Connecting Generations: Military History in Family Research

(image created with ChatGPT with the prompt: create a graphic of someone looking at Canadian WWI records)

It’s been a great week for me. The first thing that happened was I got a new computer. I’ve had my Surface for probably ten years, but it’s been struggling this past month. Finally, during Black Friday, I purchased a new computer. My stepson Jason set it up, and I’m back in business between him and Backblaze. (If you’d like to know more about Backblaze, find it HERE.)

The second thing that made this a great week was when I was texting with my nephew Travis about a gift I’d sent his children. I asked him if he would like to see all my military files. I have files for three of his 2x great-grandfathers and a file for Jess Vincent. Jess Vincent would be his 1st cousin 3x removed. All four of these people had interesting military careers. Jess Vincent had fought in the 1st Battle of Ypres and had been wounded and mustard gassed. William Beaton met his 2nd wife while he was stationed in England. Francis Middlebrough and Jesse Oliver saw action in France.

Why did I ask him? My brother told me that Travis was very interested in military history. So, who better to have a look at the records. He’d understand the military lingo and know the battles’ locations better than I do. I often read the records and then spent much time on Google to see where the places were.

I also thought it would be the perfect way to let him know the people in his family who were touched by WWI. Of course, I’m hoping he’ll get interested in genealogy and want to learn more about my research.

Travis’ response to my text after I told him about Jess Vincent

I quickly drafted an email telling him about all the relations that fought in WWI and explained how they related to him. Each person had a link to their military record. These links were all in FOREVER in albums that I’ve set up for my genealogy. If you’d like to learn more about how I’ve done that, I made a video on my YouTube channel. Watch it here.

I think that FOREVER is the perfect place to store all your genealogy. With the FOREVER app, you always have your records at your fingertips. This makes access easy when you’re on a genealogy trip. It’s also perfect because it will be there for the future and future generations.

I also gave Travis access to my Ancestry tree so he understands how these people all fit in the family.

I look forward to hearing his perspective on these files. I’m sure he will see the details I’ve missed and understand aspects I didn’t.

I want to share what I’ve discovered in a way that interests my family’s younger generations. This way, all I’ve found, learned, and paid for isn’t lost, and a genealogist will be born.