Bait by Laura Gilmore on Flickr. Used under Creative Commons license.
There are tons of reasons to blog about your ancestors. You want to remember them, sort out a research problem, share a cool find. But let’s be honest. We all hope that our post will lead us to finding new cousins. It’s what’s known as cousin bait.
Unlike the kind that you get at the local bait shop, cousin bait is a way to attract others who are researching the same lines. It’s all about getting names and information out there so that you can make those all-important cousin connections. I’m a big proponent in collaborating in genealogy. The more people working on the same research, the better off everyone is. You never know when that cousin who finds you is the one who has the family Bible or the treasure trove of photos.
Within a couple of hours of the Week 1 recap being published, two participants in the 52 Ancestors challenge found a connection with each other. Beverly Harrison at The Hopeless Hooked Genealogist saw the link to Schalene Dagutis’s article “#1 Nathaniel Tucker, Poet.” Turns out that Beverly is a descendent of this Tucker line (from one of Nathaniel’s ancestors, rather than Nathaniel himself). Schalene has more details of this connection on her blog.
Bill West’s post on Edward Colbourne netted him a new 8th cousin, once removed. Gary Scott of the “Looking Through the Lens of a Millennial Genealogist” Facebook page spotted Bill’s post and made the connection.
Not to brag, but yours truly made two connections. While going through the blogs of the participants so that I could add them to my list on Feedly, I looked at Karen Seeman’s blog “Ancestor Soup” and noticed a familiar surname – Debolt. My long-time brick wall has been my 3rd-great grandmother Matilda Debolt Skinner Crossen Brown McFillen. (Yes, she will be one of my 52 ancestors!) I contacted Karen and it turns out that we are 6th cousins, once removed. (Hi, cousin Karen!)
My other connection wasn’t a cousin, but more of an “it’s a small world” thing. I knew that my friend Shelley Ballenger Bishop of A Sense of Family is from my old stomping grounds of the east side of Columbus and that her family had Reeb’s Restaurant at the corner of Livingston Avenue and Champion Avenue. It wasn’t until I read her 52 Ancestors post “Lloyd Ballenger and Reeb’s Restaurant” that I asked my dad if he remembered any of the Ballengers. Turns out he knows Shelley’s dad Ed and remembers her grandpa Lloyd. Small world.
Dad and one of his numerous northern pikes. You know it’s a good size catch when it’s bigger than one of your children.
Cousin bait. Try casting some out and see what you catch! (And if one of your 52 Ancestors posts lands you a new cousin, let me know!)
