Briana's Genealogical Journey, Pt. 2: Focus!

Picking up where I left off in part one, I’ll begin this post with two more pieces of advice that I’ve found in genealogical literature:

1. Start with yourself and work backward
2. Research one ancestor at a time

I wanted to start working on my mom’s side of the family because I don’t feel as connected to her side as I do to my dad’s. Among myriad other reasons (including family dramas that I won’t go into), I think this is in part because I was very young when both my grandparents on my mom’s side passed away, and once that occurred we just didn’t spend much time with other relatives from that side. I’d like to learn more about my mom’s parents and hopefully build a stronger connection to them.

I decided to start with my mom’s father, Francis T. Martin. One of the few things I remember about him, besides that his friends and family called him “Sparky,” is that he was a veteran of World War II. I thought it would be interesting to dig into some military records, but these can be tricky to find and request from the National Archives. I decided to start small by reading over Sparky’s obituary, in which I found that he was a member of the Tin Can Sailors in Whippany… and I learned a lot of new facts in the process!

Important findings: My grandfather was part of the Tin Can Sailors, which means he was on a destroyer during WWII.

New fact learned: A destroyer was a type of ship in WWII.

Possible next step: Find out which destroyer(s) Francis T. Martin was on

Concluding thoughts: It’s incredibly easy to get pulled in lots of different directions while researching an ancestor. I’m constantly tempted to open about thirty tabs in my web browser in an attempt to pull at every thread I can find, but this can be counterproductive. Best to pick one area of focus at a time.