Discover the joy of paying it forward in the latest podcast episode titled "Genealogy Karma: Good Deeds Can Lead to Great Discoveries." I’ll share a few heartwarming stories and practical tips on spreading genealogical joy, from commenting on fellow researchers' work to reuniting family heirlooms with their rightful owners. With National Pay it Forward Day approaching on April 28th, hopefully you’ll be inspired to join the movement and make a positive impact in the genealogy community. Tune in to learn how small acts of kindness can lead to big discoveries and forge lasting connections.
A few notes:
One of the easiest and perhaps most impactful ways to pay it forward is to comment on other writer’s content. Many of the family history writers on Substack are brilliant at doing this and inspire me everyday with their thoughtfulness. To name just a few: Paula Delesha, who, as my friend and editor, intimately knows the struggles I go through to write some of my stories, is one of my biggest advocates. I’ll never be able to thank her enough for the ongoing encouragement she offers to me.
always has a nice word to say about what others have written and she often shares our content, making it accessible to more audiences, which is, obviously, very appreciated. made a comment on one of my posts noting that he liked how I tied the process of making a crackle glass perfume bottle to the life of my grandmother. As writers, we never know if our intentions are coming through and Tad’s thoughtful comment made it clear that in this case, it had. and have shared how various stories make them feel, which is so, so meaningful. All of the comments that everyone shares on my posts touches my heart and keeps me going. Thank you to those that take the time to share a sentence or two of commentary.***
In this episode, I reference a lock of my great-grandmother’s hair. I thought it might be helpful to understand why someone in 1894 may have shared the hair of their toddler with a sibling far away: Before popular photography, hair provided a keepsake and a memory. Hair was sometimes preserved in significant books, scrapbooks and letters. For a loved one (romantic or familial) separated by distance, providing a lock of hair was a sign of mutual esteem and deep affection.
Sources:
“Lock of Hair”, last modified 9 October 2023, accessed 8 January 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lock_of_hair
“A Lock of Love”, 1 June 2015 blog post. The National Archives UK. https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/lock-love/>
***
In the interest of transparency, as it relates to the military papers of Grandpa John, I did scan most of the items before I returned them, but before I attached them to his profile page, I made sure the nieces were comfortable with the files being public.
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This podcast is researched, written and produced by me, Kirsi Dahl, and edited by my good friend Paula Anderson Delesha.
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Genealogy Karma: Good Deeds Can Lead to Great Discoveries