Step One: Genealogy Software

Computers don't live forever, unfortunately. So sometime back when my desktop computer bit the dust, I made the transition to a laptop computer. I like the portability but since it hasn't got a lot of memory or space, I've been slow to add programs to it. One that didn't get re-installed until very recently was my Family Tree Maker program. (After all, why would I install something I wasn't really using?)

After visiting with some of my Banegas cousins in May and getting re-bit by the genealogy bug, I came home and decided it was time. Instead of re-loading the software in my library which was a very old version, I opted to buy the newest Family Tree Maker. On the down side, it means I'm having to re-learn how to use it. But on the plus side, I'm sure it has been improved (at least I like to think so) and (hopefully) will do even more.

It came with a 14-day trial membership to Ancestry.com so I put in as much research time as I could during those two weeks, trying to find all I could. One new discovery, was finding my gr-grandfather Febronio in Albuquerque for the 1900 census. At the time of the enumeration he was at the Albuquerque Indian School. This explained the meaning of the initials "AIS" on a sports jersey he is wearing in the earliest photo we have of him. My grand aunt Susie had shared the photo with me, though she wasn't sure where the school was. I had wondered if it was American Indian School, though that didn't seem like it could be right. Anyway, mystery solved!

Febronio L. Banegas is in back row, 2nd from left