started December 2002 Wild Bill raised the interesting topic of How I Got Started In Genealogy.
Many very interesting replies from Newbians were received, and I include them on this page.  If you want to include your How I just send it to me at THIS LINK and I will add them to the page.
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I just read Margarets email about genealogy and thought it would be a good time to tell my side of the story and while we're all doing the same, how about telling your story.
I was about 11 years old and got to thinking about my grandparents and the rest of my aunts and uncles.  I only knew my Maternal grandma and was so young I can hardly remember her. Any how I wanted to find out about my family that came before me.  Well no one else was interested in it and I just got laughed at and made fun of by the rest of my family.  So I thought I would do it on my own.  I went to the court house and tried to find out about them, I more or less got laughed at there also or just kind of shoved out of their way.  Got interested in other things and forgot about it for years and then when I was about 40 one of my cousins gave me a list of my imigrant Grandpa that came here in 1631. Well I was too busy raising kids working, playing and all that stuff, so just let it slide.  Then after I retired I was approached in 1994 by my grandson that lived here in Alaska. who for a school project was supposed to trace his family tree.  Well that reminded me of the list that I had for years and I dug it out and gave him a copy for his school project.  And since I had just bought a new cpu I thought what the heck I'll see if I can find anything on the web. It would also give me something to do. Some how I discovered search engines and I knew that there had been a book published years ago with my family genealogy. So I did a search and found I could obtain a copy and that gave me about 12,000 names including about 5,000 with my surname. Anyhow I really got hooked by this hobby and my family has grown to 63,131 individuals, counting all the lines that married into the family. In fact it has gotten to where I can't keep up with the people who contact me through my WCP site on Rootsweb, I think I'm 300+ emails behind and keep getting more every day. I have documented my direct Paternal Ancestors back to 1631. I also have collected about a 1,000 census pages of heads of family and still haven't finished with all the census.  All this thanks to a 5th cousin 5 times removed, Julia Etta Lyman who died in 1871 and here is the tribute to her from the book that was published after her death

Forty years ago, and more, you might have seen in one ot the Lyman families of Connecticut, a very slight delicate girl, studious and accurate as a scholar, sedate, conscientious, fond of books, but not given to as abundant use of the tongue, as some of her sex are reported to be.  That fine, quiet, scholary girl, early formed a loving attachment ot the Lyman name. She never would change that name for any other.  Born in it , she lived and died in it.
  She early manifested talent for business: a mind clear, quick, accurate and retentive.   Fortunately for us, while yet a girl, she became interested in the Lyman genealogy.  That interest increased with the increase of years.  She felt, as well she might, that the Lyman, like many other families, were sustaining a great loss, by a criminal ignorance and neglect of their worthy ancestors.
   It is a noble work to help save a family name from an ignoble oblivion.
She engaged in it with Christian zeal and love, and persevered in it at the cost of time and money and perhaps of life itself.
   The chart of the Lyman family, so highly valued by us, is wholly the work of her hands.  None save he who has tried it, knows how much work, hard work, is requisite to prepare such a chart.  The sources of information for it are fourfold: 1st Ancient colonial and municipal records. 2d Old monuments and grave stones.  3d Old family and church records.  4th Old folks of sound memory and clear mind.  All these she consulted as extensively as her health and strength would permit, years and years ago.  Before many of us had ever been baptized into the Lyman name, she might have been seen collecting and correcting these materials, writing and visiting various places in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont; examining old saffron-colored records and parchments, rubbing off the ancient moss from old tombstones, that she might read the name and the date thereon, asking for the sacred old family record, and talking with the "old folks," about persons, that their childhood memories could recall.  All these facts, she would set down in their order, until she had collected the indisputable data, out of which, to construct this wonderful chart-wheel. Where we can all trace our own families as belonging to the branch of Richard Lyman, who came from High Ongar, to establish a name in America.

If you have read this far. I appologize if I have bored you to near death. When I started to write this had no idea it would be so long. I could write more but will stop here.
-- Wild Bill, North Pole, Alaska If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.



Dear Wild Bill.....what an incredible story, boring absolutely not, long, not long enough.  What a talent you have for writing, along with all the others you joy us with.  How bland our lives would be without you and your wisdom.

