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Ty Simons
Montgomery
Research Paper
5 December 2013
Chasing History
In the early 1900’s Mihaelo Biga came to the United States, leaving his family in
Babinpotok, Croatia at the age of sixteen for a new life in the United States. He took the name
Mike Begio, and settled near Raton, New Mexico. He met Ivy May Turner, and she became his
wife in 1914 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Over the next eleven years Mike and Ivy May had six
children: Margaret, Eulalia, Rachel, Lloyd, William, and Ruth Elaine. The family established a
home outside of Raton in Yankee, New Mexico where Mike started farming and working in the
coal mines. Raising his children on the farm, his goal was to teach them lessons in life through
the farming experience, and that is just what he did. The value of the dollar and hard work were
only two of the many lessons he taught his children. Mike wanted his children to flourish in the
United States, so teaching his children all he knew was important. However, there was one thing
in particular Mike would not share with his children. Mike learned how to speak five languages
as a child yet he would never teach his children any of them. His reason for this was that he
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came to America for a new beginning and they did not need to know how to speak those
languages because they lived in America. A lifelong resident of the Raton area, Mike became a
very successful farmer. Being a successful businessman, father, and husband were only a few of
the responsibilities Mike balanced throughout his life. Watching his children grow and remain
in the community in which he had raised them made Mike proud. Following his death in 1979,
his family continued his traditions. Their family farm is still in business today where his daughter
and grandson are successfully operating it just as Mike did. Stories like this make many families
question where they come from and many become interested in genealogy. Due to technological
advancements, including the Internet and other electronic sources, the genealogy process or
family history search has become much easier. This paper outlines how the genealogy/family
history search is conducted and how it has progressed through time.
The word genealogy was first used in the Latin language in the 1400’s when the Latin
root genea and suffix -logia were put together. The root genea means family or race and is
followed by suffix -logia, which means study or reason. However, genealogy has been around
since the first men and women inhabited the earth and began recording dates and other data.
Collected data, including obituaries, birth certificates, family stories, and census records are
considered genealogical data.
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Genealogy is one of the fastest growing hobbies not just in the United States but also in
the world. It has grown into a billion dollar industry in the last decade. The growth and
popularity of genealogy has inspired more people to get involved and try it out. One tool
genealogist’s use is Ancestry.com, who has increased its membership by nearly fifty-four percent
in recent years. Now with over two million paid subscribed users, Ancestry.com says that they
believe genealogy is the second largest hobby in the United States, only following gardening
(Farnham).
Over the past twenty years, one improvement that helped the growth of genealogy is the
development of the Internet. Records and archives have become available to genealogical
websites. With digitized files, records (including census recordings, obituaries, and immigration
papers) have become more accessible compared to times before the Internet existed (Bangerter).
Before the Internet researchers would either have to go to port cities to obtain immigration
papers, gather census records from the county or city officials, or search for ancestor’s
headstones in cemeteries in areas they believe they may be buried.
Even though characterized as a challenging hobby this hobby has intrigued many. Those
interested range in ages from young teenagers to older adults. According to a survey conducted
by Cal State Fullerton, the average age of genealogy researchers are 54 years old. Melanie
Walter, an experienced genealogist from Obituaries Help, says the reason behind teenagers
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becoming more involved and interested in genealogy is because parents or other family members
have shown them old photographs, told them where their name came from, filled out a family
tree, have taken a trip, or have been told historical stories about what happened on this day in
their family history. Likewise, older adults have been inspired because they have been through
similar experiences, but did not have the information or resources teens have access to today.
Once an interest is sparked, researchers’ families begin by collecting the information and
data that they already possess such as birthdates, death dates, birth certificates and anything
related to the individual or family they are researching. Scanning newspapers to keep as files,
talking with family members, and reading through family notes are all strategies used in this
critical first step according to professional genealogist, Kimberly Powell. Powell also states that
focusing on one ancestor or relative will result in more progress. Once personal research with
family is concluded families start to see all of their research come together (Powell). While
some may choose to go to libraries and churches to find records, many will choose to research
data off of a genealogical information sites. Among the top ten websites used for genealogy
research, Ancestry.com tops the lists. Other popular sites are myheritage.com,
familysearch.com, findagrave.com, geni.com, archives.com, genealogy.com, Ancestry.uk.news,
genea.com, and myfamily.com (GenealogyInTime). Creating accounts is simple and starting a
family tree or search is ever easier. Having information digitized by these sites has led to an
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amazing increase in sales and memberships. People have become excited to work on family
history now that it is formatted in a much more simplistic way. Finding information can be easy,
but determining if it is truthful is a much harder task. Sorting truth from fiction may add stress to
the researcher. Checking how much the site is used is necessary to determine credibility.
