Past Quarterly Programs: How to Manage and Frame Your Family History
IGSI Quarterly Meeting
November 18, 2006
How to Manage and Frame Your Family History
By Glenn O'Meara
Glenn apologized for not having a PowerPoint projector available for his presentation.
Glenn O’Meara has degrees in anthropology and geography, as well as expertise learned in acquiring his Masters in Business Administration, that he fuses in researching his family history. This is evidenced-based research, moving from family stories to documented evidence. Develop an hypothesis; prove or disprove it. Discard what is disproved. Move on to the next hypothesis. Move from information to evidence.
Fortunately he had family memories written by an aunt, Sister Sean O’Meara, in 1945, and refined by another relative in the 1970s. His father wisely advised focusing on the family surname. His immigrant ancestor appeared to be Thomas O’Meara, his 2nd great-grandfather.
Using census information to verify the family stories, Glenn was able to bracket the dates of immigration and migration of his ancestors from Ireland to Ontario and finally to LeSueur County, Minnesota. In Canada he found information in church records, census records, and passenger records for the Peter Robinson settlers. Along the way he discovered collateral lines, an earlier generation that had left Ireland, and even an apparent step-sister for his Thomas. He collaborated on the Internet with a researcher on a collateral line. Each offered new information to the other to clarify their search. The Ulster Historical Foundation provided some information to verify family origins in County Cork.
Glenn suggested recording one-on-one interviews with relatives to preserve their stories. He asked Kathy Lund to invite people to the MGS Writing Study Group for encouragement.
The program finished with Glenn’s sister Sheri’s guitar accompaniment to her original song Laughlin’s Crossing about the nearly tragic emigration of that family in 1848.
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