My story is simple and short.  I never knew my father as he an my mother divorced when I was very young.  All my life I wanted to meet him, establish the me from him.  But, I had no way (I thought) to find him, nor did I know if he wanted to meet me, as it seemed he never tried, and could have found me so easily since I was in touch with his cousin.  Anyhow, as time came for his aging cousin to be released from this earth, she gave me everything she had on my father.  She told me bits and pieces of what she knew as she had not been in touch with him much of his life after the divorce.  She also gave me pictures, letters, some records, newspaper clippings and a story of a "secret mission."  Along with the info of his days as a POW in a German luft/stalag in WWII.
I still didn't know if emotionally I was ready to seek the truth, as both of my parents were gone, my dear Auntie L (his cousin) was also gone, and being an only child, wow! do I want to find the story.

Last spring a dear friend was telling me about her family quest which was over 50 years, her family is pioneer family in CA.  The more she talked about the challenge, the enjoyment, the various places to seek info, the more interested I became.  The first place she told me to check out was Ancestry.com, wow! I was getting hooked.  Then she sent me some digest of Roots.com, oh boy, I am beginning to itch.  OK, now I am hooked! I have the fever! and I have never in my life found a better group of people, more help and absolute joy and frustration as well.  haha

I look forward to retiring this spring and really digging in.  I have some info on my father, not much unfortunately as his military records were burned in the St. Louis fire.  Still waiting for the FL death certificate, but I am going ahead with his military story and it will be part of a book a friend is writing about the 8th AF in WWII.

Thanks to everyone on the board for the best Christmas present ever, just being here, just being part of an incredible family, and to the special people like you Wild Bill, LGO, Elaine, Brian, Conniesue, Peg, Jo, and so many more I can't think of.    Happy holidays and biggest hugs ever    Pat

Arden & Pat Houser



How did I get started in genealogy?  I grew up knowing my maternal line back to 1632 but didn't have any 'flesh' on it and knew next to nothing on my paternal line.  With the advent of computers, research has become easier as so many wonderful persons are putting information online.  It was time to put the 'flesh' on the established maternal tree and discover my paternal tree.  I had now found my nitch in genealogy (computers) and away I went!

I believe the reason we knew so much about our maternal line was because my grandfather and siblings had been placed in an orphanage in 1902 and it had been a lifelong search for my mother's family to locate and welcome back all the siblings into a family which numbered 13 children.  The last sibling was finally located in the mid 1960's.  My Aunt is the sole surviving member of her generation and often calls me for updates on the 'flesh' of the family tree reminding me that her clock is ticking and she wants to know as much as possible before she, too, has the final date added to her lifeline.

In this past year I have discovered much on my paternal line - thanks so much for all the hints, tips and resources posted to Gen-newbie - and thanks to whom ever nominated me for the Sandy Myers Memorial Award!  We all learn by sharing and that is what this list is all about.

Happy Holidays!
Shari



How did I start this mad fascination with genealogy Im not sure.I wanted to know more about my family and the ????? i had held in my mind since my great grandmother (my mothers gran and whom i still to this day remember with great love and affection)  passed away , my maternal grandfather whom passed over when I was only 12 leaving me devastated, my dads side of the family whom I knew little of also, you see I didn't know that my mother had a mother until I was 10 yrs old and my great grandmother died, my grandmother turned up for the funeral, my grandfather refused to attend because she would be there MYSTERY BEGINS  for me ??????????? I want to ask but don't I was brought upto be polite and not ask ?? of a personal nature although I did ask my great aunt who this woman was that I didn't know, she looked at me and told me she was my mums mum, mmmmmmmmm ????? more churning in my mind.
Why hadn't I known about the existence of my maternal grandmother or my paternal grandfather until I was 14 yrs old when he re married my grandmother at the age of about 68, family skelingtons as they were called were common here I thought why all the secrecy.
At the age of about 38 I decided I was going to try to answer all these questions not only for myself but also for my elder sister who being as inquisitive or just as plain nosey as myself wanted answers to.
So started my journey it has taken me 4 yrs to even find my Packham and Clarke families and the same for my UINGS and MILES family I have met wonderful people from the UK and America who have given me advice and helped in my searches over the past 2 yrs since joining the mailing lists.
One thing for sure all my searching has been double and triple checked before going into my file which I will copy by 5 and hand to my children to carry on the tradition hopefully.
2 More copies will be made  one for my mother and her ancestors and one for my father and his especially since he tried yrs ago to trace his ancestors with no luck.
Yes I have delved the skellingtons out but what interesting ones they have been, yes I understand how my ancestors must have struggled with day to day life and dealt with the tragedy of sometimes losing to many babies but in all I have travelled a long way through time with a long way still to go and I know the journey will be a fantastic one.
Sue