Genealogy In Time magazine says researchers must learn the amount of Internet traffic the site
has. Internet traffic is the number of views that particular page has received in a designated
period of time. For example Ancestry.com is one of the top Internet site for locating documents
that are useful in the genealogy process; its Internet traffic is over 125 views a day and would be
considered a reliable site. Some genealogists will choose the traditional system of genealogy
research. Traditional genealogists like to find and have a hard copy of the data instead of a
digitized record. These more traditional genealogists use libraries and family history centers
provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and other organizations that may not
have been established for genealogical uses, but are open to sharing their records. The
traditional genealogists will also travel abroad to study, research, and potentially find lost family.
This method is a much more difficult way of researching your ancestors.
While researching, records and information that are popularly used in both styles of
genealogy research are census records, obituaries, information from gravestones, and much
more. First, the census records are records that are taken by the government every 10 years.
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Showing the population of a given area is the main purpose of a census record, although other
data included ranges from head of household, number of children, and citizenship status
(Przecha). All census documents have been kept except the records from 1880-1900. These
records were lost in a fire and never recovered. The National Archives has a copy of all of the
records and many local counties and states have a copy of each Census too. Censuses taken after
1960 are considered confidential by the government due to private information that people may
obtain from these records. On certain genealogy websites, the Census will be included in the
information they use for research. Another popularly used document are obituaries. These
notices death can be considered very important because many have been kept by families and are
also recorded onto the Internet. Along with obituaries, certain web pages have devoted their
time to gaining information from headstones of people who have passed away. For example,
findagrave.com is a popular site where families can search for information and pictures of their
ancestors. Other sources include immigration records, which have listed names of passengers,
port cities and the countries they have came from.
Once all of the information has been gathered, genealogists proceed in a variety of ways.
Some will create family trees, others publish their findings, and some will be satisfied with the
data collected. Creating a family tree can be done on computer software, index cards, or kept in
a notebook or binder (Schindler). Ancestry.com is one of the most useful sites for creating a
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family tree because the information researched is convenient and easy to insert. Others prefer
hard copies of the family trees and that is why they use either index cards or notebooks.
Many researchers consider genealogy important for a variety reasons. These include
finding unknown relatives, validating family stories, gaining better knowledge of family activity,
affirming religious values, and family traditions. Firstly, finding one or many unknown relatives
can be an exciting and rewarding experience, yet it also can be a daunting task. Finding
unknown relatives can result in reconnecting with family and friends not seen in years.
Realizing the task is difficult and at times frustrating will help locate the relatives being searched
for (Martin). Another reason why genealogy is important is because the researcher can validate
family stories. Genealogy research is beneficial in particular when validating family stories
because many families rely greatly on these stories that have been passed down by generation
when researching and collecting information. Information, including census and immigration
records, are used to confirm details in these stories. This will not only help verify family stories,
but can help gain better knowledge of your family’s activity throughout history. Birth
certificates, marriage licenses, and census location records are all used and can help trace family
activity and family history. Two other reasons include, affirming religious values and family
traditions. Religious records provide data dating back very far regarding church memberships,
baptisms, confirmations, and marriages. These records can be used constantly throughout the
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process and are considered very important because they can be the only source for early
American information. The last reason of importance includes family traditions, such as annual
family trips or meetings. Finding these few things a family is known for could mean so much for
families.
While typically characterized as a fun hobby, performing a family search does present
some difficulties. These difficulties lead to frustration and are caused by not finding what
information is needed, wanting to get past that one relative that is causing problems, and giving
up too easily. These cases are called “brick walls” or “research breakers” according to writer
and genealogist Lisa Alzo. Breaking through these “brick walls” can be as easy as not giving up
and as hard as having to restart the search and consult with different references for help (Nigro).
