Put Meat on the Bones of Your Family History!

You have undoubtedly heard many genealogists talking about “putting the meat on the bones” when it comes to their family history. Just how do you do that and what does it mean? We learn when we start working on our genealogy that it’s vital to capture names, dates, and places for everyone in our family tree. Of course, it is absolutely necessary to find documentation of basic facts and we need specific information to do that. But if we want to understand our ancestors as living, breathing human beings instead of just statistics, we need to know much more. We want to learn about their personalities, their occupations, their leisure activities, and their interactions in their communities. The more “meat” we put on those bare-bones dates and numbers, the more those people who preceded us become real.

Where do we begin with putting meat on our ancestors' bones? How about starting with the upcoming StLGS virtual Family History Conference (FHC), “All Roads Lead to Missouri,” on Saturday and Sunday, 1 and 2 May 2021? Here you can enjoy a set of lectures guaranteed to give you ideas on fleshing out your ancestors' lives. Even if your people were not from Missouri, you can adapt the research techniques that our experts will share to learn more about your own families. 

Included in the conference will be helpful resources so you can answer the following questions:

If your ancestors served in the military . . . 

• Where did they serve?
• What were conditions like for them?
• What action did they see?
• How did their service affect their lives?
• Were they or their descendants eligible for bounty land or pensions?

Patti Hobbs, our featured speaker, will talk about U.S. military pension files at the FHC and Mike Venso, from the Missouri Historical Society, will talk about the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum. Both lectures will help you add to what you know about your family’s military history.

Migration routes and travel . . . 

• What migration paths did your family follow?
• How did they travel?
• What was it like for them as they moved into new locations?
• What obstacles did they face?
• How did they feed and clothe themselves en route?

Patti Hobbs will talk about “Migration to Missouri,” but the tales she will tell can apply to any form of wilderness travel. Carol Hemmersmeier and Kay Weber will talk specifically about Missouri Irish immigrants, but, again, you can apply the information they share to any immigrant ancestors’ experiences. 

Your ancestors' occupations . . .  

• How did they earn their livings?
• How much do you know about their occupations? 
• Do you know exactly what their jobs entailed? 
• What were their workdays like? 
• What conditions did they encounter as they did their jobs? 

If you had ancestors who worked on the inland rivers, either on steamships or related to the steamboat industry, you will want to hear Sara Hodge, the curator of the Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library, talk about doing family history research in their collection.

Finding our female ancestors . . .

Need help in learning more about your family’s forgotten women? They were, for the most part, housewives and mothers. They seldom bought property, could not vote until the first part of the twentieth century, and, sadly, sometimes died in childbirth or shortly afterwards. Despite the hidden nature of their lives, you can locate them, and Jake Eubanks, assistant manager of the History and Genealogy Department at St. Louis County Library, can help you with his tips and strategies on finding your female ancestors.

Register today and learn how you can put meat on your family’s bones! All the details and registration information is on our website and we hope to see you online for this exciting event!