Kentucky Ancestors, Volume 46, Number 1 - Kentucky Historical ...

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Planning YOUR Family-History Research
“. . . so all Kentuckians may discover
their roots in time and place.”
–Dr. Thomas D. Clark
Fall 2010 is here as you receive this Kentucky Ancestors and winter will not be far
behind. I have talked with many of you who admit you want to get serious and really
dive into the research to discover your own Kentucky heritage. There is never a
better time than these next few months of cooler and nastier weather to sit down and
begin listing what you know about your own Kentucky family history and what you
do not know. Any time of year may be a good time for you to make the research trips
that will begin to produce valuable nuggets of genealogical information that will start
to put the pieces of your family-history puzzle into place. But these next few months
can be a valuable time for you to create a plan for the steps you need to take to begin
going to the various courthouses, public libraries, and genealogical/historical societies
where you can discover this information. Creating a step-by-step plan will help you
to decide where you want to go when the temperatures start to get warmer or to find
the information you need to contact genealogical archives by long-distance efforts.
Finally, when you have invested the time and effort to dig out the necessary research
to flesh out your family’s Kentucky story, please put it all together in an article and
send it to me for possible publication in Kentucky Ancestors. We are always in need of
stories from every county and region of Kentucky, and we would love to have yours
so we can share it with Kentucky Historical Society members who live all across the
United States and receive this publication each quarter. For initial guidance, check
the “Author Guidelines” in the back section of each issue and contact me if you have
additional questions that you do not find covered there. Please do not overlook those
wonderful old family photographs that document the people, places, and events that
shaped your family history and who you are today.
Don Rightmyer
Editor, Kentucky Ancestors
Kentucky Historical Society
Autumn 2010 | 3