Born on St Patrick's Day: Happy 115th Mary

They say that its good luck to be Irish, and that the luckiest of all are those who are born on St Patrick's Day. No doubt this is what was said the day that my great grandmother was born. However, her life was not necessarily filled with the good luck that the superstition had predicted. As much as she had a hard life, her life was also an "ordinary" one of a young British immigrant to Canada. Despite that, the simple life she led in youth was filled with fun. She embrace the changing times, new found freedoms, and innovations. Its the heirlooms from that chapter of her life that fascinate me the most because they show aside to her that none of my relatives knew - a woman who was happy. So today, I am going to share the side of her that one of those heirlooms tells. I have a small black autograph book that was hers.  At almost 100 years old, the book binding has all but disintegrated yet the leather cover is in near pristine condition and the partially bound pages are al...
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How to Build a FAN Club Chart

I am always talking about collecting information that tells you personal information about a person's life. In particular, I am always talking about identifying relationships. This is formally referred to as FAN. (Friends, Associates, and Neighbours) Club research. It is a great technique to use when trying to break through brick walls or just expand your knowledge of an ancestor. Collecting the research is one thing, but finding ways to apply it is another.  

FAN club members can be found on any document. The best places to start looking are at major types of records such as BMD and census records. See who the witnesses were to the baptism or marriage, who was the informant for the death? Who was living with the family during a given year? Then once you have checked out those sources consider expanding your search to include newspapers, immigration records, old pictures, etc. Collect the information in a table being sure to check for names which appear multiple times. 

I like to build a web/network diagram to connect people who knew each other and label the types of relationships. I use this approach because it helps me identify social grouping that existed within their FAN Club and to potentially identify how my ancestor met certain people. Lets walk through the steps used to create a visual representation of the FAN Club. 

STEP #1: Create a  list of names for people that exist in the FAN Club

STEP #2: Identify the relationship of your ancestor to each person in Step #1

STEP #3: Determine which format you want to build your diagram on (digital or paper)

STEP #4: Write your ancestor's name in the center

STEP #5: Begin writing in the names of FAN Club members around your ancestor's name 

STEP #6: Draw solid connecting lines from your ancestor to each FAN Club member that you FULLY                     know the nature of the relationship

STEP #7: Draw dashed connecting lines from your ancestor to each FAN Club member that you dont                        know the relationship for

STEP #8: Begin drawing connections between FAN Club members that you FULLY know the nature of                    the relationship. For unknown relationships use dashed lines. 

STEP #9: Label the connecting lines with relationship type, year of meeting, and any other important                         information. 

STEP #10: Establish new research questions

After following the above steps you will end up with something that looks like the FAN Club diagram below. 

The below FAN club was assembled for my great grandmother, primarily using names that I found in her old autograph book. I left out the surnames and some other minor details in the diagram to protect the privacy of anyone who is still living/ their children.  

Any time that a multiple connections (triangulations) were made to the same FAN club member, I performed more in depth research. The only exception to this is family members such as parents and siblings. If you are finding that your chart is becoming too cluttered you may choose to eliminate the multiple siblings connections by simply showing their relationship to the parent(s). 

From the above chart I am able to identify one unknown relationship (Walter F S) and four triangulations. Of these triangulations, the one that I am most interested in researching is for the set of siblings (Harry and Olive S). One married my great grandmother's best friend Lena (Harry) and the other (Olive) married her brother John. 

Since I have constructed and analyzed my fan club chart, I am now able to proceed to STEP #10 and develop a new set of research questions. My main question is how and when exactly Harry and Olive's family crossed paths with my ancestors. 

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