My Research Playlist - Genealogical Tunes

When I am working on genealogy research I pretty much always have this playlist on repeat. I have curated it with a selection of songs that either bring to mind specific ancestors/lineages or just encompass the feeling and memories of those who have gone before me. 

"To Be Human" by Marina and the Diamonds

Favourite lyric: "All the people living in the world today / Reunited by our love, reunited by our pain / All the things that I've done and I've seen / Still I don't know, don't know what it means / To be human"

Reason: This song describes the human experience and reminds me of one of my favourite genealogy quotes by Linda Hogan: "You are the result of the love of thousands" when it talks about how people today are all connected. I love all the different locations around the world that she mentions, especially the shout-out to specifically genealogical related travel in: "Fly to Athens, pass the Parthenon / See the village where my father's from"

"I'll Be Seeing You" by Tommy Dorsey ft. Frank Sinatra

Favourite lyric: "I'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places"

Reason: There are lots of versions of this song out there, but I love the version with Frank Sinatra that has such an old-y feel... as if I was listening to an ancestor's kitchen radio in the 1940s. When I am researching ancestors who had deep ties to a particular place, it sometimes does feel like I am learning about all of their old familiar places and seeing them and their family there until it becomes familiar to me as well. I describe it as being homesick for somewhere I have never lived but my ancestors walked.

"100 years" by Five for Fighting

Favourite lyric: "There's never a wish better than this / When you only got a hundred years to live"

Reason: Tracing a life from 15 to 99, this song is another about the human experience and how quickly life can pass by if you don't stop to appreciate and ground yourself in the moment. It reminds me of all of the ordinary lives of my ancestors who were teenagers dreaming about their future and then were old in the blink of an eye and whose lives are just a blip in the grand scheme of history but meant everything to their family.

"Passing Afternoon" by Iron and Wine

Favourite lyric: "There are things that drift away like our endless, numbered days / Autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made / And she's chosen to believe in the hymns her mother sings"

Reason: One of my favourite songs on the playlist, it has such a sentimental and nostalgic vibe that reminds me of my pioneering ancestors with the mentions of quilts, gardening, and faith. I have a few other favourite lyrics including: "There are names across the sea, only now I do believe / Sometimes, with the window closed, she'll sit and think of me" which always makes me think of my immigrant ancestors who came to North America and had only the names and memories of the family they left behind knowing they would never meet again except in their thoughts. I also love the shout-out to bougainvillea which is the national flower of my husband's country and I have so many fond memories of evening walks with him and our dog admiring the copious bougainvillea blooms that seem to spill over every wall fence. "And she's chosen where to be, though she's lost her wedding ring / Somewhere near her misplaced jar of Bougainvillea seeds"

"Gold and Silver Days" by Celtic Thunder

Favourite lyric: "As I sit here by the fireside / I'm turning back the years. / I can hear my mother singing in the morning"

Reason: Another nostalgic song, this time looking back on childhood memories as the best part of the singer's life. The mentions of the family singing together bring back memories of all of our family's hymn and carol singsongs at the end of every family gathering. So many of the family histories/memoirs that I have on my maternal lines mention the importance of music and singing back through my branches so I can totally picture the scenes described in this song taking place among my ancestors.

"Christmas Memories" by John McDermott

Favourite lyric: "I sing a song to days long gone / And those who've passed away / I have four children proud and strong / And they have children too / And on christmas morn they sing along / Just like we use to do"

Reason: A John McDermott classic from a CD that my grandmother always always played at Christmas time, this is another song that mentions family singing together. I love the switch from fond reminiscing about the singer's childhood to the present day where they are a grandparent watching their grandchildren make similar childhood memories.

"Heartlines" by Florence and the Machine

Favourite lyric: "Just keep following / The heartlines on your hand"

Reason: This song always makes me think of DNA-based research and how the genetics I inherited from my ancestors inform every part of my unique make-up right down to my fingerprints. When I'm trying to track down brick wall ancestors using DNA matches it really does feel like I'm trying to follow the heartlines on my hand back to them.

"The Dutchman" by Celtic Thunder

Favourite lyric: "He sees her for a moment, calls her name, / She makes the bed up singing some old love song, / She learned it when the tune was very new. / He hums a line or two, they hum together in the dark." 

Reason: Another of my all time favourites, this song obviously makes me think of my Dutch ancestry! The various Dutch elements mentioned (Amsterdam, canals, wooden shoes, tulips, dikes, the Zuider Zee) all fit so perfectly into my family story. The lyric I chose up above always gets me because they have been together so long that the songs that were new when they first fell in love are now just "some old love song" but they are still singing together. The two runners up for my favourite lyrics are: "Margaret only sees that sometimes, / Sometimes she sees her unborn children in his eyes."  "Long ago, I used to be a young man / But dear Margaret remembers that for me." Just such a sweet song about growing old together and cherished memories of youth.