Hello. I thought I'd write and introduce myself and reply to the question as to how I got started in genealogy. First, my name is Pat Cavender and I live in Orlando FL near my son and his family.  I am on disability due to diabetes so I'm able to help my son out with taking his daughter to school, babysitting and of course, now searching for our family roots.
Jimmy (my son) asked me a few weeks ago to help him search out the members of our family tree. He recently lost his father (we were divorced) and has been
thinking quite a bit about his heritage.  After watching a program on television, he decided to start exploring.  Of course, I can work on this during the week while he is at his job.  So far, we've gotten a pretty good start and I am getting more excited about this by the day. It's fun and frustrating, but I find that I'm enjoying it very much.
I'd like to wish everyone Happy Holidays and hope to get to know everyone soon. <g>
Pat


I've been reading everyone's pattern of how they made their decision to search for ancestors and found all of this so very interesting.

I thought back regarding exactly *where I began* researching our family.  I suppose I was raised with this search because my mother had 6 siblings, and I knew all but one;  my father had 7 siblings and I knew them all.  The other reason the past came up so often between my folk's families was because two of my mother's brothers married two of my dad's sisters, so I have four double cousins.

Tieton, Washington - located a bit NW of Yakima, Washington, is a community steeped in fruit orchard farmers. Both the Allen and Schaerer families had their own orchards, hayfields, and cattle.  Eventually, the Irish Allens stayed in the orchard business and the Swiss Schaerer's elected dairy farming.  The Schaerer dairy was one of Carnation's main creamery dairies for probably 30 years in the Yakima area.

In the 1920s while going to Catholic boarding school in Vancouver, WA, mom trained as a nurse.  Her mother had died of gangrene poisoning about the time her dad was back in Iowa attending his mother's funeral. Within a couple years, my mom and her younger sister had been placed in the boarding school as no one in the family could afford to keep them at home.  And, her father was too busy farming and gambling to finish raising his two youngest daughters alone.

To no avail, my mom also became a poet and a writer.  She documented everything about both family's heritage.  She kept the birth dates of everyone's children and records of major illnesses.  The historical migration events in her father's family were profound and fascinating.

And at some point I started my own family record by copying from hers. I think I was about 12.  Eventually, I found myself inquiring after her father's brothers and sisters and reading old letters belonging to other members of the family that they gave me to read.  These letters were hoarded carefully by my aunts and cherished closely by all family members. They didn't have money in those days to spend on telephone calls across the country to Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, California and other
states where the family became spread out to and yet contact was never broken.  Truly amazing.

Then in the late 1960s after mom nearly died of pancreatitus, I decided it was time to take the lead in the family research and try to find the roots of her mother.  I have found certainly that her mother was born in Michigan, in the Wayne County area in 1868.  I already knew many things, but have yet to find my mother's grandfather anywhere.  The 1880 census lists my grandmother appropriately at the age of 12 years and my g-grandmother is listed as <Widowed> which goes along with the stories through the generations of family say-so over many campfires, picnics, dinners, desserts, coffee and pinochle games.  But in no census is g-grandfather Halloran (or O'Halloran) found.  Also, there is no apparent birth 'record' of my maternal grandmother - or any death record of my maternal g-grandfather.  I only know he was "accidentally killed".  My mother never heard how that happened.

So I continue to search even though I know the search was fruitless for my beloved mother as well.  It seems as time passes, some of the trails
are colder now.

