Genealogy Gardening Tools
Gay Spiker didn't stop gardening after she planted a few vegetables and a couple shrubs. She continually added to her garden by collecting seeds and taking cuttings from established plants -- either those she'd grown herself or from those donated by generous friends. Likewise, when Melanie Spiker Fouse cultivated our Family Tree, she didn't stop after searching for her paternal ancestors. Naturally, she added the roots from the Bonnell and the Fouse family lines to her own personal garden.
You, too, can take advantage of the generous cuttings and seeds offered by others. One of the easiest ways to add to your "collection" is through the Internet. We asked Melanie to provide us with links to some of the sites she regularly visits. These are a few of our favorites, in no particular order. (More links coming soon.)
Photos by Cathy Spiker Gregis, taken April 2007, of Daffodils planted by Gay Spiker "many years ago" at the Spiker Family Farm .
| Ancestry.com | The Web’s largest family history collection. Some areas open to subscribers only. Highly recommended. |
| Cyndi's List | A free list of nearly 254,000 genealogy sites in 180 categories |
| Family Tree Maker | America’s number one family tree software program |
| History of Ritchie County | The full text of "A History of Ritchie Co" by Minnie Kendall Lowther. |
| The Good-Will Community | “The Good-Will Community". A History of Hollbrook by Bradford Spiker, transcribed in full |
| The South Fork Baptist Church | "The South Fork Baptist Church - A History - August 1979" by Mildred "Millie" Wilson Rule, transcribed in full |
| Ritchie County | Ritchie County, WV GenWeb Site hosted by the Ritchie County Historical Society |
| West Virginia Culture | A site devoted to WV history, etc. Includes free access to original images of Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates. Has a collection of old photos, state documents, even a timeline |
| The Center for Family History and Genealogy | Brigham Young University offers online study courses in Genealogy/Family History courses |
| Family Tree Magazine | Family Tree Magazine’s list of FREE downloads of charts and forms helpful in your research. (i.e. Pedigree charts, research logs, vital record logs, blank census pages, etc.) |
| Heritage Recipes | A collection of recipes that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers fixed every day. You are invited to add your own recipes to the “mix” |
| Dead Fred | A searchable database of thousands of identified and unidentified photos. Search under mystery photos for “Ritchie County, WV” and see if you can identify our mystery photos of the Granville Preston Zinn family. They were given to us with no formal identification. Those with names on the back have comments in the notes section. |
| Historical Time Line | Put your ancestors lives into perspective with the available timelines |
| Family Search | The first genealogy website -- this site is run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints in Utah. Be careful to verify that what you find was submitted from actual records or by other users. Lots of free info available. |
| Preserving Memories | A "How-To" for preserving your heritage items. |
| Do History | A guide to piecing together the lives of ordinary people by exploring a case study. |
| NGS Genealogy | The National Genealogy Society - provides education & training, fosters increased quality & standards, and promotes access to & preservation of genealogical records. |
| Genealogy by About.com | Projects and ideas to make Genealogy fun for you and the kids. |
| Rootsweb Funnies | Genealogy Funnies. |
| E-Bay | Don’t forget to search for your surname on Ebay for heritage items that you might find there. Melanie searched for Guy Zinn, who played for the New York Yankees, and actually bought one of his baseball cards. |
| Roots Television | A website broadcasting genealogy programs you can watch on the internet for free. |
| Library of Congress | The Library of Congress site gives us glimpses into history. See the American Memory Project, a collection of more than 7 million digital items, spanning 100+ collections or the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog |
| Encyclopedia of Genealogy | Look to this Encyclopedia of Genealogy to provide explanations of how to look up your family tree and explanations of terms found in genealogical research. |
| Doddrige County Roots | A very well done genealogy site. Be sure to check out the surname WATSON for Ann & Boots' direct line back to Elizabeth Gandy, sister of Ruth Gandy who married our very own ancestor, John Zinn. Also, the HAUGHT ancestral line is there so you can view ancestors of Ed Haught, husband of our "Aunt Jean" (Geneva Spiker Haught). |
| Ellis Island | Database of passengers entering through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. |
| Find A Grave | Database of grave records. |
| Billion Graves | Database of grave records |
Photos by Sarah Spiker Smith taken April 2014, of her children gathering Daffodils planted by Gay Spiker "many years ago" at the Spiker Family Farm .
The Paths Through our Garden
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Continue exploring our garden: |
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| The Spiker Family Tree -- See how deep our roots grow. | |
| Grow Healthy Trees -- The story behind our family's Medical Tree | |
| Heirloom Gardening - We're showing off some of our favorite family heirlooms. | |
| Planting the Seeds -- Getting the children involved in our family's history. | |
| Gardening Tools -- Just a few genealogy related tools and links we use to trace our lineage. | |