Would you like to have a fascinating vacation experience? Try a “Follow an Ancestor” vacation.
Pick an ancestor. Preferably one for whom you have done a lot of research, but you have not yet traveled to the sites where he/she lived. Pull together all your data on that person and their immediate family and determine if you have enough data in hand to make the trip. If you do, make plans to follow that person’s life by traveling to the places where they lived out their life’s experiences.
Start the trip by traveling to the place of your ancestor’s birth. Attempt to identify the exact house or piece of land. When visiting my mother’s ancestral home in Canon City, Colorado, I can point out the exact bedroom that my mother was born in – nearly 91 years ago.
Based upon the information found in the census, plat maps, land records and family stories, travel to the various places of residence of your ancestor. Hopefully you can do this in the same order that the ancestor may have moved. If they moved around a lot, this might be impractical.
Visit the church where your ancestors married. Go to the courthouse where the marriage license was taken out. Is the business building where they worked still standing? Did your ancestor serve in the military? Were they involved in the Civil War, War of 1812, Indian Wars or even the Revolution? If so, visit the battlefields where they would have fought.
Be sure and visit their place of death and burial. Stop for a while and reflect on their life. You might find it to be a very spiritual experience.
Before the trip, make sure to look online for travel advice about the city where you are staying. You should also consider weather conditions when packing for your trip.
While doing all this traveling from site to site, be sure and visit with known relatives in the area. Visit the local library and historical society. Even the funeral home may have records that might be useful.
Finally, stay focused. Remember that the trip is to follow in the footsteps of your ancestor. You’ll find it to be worthwhile.