"When You and I Were Young Maggie" by John McDermott

Favourite lyric: "But to me, you're as fair as you were Maggie / When you and I were young"

Reason: I've written a whole blog post about this song and it's connection to my family tree. This song was a special favourite of my 2x great grandparents Innes Rae Melvin and Margaret Florence McRae. It always hits me right in the feels to think of them singing this song together, and it is especially poignant since they died at a relatively young age from the Spanish Flu and never got to really enjoy old age together.

"Muddy Hymnal" by Iron and Wine

Favourite lyric: "We found your name across the chapel door, carved in cursive with a table fork"

Reason: I feel like this song is a little bit cryptic and I'm not entirely sure the facts of the story being described, but listening to it always brings me viscerally back to Rodel Church on the Isle of Harris. The description of the graveyard where "We found you sleeping by your lover's stone" is just so poignant.

"Saturn" by Sleeping at Last

Favourite lyric: "With shortness of breath / You explained the infinite / And how rare and beautiful it is to even exist"

Reason: This is another song that reminds me of the Linda Hogan quote and the incredible circumstances through history that have occurred to lead to the existence of each person.  Doing family history research and uncovering my ancestor's stories really brings into perspective all little coincidences and events that had to occur for each of my thousands of ancestors to meet and continue the family tree. It brings to mind a Taylor Swift quote:"without your past, you could never have arrived- so wondrously and brutally, By design or some violent, exquisite happenstance ...here." The young widows marrying again, the immigrants setting out on their own for a new land, the refugees fleeing conflict with only the belongings they could carry, the small town sweethearts, the marauding vikings... each of their decisions had impacts down the branches of their family tree. Another of my favourite lyrics is "I couldn't help but ask for you to say it all again / I tried to write it down, but I could never find a pen. / I'd give anything to hear you say it one more time / That the universe was made just to be seen by my eyes" which incapsulates the longing for a few more moments with a loved one.

"Marjorie" by Taylor Swift

Favourite lyric: "I should've asked you questions / I should've asked you how to be / Asked you to write it down for me"

Reason: I challenge anyone who has had a close relationship with a grandparent to listen to this song without crying! An absolutely beautiful song about feeling an ongoing connection to a grandparent who has passed away ("If I didn't know better / I'd think you were still around / I know better / But I still feel you all around") while still regretting not having more time together to make memories and have important conversations. As someone whose grandmother passed away when I was only 10 years old, far too soon, I connect so deeply with this song.

"Will the Circle be Unbroken"

Favourite lyric: "Will the circle be unbroken / By and by, Lord, by and by."

Reason: This was originally a hymn written at the turn of the 20th century and describes fond memories of family members who have passed away (There are loved ones in the glory, / Whose dear forms you often miss . . . You can picture happy gath'rings / 'Round the fireside long ago, / And you think of tearful partings, / When they left you here below.") while asking whether the listener will join their family in heaven one day. This song came into my mind as soon as I stepped into the stone circle at the Ring of Brodgar. I have so many ancestors who had a strong faith guiding them, and this song makes me think of them all.

"To Where You Are" by Josh Groban

Favourite Lyric: "Who can say for certain / Maybe you're still here / I feel you all around me / Your memory's so clear"

Reason: This was the first song I added onto this playlist when I created it a few years ago. Similar to "Marjorie" this song speaks about still feeling a connection to someone who has passed away. The line: "I wish upon tonight / To see you smile / If only for a while to know you're there / A breath aways not far to where you are" always makes me think of the ancestors that I never got a chance to meet earth-side, but feel like I have gotten to know through the research I have done to uncover their life story. There is a quote by Lawrence Dillard that says: "The best part about genealogy is searching for ancestors and finding friends" which I think is supposed to be about finding and connecting to living cousins, but I really do feel that I have some ancestors who I have gotten to know like friends even though they lived 100 or 300 years ago.

"Flowers Grow Out of My Grave" by Dead Man's Bones 

Favourite Lyric: "When I think about you / flowers grow out of my grave"

Reason: Basically a Find-A-Grave anthem, I think of this song every time I am visiting a cemetery. Is there a more beautiful sentiment than flowers growing out of a grave when someone thinks of their family?

"Beautiful Ghosts" by Taylor Swift

Favourite lyric: "And the memories were lost long ago / So I'll dance with these beautiful ghosts"

Reason: This song was written for the Cats musical which I haven't seen so I don't connect the song with the plot of the play, rather I think it has a message that resonates with genealogists. The whole first part ("Follow me home / If you dare to / I wouldn't know / Where to lead you / Should I take chances / When no one took chances on me? / So I watch from the dark, wait for my life to start / With no beauty in my memory / All that I wanted / Was to be wanted / Too young to wander London streets / Alone and haunted / Born into nothing") brings to mind the branch of my family tree with UK roots who were living lives straight out of a Dickens novel in the Victorian era. But primarily the chorus which describes dancing with beautiful ghosts even though their memory is long gone, makes me think of all the ancestors I have discovered who were no longer remembered and have no living people sharing their memories. And beyond that, all of the ancestors who are still unknown and waiting for me to uncover their story!

The 99+ Genealogy Things Meme

This is an old meme (started by Rebecca Wiseman who blogs at "kinexxions"), but I'm a new blogger and it seemed like fun, so here it is anyway!