Still, I look to the future, as I'm sure the best is yet to come in this search.
Merry Christmas and a warm and peaceful Next Year to all. You're a wonderful group of people who give so very much to so many.
Thanks many times over for all the knowledge you share.
Lindakay



In  early 1998.. The Mayo Clinic diagnosed my illness as a form of  Encephalitis ( I assumed mesquito but I will never really know)  ...my recovery took 4 months off the job so it gave me time to explore the Internet and do some Genealogy research during my recovery.

Ive  been collecting  vintage photos since the mid 1960s  ..have about 15,000 in my private collection .. many families .. many individuals .. a few occupational ..all types ,ages and sizes of photos from the 1850s to the 1940s ..totally obsessive compulsive behavior ..and  I love it !

During my recuperation I was working with my photos and found a 1902 image with a woman & baby .. on the back was written the name of both,the woman &
baby  birthdate  & place of birth of the baby .    I went on line to see if I could track down the Baby ,,, 1902 minus  1998 baby now is 96 hmmmm maybe still alive  ... went to yahoo.com  did a people search in the state/town  written on the back of the photo .. there was several .. process of elimination by phone put me in
contact  with  the Babys Son .. the baby boy .. sadly had passed on in 1997.
The thrill of this connection ..Plus the reunion of the photo with the son .. who had no idea that this  photo of his grandmother and father existed  ... was tremendous!  ... from that point on I was off on another Obsessive Compulsive Track ...  DeadFred.com  .. which I love even more

Hopefully one of these days someone will post a photo of my ancestry .. and then ,, my OC will head me down another street ,, ( but never far from DeadFred)

Have a Very Merry Happy Christmas Newbies
Joe Bott



  Hi list ,  Well now , As I sit by my PC this morning , having been to work and got home at 10am , I have time to write my story < G > ,
 Many years ago I listened to my Mother tell about our relations , She was convinced we were descendants of  John Frank Stevens , ( engineer on the Panama Canal and friends of JohnHill , ) ,  So about 20 years ago I decided to find out if this was correct ,  The short story is ; NOT , I found a book in the Seattle Library that had a short Bio on Mr Stevens ,  Which listed his Children ,  My father was not on it !,  I sortof casually mentioned this to Darlene ( the Librarian in charge of Genealogy ) , She suggested that I check the Ancestral File at the Mormon Church , But I of course said Huh , I had never heard of them  Where upon she handed me the list of addresses for the 8 FHC in the Seattle area , I then went to the one closest to my home ,  I typed in Joseph Stevens ,  And Out popped my Family Tree  ,  My Father as a small child , his parents and the Grandparents / greatgrandparents ..... ,  Seems as if I had a Aunt over in  Utah that married into the family ,  She did her required ' work ' of 4 generations using the Lenox Family Bible ,  I have since Verified Every Entry , I have acquired Birth and or Death records for
All of those listed ,  EXCEPT For the grievous Error she made at the 4th Gen. ,  Her choice of persons for Our GG-grandparents was not Correct ,  I have Data that proves IT ,
  Anyway , It has been an exciting time , these past years ,  I have been very lucky , Finding some / most of the Family in Published Works ,  I have written many letters , I get a few replies , Another record to add to the pile .  I  have acquired Cousins beyond the pale ,  People from all corners of this planet ,  Grave sites in the Wilds of Idaho ,  My grandparents graves in Montana , The Homestead in the Montana mountains ,  Pictures of my Mothers family from the 1900s , Pictures of my Fathers family from wayback in 1880s  ,  I know who I am , Where I come from , I am satisfied with my life .
  Mostly I am very lucky , Living in the Great Pacific North West , with the National Archives in my back yard , My choice of FHC `s ,  Three Major
Libraries   , What more can you want ,  Only my G- great grandmother ,Somewhere in New York State < G > ,
Phil


