Genealogy #68: Detective Work

I've been having mixed results with my "detective work". I couldn't get any of the Tejano Voicies oral history stories to play. I enjoyed reading Betty Skelton Frankman's interview from the NASA Oral History Project. She was an aviatrix and participated in the same NASA tests and training as the Mercury astronauts. She flew in aerobatic shows and appeared in shows with the Navy's Blue Angels.



I had mixed results searching the Find-a-Grave site. I first tried cemeteries that I knew had family members. But the cemeteries were so big that they didn't list the people who are buried there. So I decided to try something else. Before I came to HCPL I was at WTLS (West Texas Library System) headquatered in Lubbock. WTLS is the library system that services 29 counties in west Texas. The county next to Lubbock is Crosby and its countyseat is Crosbyton.


The Crosbyton Cemetery was established in 1909 and the oldest grave is for Henretta Richardson. According to her gravestone she was born on Feb. 24, 1914 and died just 4 days later on the 28th of February 1914.

Genealogy #67: Genealogy Genesis

My family has been involved in genealogy work for decades. My mom's father hired a professional genealogist to work on his line back in the 1940's. My dad had several briefcases full of forms and charts for the various lines he was working on. After he retired he volunteered at a Family History Center and used the computer that connected to Salt Lake City to continue his search. He printed out every family chart he could find. I've done a little. We interviewed a couple of elderly sisters (one was 97 and the other 99 years old) and recorded their information. It was interesting to hear them talk. If one didn't remember a name or date the other one did.

As for advise, connect family members, there's a good chance that someone in the family may already be doing genealogy and would love to share. Be patience, it can go in spurts and just when you think the line's gone dry, something may happen and it starts flowing again. Keep good records and organize them. The more info you can get the better, especially if it included photos and stories. This helps the person to "come alive" and isn't just a name and some dates on a page.