches or writing of Sing-Ung Zung reside there? Where is Soochow China and if Mr. Zung is from there, which port of entry did he most likely enter when he came to the U.S.? Which Christian church did he belong to and what was his connection to the church?

The more questions the group asked, the more excited they got, and then they instinctively knew where to go next. In some cases the next steps included physically going elsewhere. Like the records office to ask about Sing-Ung Zung’s registration data. In other cases it was virtual repositories such as Ancestry or Newspapers.com to see if A) he did go to Vanderbilt after Millsaps and B) what was his port of entry? But it also led to questions about what other records reside in the Millsaps College Archives. Does the College have records from the Galloway Literary Society? Does the College have records on Galloway?

The archives does have records from the Galloway Society and of Charles Betts Galloway, one of the founders of Millsaps College. Our short discussion about asking questions led us to find entries in the finding aids for the Galloway Society and we pulled some boxes relating to the organization. The students rifled through folders and boxes and records and enjoyed the research. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to delve into every question we came up with. An hour of class time just isn’t enough to look into every mystery presented to us. Some of us even found more information about Mr. Zung. However, learning to ask a few questions about the little information presented gave us a variety of options on where to go next.

I hope the students keep up their search for Mr. Zung. (I know I did, albeit away from the class.) More importantly, I hope they remember to ask good questions about the information they find. Because it’s those questions that will keep us from settling into the same unfulfilling routine over and over again and let us know exactly where to go next. 

Photos courtesy of The Bobashela, Millsaps College Archives, Millsaps College, Jackson Mississippi. 

I lost my flash drive this week. When I went to grab my keys and wallet yesterday morning, I noticed the little blue device was missing. A jolt of fear spiked my heart. I dug through pockets and checked USB ports and every place I could think of to find my little friend. I might have been a little frantic. Maybe not. Only my wife could say. Unfortunately, the little guy was nowhere to be found.

Some might call it antiquated, but I still depend heavily on my flash drive when it comes to genealogy and family history. Sure, I have backups and can recreate the files. And in the end, there’s nothing I can’t recreate. Still, losing something of so much value feels a bit disappointing. How can it not? I collected thousands of family history files, photographs, research logs and more on the flash drive. It allowed me to work while away from my desk at home.

So, why bring this up at all? Why inform the world I lost my flash drive? Well, like going to the gym, playing a musical instrument, going to work, or any other hobby, success is built around good habits. And good habits are built around good systems. It’s the system you create that keeps you going to the gym when it gets tough. It’s the system you create that allows you to stay organized with your files, or even citing your sources enough to know where you gathered your information.

I’ve been around the genealogy world long enough to know that there are many people who just want to know the stories of their ancestors or to just find a record mentioning their forebears. They often want the fun part of the hobby without putting in the effort to get better or learn how to be more effective in a way that will bring the fun parts to them. There’s nothing wrong with their point of view. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a hobby to be fun. But for those of us who need to know where we found those records a year or five down the road, good systems and habits will help us stay on track.

Now to be frank, I’m not a guy who is going to harp on and on about the importance of citing your genealogy sources. Or even get pedantic about where you place a period in your citations. That’s not my jam (as the youngsters say). But I am someone who recognizes the importance of having good systems in place so you can cite your sources, organize your work, and even have backups available so that when tragedy strikes you can continue on with your work. I am someone who needs systems in place to do the right activity at the right time, thereby bringing the results I desire. I need the right system at home, work, and in my hobbies. So, if you’re one of those kinds of people too, here is your friendly reminder. Create a system you can use to build good habits. Then go and have fun with your family history.

Long live the system, and may my little flash drive rest in peace.