From birth on whenever I went anywhere with just my sister, mother and myself someone would ask who I was and was my mother babysitting me.  I have black hair and darker skin like my father.  So, there was always a curiosity there.  My father always said all his side of the family was dead.
Also there was a medical problem, I had to have open heart surgery when I was 18.  So, always wondered where I got that from, knew my Grandmother on my mom's side had a bad heart but that was all.
So, after years of research I located relatives on my dad's side and walked into a family reunion and cried-there were 3 distant cousins that looked just like my father and they even remembered my great-grandmother.
On both sides I found that there were many, many blue babies born and died in infancy so that answered my medical question, I got the double whammy.
bJ


 Can't give up a chance to expound on where I got started. It was for my Mother. Her parents divorced when she was 5, her Mother left her with her
Grandmother. My mother was never given the chance to see any of her father's side of the family again, and he was forbidden to see her. Yet her own Mother
just forgot about her, remarried, had another daughter, and treated my Mother like a niece. We to this day are asked not to call that grandmother
"Grandmother". So, like any self respecting young woman, I set out to find "dirt".  What I found was my Mother's people were kind and decent, still
remembered in the little town on the Ohio River, even 80 years after their deaths. Children now in their 70s, still remembered how the grandfather took
them fishing and how the grandmother made the best biscuits, had been a church member for 50 years (and can you believe they don't have one picture
of this woman!!!!????). My Mother's father though was a different story. He was our Blacksheep, and I see, though not the whole story, as to why they
divorced. But Oh, what a fascinating man. A man who started working on the river in the locks and dams, then went on to have his own Mortuary Business
(he even did the funerals of both his grandfather's, is that weird or what? Was to me anyway). Then walked away from the business, just walked away, and
from a wife and daughter (not my mother) married my Grandmother, joined the Merchant Marines. Divorced from my grandmother a few years later and was not
heard from again until I found he died in a Mission in Virginia.
Course there is more, so much more. The half sister of my mother I found to late, her wonderful husband, who if not for her memories stored inside his
heart, would I have ever found the final end of my grandfather. How could you not get addicted to this?
Debra Leonard


As a child, I wasn't the least interested in grownup talk, so heard very little about relatives.  My dad was in the Navy so we didn't live near any until we came to California during WW2 and I met my mother's sister (the one I was named for) but by that time I was approaching high school age and as most teen agers was much more interested in "my life." Like so many others I was then caught up with job and family so it wasn't until late in life that I started wondering about my grandparents. As I was growing up the only grandparent I had was my mother's father.  He lived with us for a while in Philadelphia after my mother started working again. But he was a drinker and my mother couldn't trust him with grocery money.  This was during that later part of the depression and every dollar counted, I learned later that he had alienated every one of his daughters one by one. I also learned that he hadn't been such a great shakes as a father even when they were small.
I started asking my mother questions and got a few answers, but couldn't get anyone else interested so time again marched on. I picked up a paperback book
sometime during the seventies and even subscribed to a genealogy magazine but my husband was not the least interested so it got dropped again. After my
husband died, I was cleaning out old papers and found my little paper back book and the magazines and this time decided to really pursue the subject. Of course by this time, it was too late, for family interviews.  You know the old saying, "Ask the oldest member of the family," it dawned on my then, that I was the oldest member of the family. Dad and Mother and both Aunts were gone. My siblings were younger and so were the only two cousins that I knew.
I had names and the fact that Mom was born in Massachusetts and Dad in Pennsylvania. Her Dad from Rhode Island and Dad's parents from Europe. I did know that he was a Slovak, this because any time someone called him a Polack he would always correct them. The rest as they say is history, I started looking and since this was pre computer age for me, I did it the snail mail way. I have gotten to the water's edge but I think my families, both of them, were Olympic swimmers. I had more luck with my nieces and nephews families, so now I am hooked. My only limitations are monetary. Plenty of time and interest but have to take it slow gathering documents because of budget. But at least, I have made notes for any one else in the family to follow if my time runs out. I have a niece on one side of the family and a nephew on the other that are interested but since they are young with jobs and families haven't the time but I feel that when they are older my research will be
useful to them.
As you can tell from the length of this, I am alone today with just the animals and my computer. Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year. Sandy


