Exploring Our Essex County Connections - Joseph A. Jackson
This lecture will provide useful hints for understanding and developing our genealogical relationships with our kith and kin. The phrase “it’s a small world after all” often denotes surprise when we encounter something or someone familiar in an unfamiliar place. Indeed, the human family is a very intricate tangle of relationships that ties every generation across communities, nationalities, and even continents. We may do well to recognize that on a macro scale, but we should not be surprised to find closer family connections we might not have expected. During this talk, we will explore methods to understand our connections across Essex County better through the use of web-enabled genealogy tools that are provided by or linked to the expansive Family Tree hosted at FamilySearch.org. We will discuss some ways to improve the fidelity of the results provided by these tools, and how using some of our research time to engage with the Family Tree can help to organize, expand, and find connections in the body of knowledge stored there. We will explore how the “small world” perspective brings immense value to shared-community genealogicalresearch and provides lasting benefits to the descendants of our Essex County ancestors.
Similar to many genealogists, Joseph Jackson has blended his talents learned from his occupation into his approach to family history research. By day he is a research engineer helping unmanned aerial vehicles fly more safely. By night he is a history sleuth, searching for connections among his ancestors. He serves on the Wilmington Historical Commission and seeks to understand the context for the clues within the writings that our forebears have left behind. Joe lives in Wilmington, Massachusetts with his wife Jennifer and their four boys.