On average many researchers have either given up too easily or not organized the data
effectively.
Many advantages and disadvantages come with starting this hobby. When comparing the
two, the advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages. Either satisfaction or disappointment
can occur for different reasons when you find an ancestor no one has ever known. Finding the
one relative where an empty branch on the tree has always been can be the satisfying side of it
all. On the other hand, finding a relative that was known for being a criminal or murderer can
disappoint and make the researcher want to lose all connection with their name. Another
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disadvantage are the difficulties encountered throughout the process. There are many such as the
researcher losing patience and running into brick walls (Nigro). Although being on the brink of
wanting to give up, many will see the advantages and remember that they are doing something
worthwhile. All of the information collected throughout the process is an advantage by itself.
Having this valuable family information that the researcher can pass to further generations can be
priceless. One last advantage that will continue to make the genealogy process much easier is
the advancement of technology. As Russell Bangerter from Desert News calls it the Evolution of
Genealogy; he expects much more development throughout time with technology. He also sees
how far technology has come and expects the process to grow and continue to develop rapidly in
years to come.
Not only did Mike Begio’s family continue his legacy on his farm, but his daughters Ruth
Elaine and Eulalia began keeping track of genealogical information and have collected many
records that he and his family had never known of. They started at the local courthouses and
Mormon Church to research more about Mike’s ancestors. Eulalia even traveled to Salt Lake
City to find information. With the information they found about the family, Ruth Elaine began
mapping out a family tree and has provided her siblings, Mike’s grandchildren, and his greatgrandchildren with information they had never known. They even discovered new family.
Genealogy is one of the most popular hobbies in America and is continuously growing.
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Researching, recording, and analyzing the data can make a tremendous change in a family’s life
just as it did for Mike Begio’s family.
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Works Cited
Walters, Melanie. "5 Ways to Get Kids Interested in Genealogy « Obituarieshelp.org/Blog."
ObituarieshelporgBlog RSS. Obituaries Help, 11 Oct. 2009. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.
<http://obituarieshelp.org/blog/?p=49>.
Alzo, Lisa . "Uncovering Family Secrets in Genealogy records - Family Tree Magazine."
Uncovering Family Secrets in Genealogy records - Family Tree Magazine. Family Tree
Magazine, 25 June 2013. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.familytreemagazine.com/Article/family-secrets-in-genealogy-records>.
Alzo, Lisa. "Tips for Removing Stubborn Genealogy Research Blockers." Tips For Removing
Stubborn Genealogy Research Blockers. Archives.com, 9 Apr. 2012. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.archives.com/experts/alzo-lisa/genealogy-research-blockers.html>.
Bangerter, Russell. "Researching Family History: Genealogy is more than just a hobby."
DeseretNews.com. Desert News, 13 Mar. 2012. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865552024/Genealogy-is-more-than-just-ahobby.html?pg=all>.
GenealogyInTime Magazine. "Genealogy In Time." GenealogyInTime Magazine. Web. 3 Nov.
2013.
<http://www.genealogyintime.com/NewsStories/2012/Q1/top%20100%20most%20popu
lar%20genealogy%20websites%20page1.html>.
GenealogyInTime Magazine. "GenealogyInTime Magazine." Why Genealogy is Important.
GenealogyInTime Magazine, Web. 3 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.genealogyintime.com/GenealogyResources/Articles/why_genealogy_is_im
portant_page1.html>.
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Nigro, Carmen . "Genealogy Research Tips: Breaking Through Brick Walls and Getting Past
Dead Ends | The New York Public Library." nypl.org. NYPL, 3 Aug. 2011. Web. 3 Nov.
2013. <http://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/08/03/genealogy-research-tips>.
Powell, Kimberly. "Ten Steps to Finding Your Ancestors." About.com Genealogy. Web. 3 Nov.
2013. <http://genealogy.about.com/cs/research/a/process.htm>.
Przecha, Donna. "Secrets of the Census." Genealogy.com:. Genealogy.com, Web. 3 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.genealogy.com/13_secrt.html>.
Schindler, LuAnn. "How to Make a Family Tree." - Life123 Web. 3 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.life123.com/parenting/young-children/family-activities/make-a-familytree.shtml>.