WANTED: INFO TO UPDATE THE FAMILY TREE!!!!

Dear family members,

The purpose of this post is to help me make our joint family trees as up-to-date and accurate as possible. It has been over 20 years since I last updated the family file.  So many have been added or lost to/from our family the tree. It is in sad shape.

I need the basic information, birth, marriage, children, death, burial for EACH INDIVIDUAL. 

Notice I said the basic information I need.  I also would like information on military service and if the person is deceased what they died of (it could help the rest of us be aware of a family history of certain diseases), where they are buried, and similar information. 

Also include any “claim to fame”.  By this I mean things like awards they received, businesses they owned and operated, education received anything that makes them a person. Send as little or a much as you want.  It will all go into my files to be sorted and categorized, or simply made note of.

If you see an error in anything I publish on our family genealogy please let me know so I can correct it.  Thanks to Jan who caught a typo on her mother’s death date and let me know. It has been corrected.

Please send photos of everyone, weddings, tombstones and family homes.  Please date the photos when possible.  If more than one person is in the photo please identify everyone you can in the photo.  Locations are great too.

The computer program I use lets me add photos, not only in a file, but as a thumbnail next to the name of the person.  If you send me a certain photo that is the thumbnail you want associated with your file, please note which photo it is.  Or I will pick one…  

Send as many photos as you want. I would also like your permission to add them to the online family photo file I am building so they can be shared with other family members.  Only first names will be put with photos of living family members.  Because I do not personally know all of you, please note if someone is living or if you would prefer that photo not be on the web.

Now who do I want this information on?  Simple answer:  Everyone in the family.

Complete answer: Everyone, explanation.

Start with yourself, after all who knows you better than you.

Then your spouse(s) if applicable.  Yes, spouses, all of them, unless you really don’t want them on the record and there were no children involved. 

If you never married the parent of your child please list them too with a notation of no marriage.  This is not to pass a judgement, but to help your children/grandchildren etc in the future to trace their lineage.

It will also help me to not assign a date range for an event that didn't happen.

Next your children, please include all children, adoptive and step are included in our family tree because they are family.  If you know the birth parents information please include this.  The program I use has a way to show the information on a separate page. 

HOWEVER, if it was a closed adoption please do not include the information.

If your spouse has been previously married please include the previous spouses name and any children by that marriage (this is where the step children come in).

Once you have provided the information on your segment the middle of your hour glass is complete.  You are the middle.

For the top part of the hour glass you provide all the same information for both your parents AND your spouses’ parents slowly moving up the generational ladder.  Please note I only need one generation above the spouses that are not direct bloodline for the tree I am working on. 

By this I mean if I am working on the Carney/Poyner tree I only want  generations up as far as you can give me on those two trees. 

Now do the bottom half of your hour glass.  Starting with your children and working down through the generations.

Honestly it sounds more complicated than it is.  Just take it one family group at a time and you will see it is simple.  Something you can easily do in odd moments here and there.

Now a VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE: I do NOT and will NOT publish on the web any vital information about any living family members. This information is strictly for future generations who want to research their lineage.

Example:

Hazel Elizabeth Poyner Boykin md.  Earl (NMI) Boykin

Children: living

Hour glass example:

Using myself as the middle of the hourglass I would supply information on Mom's parents and my dad’s parents on the first level up.

The second level up would be Grandma Lena and Grandpa Jessie and my Dad’s parents (this would be the last of my dad’s lineage that would show on this file).

Third level would be Chesterfield M. Carney and Columbia Porter Branham AND Jonathan L. Poyner and Martha Ann Scott.  For the Poyner branch I would continue the Poyner branches on up, but for the Carney’s they would stop after one generation.

From there on up all branches would be continued for both sides to follow the Carney lineage.

So you get the idea.

Down on my hour glass would be my kids, their spouses and sadly no grandchildren.  On any web printing it would simply say LIVING. In my personal file it would have everyone's name and information.  The Family Treemaker has a single click of a button to do the living notation for me on anything I print for the web and other public sharing.  BTW, I do not post my family tree information on ancestry for numerous reasons.  Mainly being I don't think they should charge for the information I would give them for free.

Now as to where to send all this information.  Please send it to c.j.dreammaker@gmail.com  this is the address I use for friends and family only. 

I do have a lot of information from Dana that she generously gave back in the 80’s and 90’s, but several of you have been added since then and you do not exist on my copy of the family tree.  So let’s fix that.

Once I get your info entered where it belongs I will send you a copy of what I have and ask you to look it over to see if I have made any errors.  Therefore, please send the address you would like me to contact you at.

Oh one other thing, do any of you know how to get hold of the branches of the trees from the other marriages of Chesterfield M. Carney and Columbia Porter Branham?

Thanks for all your help.

Charolett Jan Patterson,

Great grand-daughter of Chesterfield M. Carney and Columbia Porter Branham.