WikiTree
The first mission of this blog is to share Fort Dodge history.
The second mission is to share family history.
For me, personally, those missions are intertwined. Many of my ancestors lived in Fort Dodge – there has been an ancestor or relative of mine living in Webster County since 1880, when William and Lydia Burrell brought their family here from Wisconsin. It’s possible that some of Lydia’s family had been here prior to that – it’s one of the mysteries to be discovered.
So when I found out about WikiTree, I quickly got an invitation and joined. You can’t just sign up – you have to be invited.
There are many styles of family trees available – some like the one above that show several generations – there are also more vertical formats. Some have images behind the names, such a maps of different areas or photos of places. The image below is what the trees look like when you are working on them:
At this point, I need to add my photo (if you see the photo that means I’ve added it since). And I’ve got more names to add.
One thing you should do if you join (and you can ask me for an invitation by email at carol@inoldfortdodge.com ) is read carefully and sign (electronically) the Wiki Genealogist Honor Code. It has nine requirements, and you should understand and agree with them before you add to the wiki.
The cool thing (well, one of many cool things) is that eventually one of the people you add will be the same as somebody else’s person. That means you get access to names of people that perhaps you didn’t know about before.
And to a genealogist or family history researcher, that is so exciting.
I went into this with the plan to create more detailed profiles than simply names, dates and places. So I’m including pictures where I have them, and anecdotes about the people whenever possible.
It truly is a great time to be a genealogist.
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