Step Seven - Sharing Your Family Tree

The exciting part of performing the research is the personal thrill you have when you discover that you have a Civil War ancestor. The pride you feel in knowing that someone in your family endured the horrors and hardships of that war, sometimes sacrificing all to allow your family to enjoy the benefits of this country is incomparable. I would exclaim out loud when I located another, and another, and another, until I about drove my loved ones crazy. I am so proud of them all.

Having spent several months on this project, which is still far from completed, I am now endeavoring to share all that I have gathered with the other family web sites and upload a GEDcom file to a web site, in order to provide them with the information. In this manner, I am giving back to them what they have provided to me in my quest, and allowing them to share that pride.

I also plan to write a book about some of the exciting discoveries I made in my research of the Civil War ancestors we have in our family tree. I verified that there were several on both sides fighting each other at Shiloh, Gettysburg, Sharpsburg, and many other famous battlefields. I am writing the plot now, and am dedicated to completing this book. Whether it is published or not, it is just one way I can honor my ancestors through attempting to tell their story, and maintain the heritage they fought to protect.

Either of these projects is within your capabilities, as well as any others you may imagine. Trips to the family gravesites, their battlefield locations, studying the battles and war itself, are also methods of honoring them. Whatever you would like to do with all of the data you have gathered, you can do.

Share the Wealth

The most important thing I feel you MUST do is to publish your findings, no matter how large or small.

Creating a GEDcom data file and uploading it to web sites, emailing it to other family members in mutual research, or simply printing it out to save in a notebook to pass down to your immediate family are methods of sharing the wealth of information that you have acquired during your research.

Keep your information updated as well. Continue to subscribe to the genealogy family newsletters and search the internet from time to time to see what new information may have been posted. Share your new findings with others who are researching your family line, and they will provide you with information as well.

Take the time to share your Civil War ancestor information with the various Reenactor Units that portray your ancestor's regiment or company. They would enjoy having this information, and post it in their records.

Do some additional research on the unit history to get a better idea of what your ancestors went through during the war. Was he a hero? What battles was he in? Where was he wounded or killed? This would be a story in itself.

Even if you don't have an ancestor that you can prove was in the American Civil War, the really great benefit about all of your hours of research is that you now have a more accurate history of your own family.

Be proud of that.