Tag: Community

Faces of NextGen: Meet Michael Melendez

Michael MelendezMichael Melendez, 25, Utah

What five words would you use to describe yourself? Shy, old soul, unorthodox, observant, ambitious.

Why genealogy? Because it brings family stories and historical events into cohesion.

What’s the coolest discovery you’ve made? That NextGen exists!

What are you working on this week? The Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree.

What’s the number one secret to your success in genealogy? Gleaning more information from a record than the average person.

What superpower would you want to help you uncover your family history? Time travel.

What are we most likely to find you doing when you’re not researching family history? Political activism.

The NextGen Genealogy Network is made up of young genealogists with diverse backgrounds, interests, and experiences. Faces of NextGen will showcase a different member of our community each month. If you would like to be considered for an upcoming feature, simply complete our questionnaire and submit a selfie.

Share

Faces of NextGen: Meet Murièle Gadaut

Murièle Gadaut, 45, France

What five words would you use to describe yourself? Curious (very!), Passionate, Stubborn, Independent, Imaginative

Why genealogy? Why genealogy…? Well, well, well… When I was around nine years old, my father used to be our village’s mayor. I loved joining him at the city hall where I spent my time flipping through the very old registers of births, marriages and deaths. I loved everything of it: smell, beautiful handwriting, and all those stories I could imagine… I suppose that my very first interest in genealogy comes from those beautiful moments. I have always been very curious about my family history, always asking many questions to my grandparents and great grandparents: they told me many stories about WWI, WWII, the way they used to live in the East of France, they showed me old pictures. It was fascinating to me and I always wanted to know more.

Then, when I was fifteen years old, I discovered in a book that “genealogist” was actually a real job and I decided to choose that profession. But unfortunately, I had not made the right school choices and could not apply to a History School as I wanted. I had read that Law was useful so I studied Law in France and Spain. I never forget about my initial project. Finally, to make that story short (!), after working as a Communications Director and travelling quite a lot, I jumped at the opportunity to become a professional genealogist in 2013. This is one of the best decisions I made for myself and my life. I just love my job and genealogy!

What’s the coolest discovery you’ve made? It was for one of my clients, an old man from Chile whose roots were in the south of France. He wanted to check if he had cousins in France and if this was the case, if they would know something about that common ancestor they had. Luckily, I found out he has cousins and could arrange a meeting in France. That was just extraordinary.

What are you working on this week? I am doing research on a Parisian actress named Geneviève Lantelme for a journalist planning to write her biography. More precisely, I am looking for descendants of her sisters with the objective to have access to private papers, documents or objects that belonged to their incredibly beautiful great-great-great-aunt. I also work for an American woman interested in learning as many things as possible on a painter – Julius Delbos – whose family lived in France. Both stories are just incredible and drive me to unexpected archives.

What’s the number one secret to your success in genealogy? Passion and curiosity combined together!

What superpower would you want to help you uncover your family history? I would love to be able to travel to the past and to meet some of my ancestors. I know, it is crazy!

What are we most likely to find you doing when you’re not researching family history? I am quite busy taking care of my family but when I can, I enjoy a lot watching TV shows on history or reading a good book.

Anything else you’d like to share? I am proud and glad to be part of the NextGen community. I would be very happy to get in touch with members interested in French genealogy.

The NextGen Genealogy Network is made up of young genealogists with diverse backgrounds, interests, and experiences. Faces of NextGen will showcase a different member of our community each month. If you would like to be considered for an upcoming feature, simply complete our questionnaire and submit a selfie.

Share

Faces of NextGen: Meet Caitlin Gow

Caitlin GowCaitlin Gow, 24, Australia

Why genealogy? I just love it! I love knowing who my ancestors were and where they came from. I love finding out their story. Doing genealogy has also made me feel closer to my Grandma who died before I was born. She was the genealogy queen in our family.

What’s the coolest discovery you’ve made? I solved the 100+ year mystery of my Great Great Aunt Jeannie Gow. That was pretty amazing. You can read the story here.

What are you working on this week? I’ve been researching my best friend’s family history for a couple of weeks now. A few years ago I discovered that we have a connection. We’re not cousins, but there is an odd connection! Her family history is very interesting.

What superpower would you want to help you uncover your family history? The power to travel around the world without any restrictions – I guess that means flying! I could go to cemeteries and ancestors’ hometowns whenever I wanted.

What are we most likely to find you doing when you’re not researching family history? I’m either reading, watching a few of my favorite TV shows, or spending time with family and friends. If you asked me last year, I would have said studying at University, but I just graduated. Woo!

The NextGen Genealogy Network is made up of young genealogists with diverse backgrounds, interests, and experiences. Faces of NextGen will showcase a different member of our community each month. If you would like to be considered for an upcoming feature, simply complete our questionnaire and submit a selfie.

Share

Faces of NextGen: Meet Ric Filho

Ric_FilhoRicardo “Ric” Aranha de Sousa Pinto Filho, 25, California

What five words would you use to describe yourself? Curious, Creative, Active, Friendly, International

Why genealogy? Curiosity made me do it!

What’s the coolest discovery you’ve made? That’s a tough one, every new discovery is cool! One cool discovery was that my great-grandmother was actually a somewhat famous poet in Brazil, and not only that but she was a feminist that financed feminine columns in famous news papers and also financed artists that in the beginning of the century weren’t famous in Brazil, but now they are. That made me quite proud!! Her name was Irene Ferreira de Sousa Pinto.

What are you working on this week? I just started a club at UCSD called the Genealogical Society of UCSD, so now I’m trying to find other students that are interested and polishing up our Facebook page, etc. Genealogy is a part of me, so I love to help people in their genealogy tree, not only because it’s a hobby that never ends, but because I love to see how people get excited when they learn things about their past that they wouldn’t know without genealogy research.

What’s the number one secret to your success in genealogy? Never give up! I’ve been mainly working on the Internet, because I’m an international student so most of my family history is abroad in Italy, Brazil and Lebanon, so I’m somewhat limited. Sometimes it can be a discouragement when your research is limited only to the Internet, but amazingly enough, by not giving up and exploring other ways to do research on the Internet, I’ve been able to, with perseverance, find many cool and interesting things about my genealogy.

What superpower would you want to help you uncover your family history? Teleportation.

What are we most likely to find you doing when you’re not researching family history? At the gym or studying at UCSD.

Anything else you’d like to share? Genealogy is addicting!

The NextGen Genealogy Network is made up of young genealogists with diverse backgrounds, interests, and experiences. Faces of NextGen will showcase a different member of our community each month. If you would like to be considered for an upcoming feature, simply complete our questionnaire and submit a selfie

Share