It’s now Week 11, of the wonderful Genealogy prompts from Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestor’s in 52 weeks and this week we are looking at the subject of “Luck”.
We all need a little bit of “luck” sometimes with our Genealogy and sometimes it can come when we least expect it. I am always going on about how important it is to review your work regularly, go over old ground, old searches as you never know, new records are becoming available all the time, so you never know when you are going to strike gold.
So a few years ago, I was sitting at home, aimlessly searching, wasting time really, and just “googling” without any real focus or structure, I would call it “Genealogy Grazing”. When I suddenly found something to make me sit up and take notice, I just googled my Great-Grandfather’s name, “John Edwin Barnes” with the vein hope of finding an image of him, when I literally stumbled across a mention of him in a book! John Edwin Barnes sadly died at Gallipoli in WW1, I have written a full biography of his life which can be found here.
The book in question was Britain’s Lost Regiments by Trevor Royle and an extract from the book can be found Here
I have subsequently been in touch with the Author and he was really interested to hear from a living descendant of John Edwin Barnes and was pleased to receive all the new information that I was able to provide. He was intending on writing a new book in the future and would be able to use the new information that I had provided.
I don’t have many achievers or people of note on my tree, I come from humble stock, but to find an Ancestor’s name in print is actually quite a nice feeling, albeit however small the mention is.
Without the sheer “luck” of a google wildcard search, then I would never have discovered my own “little piece of family history gold”
All My Blogs For Family Tree Magazine in one Handy Place
The Chiddicks Family Tree 
It is truly amazing, how many facts a person can discover about their ancestors even when they are from humble stock, as you say. Very encouraging!
LikeLike
Thank you Hettie, it’s remarkable how a simple google search can strike gold
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve done a lot of grazing myself.
LikeLike
I am terrible for it!
LikeLike
That’s really amazing, especially as you found all this out from just a Google search! Isn’t the internet fantastic! All the best with your research and good luck! 🙂
Bexa | http://www.hellobexa.com
LikeLike
Thank you Bexa and its the power of the internet at its finest, thank you for taking the time to read my blog, its much appreciated
LikeLike
On debut in researching my story, I input my grandfather’s name to Google, plus, the town he claimed as his POB in 1882. Up popped the name, town, and 1882 – for a namesake associated with Clydesdale Horses. HAD to be his father, I gasped! Well, no, and not related. In fact, my grandfather was not born in that town after all. However, it made an interesting sideline to my work. Glad your “luck” was better.
LikeLike
Thanks Marilee, google can be a real goldmine as are the newspaper archives, if you haven’t explored them already give the newspaper archives a good look, you’ll be surprised what you can find hidden away in there
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are so right, and often the treasure is something neutral but fun – such as a little girl’s birthday party, back in the day.
LikeLiked by 1 person