"The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type"

1. Belong to a genealogical society.
2. Researched records onsite at a court house.
3. Transcribed records.
4. Uploaded tombstone pictures to Find-A-Grave.
5. Documented ancestors for four generations (self, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents).
6. Joined Facebook.
7. Helped to clean up a run-down cemetery.
8. Joined the Genea-Bloggers Group on Facebook.
9. Attended a genealogy conference.
10. Lectured at a genealogy conference.
11. Spoke on a genealogy topic at a local genealogy society.
12. Been the editor of a genealogy society newsletter.
13. Contributed to a genealogy society publication.
14. Served on the board or as an officer of a genealogy society.
15. Got lost on the way to a cemetery.
16. Talked to dead ancestors.
17. Researched outside the state in which I live.
18. Knocked on the door of an ancestral home and visited with the current occupants.
19. Cold called a distant relative.
20. Posted messages on a surname message board.
21. Uploaded a gedcom file to the internet.
22. Googled my name.
23. Performed a random act of genealogical kindness.
24. Researched a non-related family, just for the fun of it.
25. Have been paid to do genealogical research.
26. Earn a living (majority of income) from genealogical research.
27. Wrote a letter (or email) to a previously unknown relative.
28. Contributed to one of the genealogy carnivals.
29. Responded to messages on a message board or forum.
30. Was injured while on a genealogy excursion.
31. Participated in a genealogy meme.
32. Created family history gift items.
33. Performed a record lookup for someone else.
34. Went on a genealogy seminar cruise.
35. Am convinced that a relative must have arrived here from outer space.
36. Found a disturbing family secret.
37. Told others about a disturbing family secret.
38. Combined genealogy with crafts.
39. Think genealogy is a passion not a hobby.
40. Assisted finding next of kin for a deceased person.
41. Taught someone else how to find their roots.
42. Lost valuable genealogy data due to a computer crash or hard drive failure.
43. Been overwhelmed by available genealogy technology.
44. Know a cousin of the 4th degree or higher.
45. Disproved a family myth through research.
46. Got a family member to let you copy photos.
47. Used a digital camera to “copy” photos or records.
48. Translated a record from a foreign language.
49. Found an immigrant ancestor’s passenger arrival record.
50. Looked at census records on microfilm, not on the computer.
51. Used microfiche.
52. Visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
53. Visited more than one LDS Family History Center.
54. Visited a church or place of worship of one of your ancestors.
55. Taught a class in genealogy.
56. Traced ancestors back to the 18th Century.
57. Traced ancestors back to the 17th Century.
58. Traced ancestors back to the 16th Century.
59. Can name all of your great-great-grandparents.
60. Found an ancestor’s Social Security application.
61. Know how to determine a soundex code without the help of a computer.
62. Used Steve Morse’s One-Step searches.
63. Own a copy of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills.
64. Helped someone find an ancestor using records you had never used for your own research.
65. Visited the main National Archives building in Washington, DC Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, Ontario.
66. Visited the Library of Congress.
67. Have an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower.
68. Have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War.
69. Taken a photograph of an ancestor’s tombstone.
70. Became a member of the Association of Graveyard Rabbits.
71. Can read a church record in Latin.
72. Have an ancestor who changed their name.
73. Joined a Rootsweb mailing list.
74. Created a family website.
75. Have more than one "genealogy" blog.
76. Was overwhelmed by the amount of family information received from someone.
77. Have broken through at least one brick wall.
78. Visited the DAR Library in Washington D.C.
79. Borrowed a microfilm from the Family History Library through a local Family History Center.
80. Have done indexing for Family Search Indexing or another genealogy project.
81. Visited the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
82. Had an amazing serendipitous find of the "Psychic Roots" variety.
83. Have an ancestor who was a Patriot in the American Revolutionary War.
84. Have an ancestor who was a Loyalist in the American Revolutionary War.
85. Have both Patriot & Loyalist ancestors.
86. Have used Border Crossing records to locate an ancestor.
87. Use maps in my genealogy research.
88. Have a convict ancestor who was transported from the UK.
89. Found a bigamist amongst the ancestors.
90. Visited the National Archives in Kew.
91. Visited St. Catherine's House in London to find family records.
92. Found a cousin in Australia (or other foreign country).
93. Consistently cite my sources.
94. Visited a foreign country (i.e. one I don't live in) in search of ancestors.
95. Can locate any document in my research files within a few minutes.
96. Have an ancestor who was married four times (or more).
97. Made a rubbing of an ancestors gravestone.
98. Organized a family reunion.
99. Published a family history book (on one of my families).
100. Learned of the death of a fairly close relative through research.
101. Have done the genealogy happy dance.
102. Sustained an injury doing the genealogy happy dance.
103. Offended a family member with my research.
104. Reunited someone with precious family photos or artifacts.

5-Generation birthplace chart...

My 5-generation birthplace chart

Someone on the "NextGen Genealogy Network" Facebook group posted a 5-gen birthplace chart (download the chart template here) started by J. Paul Hawthorne, and I thought it would be a fun diversion on a long weekend!  It is interesting to see this geographic information more visually...