A is for Arrival

My theme for the A-Z Challenge 2015 is genealogy/family history events and facts. As family historians we are, of course, first interested in finding the correct individuals to add to our family tree. Once we have found that family connection we include their given name, middle name and surname. We search for their vital statistics (some refer to it as "hatched, matched and dispatched"). At that point and with the basics in our database, we move on to add flesh to the bones. How do we do that? By adding the events and facts that made up their lives, by putting them in their place and times. Sometimes it is the big worldwide events, other times it is those small but significant moments particular to that person and his or her family.

Over the course of the month, I will post about an event or fact using the letters of the alphabet. So, let's get started with - Arrival.

I use arrival in my database program as an event/fact. Many times our ancestors left their native land and arrived in a new place. Unless we have some indication from the records that they intended to emigrate/immigrate, I personally think it makes more sense to record their arrival as just that. Many of my ancestors took the long route in their travels from their native land. They went from Ireland to Newfoundland and then to the United States. Or they left Norway arrived in Canada and later made their way to the United States. It could have been the cost of trip, the schedule of the ships, or the citizenship of the travelers that caused them to make the decisions they did. Several came to the United States, lived and worked for several years and then went home as it was never their intention to renounce their native land.

For the event/fact of Arrival, I try to find and include

• the date
• the place
• where they left from
• where they came to
• their mode of travel
• the length of the journey
• the cost of the journey
• any recollections about the journey

There you have it - A is for Arrival