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Add an Alert Note to FamilySearch to Connect with Future Researchers

Image: rawpixel.com   After I've written a blog post on a particular ancestor, I like to add a link to the post to the Memories section of a person's FamilySearch Family Tree profile. Recently I had a revelation about something else I could do to ensure my family stories and research are shared in the future. It occurred to me that I could leave an Alert Note on my own Family Search Family Tree profile directing individuals to this blog, Leaves on the Tree, after I am gone. If the goal of my blog is to record my memories, research, family stories, and more, this alert is one way future researchers might be able to find those stories—assuming Blogger is still around. I don't often think about my own FamilySearch profile, and when I looked at my page, it was pretty skimpy indeed! I had only entered the bare basics of my important relationships, dates, etc. Add beefing up my own profile to the 2026 goal list. Who knows me better than me? Here's what I wrote for the Alert N...

So Many Stories to Tell

Young Thomas J. "Tommy" Kozlina and my mom Anna Margaret Kozlina.
Friends,

This past year, I have dedicated much time to my favorite hobby: family history. I have read books, listened to podcasts, attended workshops, and begun again, to research our family lines.

I do so for a variety of reasons, but mainly I am intrigued and excited by the people the research reveals. At first, it was all about the names and dates, and "how far can I get back?" And, while that is still somewhat of a focus (Apparently, we cannot go back to Ireland until I find out where the Casey line is from!), I find more and more that I am just drawn into the stories that emerge, as I find more details of our ancestors' lives.

There's the funny stuff : "Polish Wedding Causes Trouble," is the headline of a newspaper article featuring my great grandmother Margaret McAndrew Gilbride. We'll save that one for another post.

There's everyday life: "So-and-So is visiting their mother this week." The not-so-everyday: "Sleeping Sickness Fatal to Girl."

There are stories which break your heart, and ones that make you nod your head and say, "Oh, so THAT's why..."

There are discoveries of familial likenesses, shared hobbies, tales of travel from abroad, and tales of deeply held American roots. There are railroad men, a hockey player, a prominent blacksmith, several coal miners, a nun and a priest...

Newspaper snippets - the Facebook of the time - recording who visited whom, or who wore what to whose wedding. There are both slices of everyday life and memorable moments in photo. There are bunches of interesting folk, who lived sometimes ordinary, sometimes extraordinary lives.

So many stories to tell. And here in this little space, I hope to share them with you.

Come on along.

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