Preserve Family History using digital formate

You can't turn on the television today without seeing advertisements for Ancestry.com or hear about how DNA is connecting people from all over the world. You may not have an interest in genealogy, but maybe you have in your possession an item or story that might help someone researching the ancestors of your family. I contacted Bill Blauvelt to see if I could submit a small article about preserving our past and he graciously agreed to publish my article in this newspaper.

I consider myself a family historian because I want to know more then just the birth and death dates of my ancestors. I want to understand all about their lives, the communities in which they lived and the history that shaped their lives. My father was born in Nelson in 1927, and we have connections to several of the early settlers of Nuckolls County. I have devoted hundreds of hours researching these families and spent quality time in the Nuckolls County Courthouse, the Nelson Library, the Nuckolls County Museum and reading several old newspapers from the county. I have also pestered all my relatives about stories and things they remember.

My main message is to encourage anyone who may have historical family items to reach out to ensure they are preserved in digital formats for the benefit of all. Researchers like myself are not interested in taking possession of your items, but we want to encourage and help create digital photographs, scans of items or document stories so they can live on beyond the one branch of the family currently enjoying this heirloom, item or story. Maybe you have letters, a Bible, postcards, needlework, a quilt, photographs (even if you don't know who is in the photo); all these can be preserved by creating digital files that can be used by researchers and linked to online family trees. If you decide you do not want to keep items of family history and no one in your family wants them, then it is appropriate to reach out to local historical groups, museums, libraries and genealogy groups to donate your materials. Donating is always preferable to letting items end up in the estate sale.

I am a member of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society(LLCGS.info) and one of our main purposes is to promote the collection and preservation of records of historical value. The Nebraska State Genealogical Society (NSGS.org) also is divided into regions and Carole Meyer ([email protected]) of Hastings represents Southern Nebraska. Members of these two groups are always willing to help anyone learn how they can preserve family records and stories and share them with others. I know of two other LLCGS members connected to Nuckolls County and doing research, one has ancestors from Oak and the other from Lawrence. We pesky family historians are everywhere.

So let me share a couple of tidbits from my efforts.

First in 2004, my aunt, Maxine McCutchan nee Eckles, pulled out a box of photos and Maxine's sister, Betty Jo Pittam nee Eckles, who was visiting from Oregon went through the box of photos with me. I scanned 85 images from that box. Back then I was a beginner in family history research and I now wish I had scanned them all. I may have missed a photo of a family member or friend that we did not recognize in 2004, but now realize is part of the story. Years later when I realized that there might be more to glean, that box of photos is nowhere to be found. Opportunity lost.

The photo of women included with this article dates from early 1900 and was one of the 85 scanned in 2004. The actual date was deduced by matching a clip from the Nelson Gazette, published on April 26, 1900, discussing Rebecca McFeely's visit from Indiana to see her daughter, Elizabeth McFeely Wehrman and the age of Edna, 13 years, at the time of the photo.

My father was born in Nelson and I share discoveries with him. So I shared a newspaper snippet from December, 1897, in which the children of Henry and Elizabeth Wehrman(n) gifted their parents with gold watches. My father then told me he had his grandfather, Samuel Eckles' pocket watch. He found it stashed in a closet and related a story about his grandfather wanting him to have the watch and also how he and his brother Phil used to put cut up rubber bands in Samuel's pipe tobacco in the early 1930s. Also in the box was a gold watch with a church and the word mother etched in the case. I believe this to be the watch gifted to Elizabeth Wehrman coming down through her oldest daughter and ended up in our family. Serial numbers in the watch correspond to the correct date of 1897. The watch that belonged to Henry probably resides in another branch of the Wehrman family. So the mention of a watch netted me several stories about different ancestors and digital photos of Samuel's and Elizabeth's watches are attached to my family tree for any researcher in these families to see.

My research and the sharing of digital information has allowed me to be in contact with second, third and fourth cousins around the world. Examples are Eckles cousins in Colorado, Kansas and California, Wehrman cousins in New Mexico and Germany, Andersons in Australia.

My last request is to you, the reader, if you have items and stories you would be willing to share with me about the surnames I list below from Nuckolls County, I would love to hear from you. The primary period of interest is prior to 1940.

You can reach me (Nancy Eckles) by email at [email protected]

Surnames of interest: Anderson, Brown, Felton, Gourlay, Jensen, Littrell, McFeely, Mullet, Oldham, Peters, Reed, Ruhga, Stuber, Waechter, Wehrman, Wilson.

I am also willing to help anyone get started on the path to preserving their family's history and finding ways to make it available to others. Genealogy is one of the most popular hobbies in America. Don't wait to get started!