Fair winner Kristy Morrow shares
her family ancestry research
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[May 30, 2018]
LINCOLN
- The Logan County Genealogical &
Historical Society welcomed Zion Lutheran School fifth grade student
Kristy Morrow to their May monthly meeting Monday evening. Kristy’s
presentation to the group was about her genealogical research on her
family, a project she named “My Family Tree.”
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Kristy’s project was
done in conjunction with her membership in the Cloverdale 4-H Club.
She started the project last year researching her mother’s side of
the family. Kristy’s mom is Dr. Kristin Green.
After doing the research and creating a poster with six generations
of her family on it, she entered the project in the 4-H competition
at the 2017 Logan County Fair. She won first place in her category.
That meant her work
qualified for the Illinois State Fair 4-H competition. Her project
received recognition and garnered another medal in the statewide
contest.
The entire project
took her several weeks to complete. Her main source of research was
the website Ancestry.com. The website not only supplies information
on a person’s immediate family, but can make connections with other
families. The website will automatically send a notice to a
researcher if an unknown connection shows up.
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Kristy found several
surprises in her research. One was that her great great great
grandmother immigrated to the United States from England with her
children after being mistreated by her husband. “My family has a lot
of strong women in it,” said Kristy.
![](../images/052618pics/today_5.jpg)
Kristy Morrow with the globe her
ancestor won in a dog obedience trial. It is so old many current
countries are not shown on it.
She also found that
one grandfather also won an award at an obedience trial for dogs. He
was given a globe as his prize. “It has been a family heirloom ever
since, a globe that is so old that it does not show the old USSR on
it,” Kristy said. That means it predates the founding of the Soviet
Union in 1918. One unique find for Kristy was the attire that she
found in the old photographs from generations ago. “I really like
the clothing that my ancestors wore more than modern styles. I think
it is cool,” she said.
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Kristy shows off a handmade pillowcase
that World War I soldiers carried with them as a reminder of home, a
valued family heirloom.
One of the most
valued items on the family tree poster is a photo of Kristy sitting
in her great grandmother’s lap. “I’m glad I got to meet her,” she
said.
The competition at the Logan County Fair not only included her
poster, but required a conference with the judges about how she
researched the project. This interview was part of the determination
for her first place award.
![](../images/052618pics/today_9.jpg)
Kristy with her genealogical poster and award from
the 2017 Logan County Fair 4-H competition. The document top left
is a Civil War pay voucher. The one bottom left is an old census
count.
Kristy exhibited a
deep knowledge, poise, and humor during her explanation of the
project, and was able to handle all of the questions that were sent
her way at the LCGHS meeting from an audience of genealogical
research experts.
The Logan County
Genealogical and Historical Society meets on the third Monday of the
month at 6:30 p.m. at their research facility on Chicago Street in
Lincoln. The meeting is open to the public and always has an
interesting speaker.
[Curtis Fox]
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