Yes, that is right, lose your fear and reach out to others and you will, I guarantee it, find your Mexican Ancestors. It took me a few years and my only regret is that I did not start doing it sooner.
In this post, I will tell you about my own fears and how they were holding me down. I hope that this post will help you become more social and start interacting with other researchers and family historians.
Lose Your Fear and Reach Out To Others
Lose Your Fears
What do I mean, I’ll be honest for many years I did genealogy research without ever contacting anyone or even talking about my research to anyone. A fear, in this case, is anything that may be preventing you from contacting researchers that you come across either to network or to inquire if they have a certain ancestor int heir database.
Here are some of my personal fears:
- It is just a hobby, don’t want to seem as if I don’t know anything. – This was one of my fears and since genealogy was just a hobby I would fear contacting anyone since I did not want others to think I did not know anything about genealogy. Guess what, kick this fear since it is a learning experience and no one will think you don’t know anything and if they do so what? Most people will give you a lending hand and point you in the right direction, that is what I do when asked about records or genealogy. I self-thought my self to do genealogy research.
- I felt intimidated by others with their extensive research. – When you come across researchers as Crispin Rendon, John Inclan, and Gary Felix you can’t help to feel amazed and at the same time think, man my research is nothing compared to theirs. Well, let me tell you all three of them are very approachable and nice people to email with. Just remember their Genealogy research at one point was at the same level that yours may be at today. I have had people join my online family tree and tell me that I have too much material and that they may not be able to contribute anything new. I know they are intimidated but I just tell them that it is ok since I am just happy that I am able to share my research with them.
- What if I share information I should not? – This was one of my greatest fears, basically, I had no idea of what I should share with others and did not feel comfortable sharing family information. The rule of thumb is just don’t share living relatives information, I believe that everything else is ok to share. Some people don’t share the most recent three generations but it is a personal choice.
These are where some of my fears and believe me I had many more. As you read this I know that you probably have already identified some of your own fears or you have already kicked these fears off.
Reaching Out To Others
Let me just assure you that once you lose your fear and reach out to others in your genealogy research you will find the leads that you need to find those elusive Mexican Ancestors.
Ways of Reaching Out
- Blogging – This is my favorite way of reaching out. By sharing what I know about my ancestors on my personal blog We Are Cousins I have met countless distant cousins.
- Emailing – If you come across your ancestors n a website send an email to the owner of the website. They will love to hear about you and your common ancestor.
- Forums – These are great, you can just leave inquiries and people will find them. The best in my own opinion is Mexico Genealogy Forum by GenForums.
- Facebook – Is by far the best tool to reach out to others. Just search for Facebook Pages and Groups. I have found countless distant cousins and not to mention even two pictures of my great-grandparents. As an example, you can check out my favorite Facebook Group Yo Tambien Soy de Arcabuz and our own Facebook Group  Mexican Genealogy. You can also check out my previous post: Locate Your Mexican Ancestors With Facebook Profiles, Pages, and Communities
- Twitter – To be honest with you I have heard that Twitter is great but I have only talked to one person about genealogy using twitter. You never know you may be luckier than me.
The above mentioned are just some of the things that I do to reach out and network with other researchers or people that have the same interests as I do.
I hope that you enjoyed this post, Lose Your Fear and Reach Out To Others and that it also encourages you to take those first steps to reach out and find your ancestors. Don’t forget that making friends is very rewarding. Make to like our Facebook page.
