{"id":875,"date":"2012-09-23T13:50:41","date_gmt":"2012-09-23T20:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blackenedroots.com\/blog\/?p=875"},"modified":"2012-09-23T14:31:28","modified_gmt":"2012-09-23T21:31:28","slug":"family-history-research-trip-to-the-wadena-area-of-minnesota-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackenedroots.com\/blog\/family-history-research-trip-to-the-wadena-area-of-minnesota-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Family history research trip to the Wadena area of Minnesota, part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>My wife and I have just returned from a 10-day vacation to celebrate our 5th anniversary (hence the drought of posts of late). When we returned, I was greeted by a few responses to letters I sent out before our departure. One of these was from a relative I’ve longed to meet in person\u2014my half great-great uncle, Gordy Askew. Gordy has a wealth of knowledge (first-hand and otherwise) about the Askew branch of my family. After all, he’s the son of my great-great grandfather!<\/p>\n

I’ve wanted to visit Wadena and to talk with him for years, but over the years I’ve either been too busy or too poor to seriously contemplate a pilgrimage to Wadena. But the time has finally come, and I’m planning my trip. The trip will last a little over a week, and I’ll be going in about seven weeks\u2014in November, 2012. I thought I’d share some of the details of planning such a trip, for others who might themselves be interested in undertaking such a trip to ancestral haunts. To maximize the results of such a trip, some amount of forethought and planning is required. I’ll have one week there, and I want to make the most of it. <\/p>\n

So where to start? I suppose it’s best to start by dreaming big and then narrowing down the list until I’ve got something realistic and achievable. So here is my “blue sky” list of things I’d like to get done on this trip:<\/p>\n

Blue-sky goals for the trip<\/h2>\n