[Artemisia] Genealogy also relates to persona research.

[Oogie McGuire]

>If your grandparents were born in the US it should be rather easy 
>find a good amount of information.  First place I would encourage 
>you to look is on your mother's birth certificate as this should 
>have your grandparents places of birth, ages and how many children 
>your grandparents had at the time of your mother's birth.  Since 
>birth certificates are typically available for post 1900 births you 
>should be able to get copies of your grandparents births (if they 
>were born in the US).  I would also encourage you to get your 
>grandparents death certificates, death notices and obituaries 
>because there is much information that can be used to track your 
>grandparents.  Many funeral homes also keep information so finding 
>funeral home may also be beneficial.

I mistyped a bit, that's what I get for trying to answer late at nigh. <G>

I have my mother's birth certificate, but it does not list the 
general info you would expect, I also have her father's record from 
the funeral home when he died. But there are some interesting twists:

My grandfather was born circa 1891 and there is no birth record that 
anyone can find. He was born in TX, in a county that did not keep 
records. I've searched census records and even traveled to the TX 
courthouse to search the birth records of my aunts and uncles (most 
dead now) to see if there was any additional info. Census data is 
what places him with that birthdate. Several of the birth records are 
sealed from my aunts/uncles and I was not allowed to look at the 
contents. He did have an Army record, he was in WW I, but I have not 
been able to get a copy of the full record, yet only parts of it. His 
mother died a few days before he did, (at 101!) and because he was 
her executor and inherited a lot of property both estates went thru a 
long and lengthy probate/court case. I am slowly slogging thru those 
records. There does not appear to be a marriage certificate for the 
marriage to my grandmother. This was her 2nd or 3rd marriage. I found 
info on one of her previous marriages, and a note she changed her 
name after her previous husband was killed under "unusual" 
circumstances. There is some evidence that she may have murdered him 
but it is inconclusive. Her father was murdered in broad daylight 
over a water issue in NM. I have newspaper accounts on the trial, 
conviction and eventual pardon of the murderer. There has *got* to be 
a whole lot more to that story but the remaining Aunt's who remember 
it refuse to talk about it or about my grandmother and her previous 
marriages. A lot of the TX records were either never kept or lost 
during the Mexican-American war or the civil war. The counties where 
my relatives were born were Mexican or disputed territory and they 
did flee at one point.

Which brings up the problem of persona research (to get this back 
onto a topic that might be useful here <G>)

I've found more info in wills, probate records and land deeds than I 
have in typical birth, death and marriage documents. Since trying to 
trace genealogy and building info on a persona are similar I would 
think that access to manuscripts from the time discussing fines, 
wills, probate info or land transactions would be good ways to 
document what a person did or was like and might be helpful in 
developing accurate, realistic names and what goods and items that 
individual might have had.
-- 
Oogie McGuire - oogiem at desertweyr.com
Weyr Associates - Multimedia and Web Authoring Services & Consulting
Desert Weyr - CMK Arabian horses and Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
http://www.desertweyr.com/ 
Paonia, CO USA