On that post, I listed the names of the Schoffman children (including married names) and birth/death dates.
It wasn't the most exciting post, but it had a purpose. I hoped that at some point, someone somewhere would poke around the Internet for the Schoffman family. Maybe one of the people I mentioned was their ancestor. And maybe they'd have some information to share with me.
These types of posts are called "cousin bait" because you're fishing for cousins so you can compare information for your respective family trees.
Four months later, I'm happy to say that I snagged a big one on the Schoffman family trotline. Kind blog reader Eric recently left a comment on the original post and a link to a cemetery walk video featuring the story of George Schoffman, my first cousin three times removed.
Eric was also kind enough to send me ten images of obituaries and news articles, as well as a 5-page outline of Schoffman family history and facts.
Here's what I reeled in:
That fabulous 5-page outline as a Word document.
A newspaper photo of a 1914 picnic given by Schoffman
Photos of the William and Mary Schoffman residence
A 1926 invoice from Schoffman Brothers general merchandise
Article about Frank and Mary Schoffman's family's historic homes
Obituary for Frank Schoffman
Obituary for William F. Schoffman
Obituary for (with photo) Mary Lenertz Schoffman - SCORE!
Obituary for Rose Schoffman Heiertz
Obituary for George Schoffman
Obituary for Nellie Griebel Schoffman (George's wife)
Obituary for Mildred Lake Schoffman (William's wife)
Not bad day o' fishing, huh?
So you see folks, this is why I blog. It has been an essential tool in furthering my own family history research.
There are those who don't like the concept of blogging. It's not professional like *real* genealogical writing. There are also those that think that blogging is too hard (it's not), or not worth the effort.
To all y'all I ask this question, pulled from a classic award-winning movie:
Do you like apples?
Well thanks to this genealogy blog, I just scored a photo of my great-great grandfather's sister. How do you like them apples?
Blogging gets results, people.
It certainly does get results! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteWhat a catch, and Eric was very nice to help out (I'm sure he is reading this). I'm wondering if he is living close enough for you both to meet?
ReplyDeleteBarbara, I'm pretty sure he lives in Minnesota. Incidentally, I've had several Minnesotans send me family history information. They're good people!
DeleteAmen! I have some recent finds to blog about too, and I wasn't even setting out bait! Congrats Amy!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I write about my ancestors just to tell their stories, but this particular post was purely an attempt to get more information.
DeleteI need to put more cousin bait out there and see what happens.
Sounds like this is something you've done more than once. At first it seems amazing to me that simply blogging B and D dates of ancestors would catch the eye of another "family genealogist" poking around the Internet. I suppose Google picks up all blogs? And here I've put most of my B and D dates into a private Ancestry family tree. Oh, well.
ReplyDeleteA neat story. Hmmm. Time for me get smarter about "bait." Thanks for this post. You really got a lot of great information!
Mariann, Google should pick up the vast majority of blogs unless the owner has marked a blog private.
DeleteYou'll notice that I don't post every single detail when I'm fishing for information. I did include B and D dates here as well as female's married and maiden names because I was trying to address as many different search combinations as possible.
With a common surname, I'd also include a town, county and state.
Way to go!
ReplyDeleteNice to see someone else get as excited as I do over finds. That was a very cool catch.
ReplyDeleteThanks! You mean there are people that don't get excited? Bummer!
DeleteYes but it is so sad when no one in your immediate family gets excited. I found two cousins that way.
DeleteThat is so exciting, one of them I met two years ago and she has turned out to be a joy. Keep up the good work and I will also. Enjoy your blog.
I just get so confused. Only ever heard about just a few people now there's lots more. But she looks familiar.
ReplyDeleteThis family has TOO MANY people named Mary Lenertz!
DeleteYou never would have met this one. She is the sister of the original John Lenertz (Buster's grandfather).
I'm trying to research all the siblings in an attempt to get photos and learn more about them. The original John Lenertz left Minnesota for Oklahoma. He was the only family member to do that and the rest is history.
I just get so confused. Only ever heard about just a few people now there's lots more. But she looks familiar.
ReplyDeleteWoohoo!! Congrats on your amazing catch! And I agree with you about Minnesotans being good people. I happened to connect with a distant cousin who lives in Minnesota and she is just the sweetest thing! She's been kind enough to share lots of obituaries she's collected on a line I didn't have info. on.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Amy! That is way too cool! I also write to reel in the cousins - and boy, do I get cousins that no one seemed to know about!
ReplyDeleteAmy,
ReplyDeleteThis is so cool! There are several of us Lenertz's that enjoy fishing but I think that you win the prize (we don't fish the same way!!)!! :) Thanks for sharing. If you (or Eric if he's reading this also) would like to email me the information too for my family tree info, I'd be ever so grateful.
Laurie Lenertz in MN
Laurie, I forwarded the information to the yahoo email I had on file for you. Enjoy!
DeleteYou definitely got a freezer full, plus and apple pie!! Good (day's. week's,month's) work -- just good work, and fun too.
ReplyDeleteAmy, when Thomas M said blog to find the missing links and make a query worthy of reading he was so right. I have also had success maybe not that week but soon someone pops up and another hole is filled, data shared and sometimes even (like you) pictures found.
ReplyDeleteA big happy dance needed for this one. Fab catch, Amy.
ReplyDeleteAh, blogging as cousin bait. Right after my own heart! I've been fortunate to connect with a few unknown-to-me cousins this past summer, too, Amy. It's just great.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing about connecting with these cousins: not only do they fill in the blanks regarding the same generations we're working on (such as your great-great-grandparents' generation and forward from there), but it then helps us find relatives who have the same goals for pushing the research farther back in time to yet-to-be discovered generations. On my dad's brick wall paternal line, I'm still hoping to discover a distant cousin who can help me dig around that wall!
By the way, since someone mentioned searching for ancestors via Google, it reminded me that Google has a search engine specific to blogs at http://www.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en
In addition--though the general public won't know this--GeneaBloggers has an in-site Google search bar that allows a researcher to find keywords (such as surnames) specific to all the GeneaBlogger blogs out there.
No matter which way they arrive, though, it sure is a great feeling to see a distant cousin show up at our digital door, hat in hand, ready for a visit to catch up on family news!
Wow! This is something I didn't know. Thanks for posting it.
DeleteI love them apples!! Thanks for sharing. I think I'm finally going to start my own family blog. I have a friend that teaches "Intro to Family History Blogging" all over town and she's been working on me to get started. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, what a haul! You musta thought you hit the mother lode or something like that.
ReplyDeleteThem are some great apples!!! I am going to have to try this!
ReplyDeleteFirst, may I say the catch was awesome. Yeah for you.
ReplyDeleteSecond, wow. I learned a lot. Now I'm nervous about posting too much information. I guess I need to know when it's okay to share a lot and when to share a little. For the new year, I'm focused on sharing what I have so that my relatives who gave me a mother load in May can see how their pieces all fit together. But I'm worried it will be too much. Ei-yi-yi!
Third, this is off topic, but I don't know where to post it. I LOVE the 'voice' of your writing style. I feel like you're right her on my couch sharing your story. I love your 'apple-icous' humor. For what it's worth, thanks.
Nice work! I'll have to try this little trick myself! :)
ReplyDeletei am a coffin doing coffin historical tree
ReplyDelete