Cousin Bait – Week 20 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Connecting with the Anthonys

As the family historian, my goal is to uncover as many stories as possible and bring our ancestors to life. A few years back my mother and her cousin spent time sending family photos back and forth trying to identify as many relatives as possible. My mother then asked me to do some research and see if I could find out if her grandmother indeed had twins as her mother had heard but really didn’t know. This started me on my genealogical journey.

Ancestry research has become very popular. There are many free as well as paid sites that allow people access to information that just a few years ago was very difficult to come by. A term bandied about particularly among amateur genealogists is “cousin bait.” This refers to “throwing out a line and seeing what we catch.” What information can you put online so that you can attract “research cousins” and share information and make connections. Sometimes people post on various forums, add their family tree to sites like MyHeritage, Ancestry, or FamilySearch, or create a blog. (The sharing part is important. At my last Genealogy Club meeting, one of our members expressed frustration over people who just want his tree in order to make it their own. This man has spent 30+ years doing research and has joined several organizations that required specific documentation that was often very hard to come by. He just wants people to share what they have discovered and documented.)

The Anthony family is my mother’s maternal side. My grandmother was Anna Agnes Anthony but most people called her Annie. As I was doing research, I was hooked by a family tree I found on MyHeritage. It is a privately held tree so not all the information was public. I had never heard of the owner, but I recognized many names so I contacted the owner. He is definitely a relative who has been involved in genealogy research for 30 years. The most amazing part is that we discovered that we live in the same city so we are in the process of making plans to meet for lunch.

I also recently connected with my mother’s cousin and discovered a treasure trove of family photos that my uncle had sent my mother on a CD. He had taken a lot of time to label the photos. (My mother only had a tablet, not a computer so she didn’t even know what she had.)

I’m looking forward to researching the Anthony’s and learning more about my German heritage.