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Today I spent some time reading a few other genealogy blogs (something that I need to do more often) and I came across “Is Your Ancestor in My Ancestor’s Pension File?” at (Mis)Adventures Of A Genealogist. The post lists the names of people from who affidavits were recorded along with various other information, such as ages and locations where the affidavits recorded. All these names were from a single Revolutionary War pension file. The great thing is that Cinamon Collins took the time to transcribe and post the information on the off-chance that some genealogist may be looking for the information.
This act of giving-back, or adding, to the genealogy knowledge base got me thinking about how I have benefited from other people’s contributions. I am fortunate to have received help from strangers that was both solicited and unsolicited. If not for these other people some of the information would have likely never been found.
I like to believe that, perhaps, my fortunes are based on having good Karma. In my other hobby, that of Historian for the Trenton Police Department, I have transcribed old rosters and documents and posted them online. The Trenton Police History Project contains not only local history information, but genealogy information as well. Most of the information is about the officers, but not all.
Last year I came across the 1926 Taxi License File that was used by the police department. In the binder were pages of original license photos of all the hacks (taxi drivers) in Trenton. There was an index that had the names and addresses of the drivers and a reference number to find their photo in the book. The first thing I did was check to see if any of my relatives were in the book. They weren’t. I realized that this license file needed to be transcribed and the photos put on the Internet. I knew that somewhere, a genealogist was searching for somebody in this book. I posted the index and photos and since have gotten several inquiries, and thanks, from people whose ancestors are in the file.
I plan to continue adding to the knowledge base; when the weather changes I am going to pick a local cemetery and check Find-A-Grave for requests. Besides maybe keeping my good karma rolling, cemeteries in the fall have a certain appeal.
Amen to that! The Police History Project is fascinating. I wonder what other organizations could use a volunteer to do similar work. Keep up the good work.