My dad was an orphan and back in1964 he began to search his family, at the time I was in Alaska raising a family and really didn't pay much attention, in 1982 I moved to Nebraska and my Dad was so happy and anxious for me to see his family history, 6 months later he suddenly died and the wicked step daughter threw all his personal papers away and absconded with every thing she could get her hands on.  I was heart sick, but still had children to raise and was going to college myself. Then in 2000 I retired, bought a computer and began the hunt for my Dads family as well as my mothers side, I felt I owed Dad a great debt for not being interested. I have a lot of information now but it still hurts that I never sat down with the older members of the family and asked for their stories, I have sent copies to so many people that surely no one will be able to erase it again. A HAPPY NEW YEAR  to all the great folks on the list and for all the help you so freely give. Nancy in Fl


I got started in my mind when I was about 10 to 12. Until that time my mother hadn't mentioned having a family or anything about her childhood. I remember waking up one summer morning and she started talking about her childhood. She said that she was born in St. Louis, MO, that her father was a doctor and that her mother was a full blooded Cherokee Indian.
She said that she was sent to a Catholic boarding school because her mother died when she was very young. Each day mother would add more stories about her childhood. She was always very careful to not mention names when we started asking questions. She went to CA when she was still young and met my dad. We moved to AL when I was about 7 to be near my dad's family. Until that time I didn't think about relative because I hadn't met any. Mother open up a Pandora's box that couldn't be closed. I always questioned things even before the move from CA. When I started to school I told my teacher I was adopted and until I was an adult I believed this was a possibility.
Out of respect to my mother, I waited to do genealogy until she died in 1998. At that time I got a computer and have been doing my search every since. I still have my mother Daisy Nadine HARDIN(G), HARDEN, HARDY as my number one brick wall but have been able to go way back in my KENNEDY family and my
husband's WITTE, CHAFIN, PROCHNOW, SEITER families.
Mother could not produce a birth certificate, school record, church record, marriage license or any other record. The only thing that I have of her early life are two pictures. One is of her as a child that has "Daisy at 12 months St. Joseph" and the other is of Mother at about age 10 to 12 with an older woman (possibly her grandmother) and a young boy close to her in age with the annotation on back "Mothers". I have followed many leads but still have nothing that I can feel good about.
Karolyn Witte


As a new - newbie, I got my start this past summer. I'd moved from Dayton, OH where we lived for 10 years to the Akron/Canton area of OH. I'm closer to my Mother who kept asking me about relatives - or sparking an old interest. At about age 4 or 5 when just beginning to understand relationships and how people were related to me, I remember asking her to the point of bothering her, how someone was related and why was someone once or twice removed. I really thought removed meant they were no longer part of the family, but didn't quite get it. So, this, for me, was a dormant issue until now. My Mother was adopted, yet kept in contact with her birth parents. Her adoptive Mother even drove to PA to attend my Mom's Grandmother's funeral, when Mom was about 16. We each shared an interest in who her birth family really was. I've always had an interest in health issues of ancestry and knew what to report to doctors history wise, going off of a 9 year old's memory as my parents started the divorce process at this time and lost custody of myself and brother and sister. Knowing all of this, I never underestimate what a child is learning about their family and relationships, at a very young age. I just thought that this was the perfect timing to get started on research while my children are preschool aged and play well  with each other - before I'm trecking to all sorts of school functions they may get involved in. In just a few months time, I've met many new relatives that adds to the addiction of wanting to find more.
-JO (Jeanne in OH)


At age 16 my father died, and then at 18 I lost my mother.  I put myself through college and went to work.  Starting at age 30 until I was 35 I lost all my brothers and sisters.  At this point I realized I was all alone in the world except for the man I married who eventually died when I was 44.  I guess I was scared and thought by tracing my family I would have someone left.  In all the years (nearly 30) that I have been tracing my father's name I have only heard from one relative and that was quiet recently from my postings to world connect.  I only know of two cousins...one i met online and the other I have known all my life and she recently died as well.  Guess this is an early dying family.


You know I really do not know how I got started. One day I turned on the computer, which I NEVER used, and typed in my grandfather's name for the heck of it to see what I could come up with. I found all of these genealogy sites and started reading about peoples ancestry and it was very interesting to me..The next thing you know..here I am  (smile)..

My cousin started doing our family genealogy back in the 70's and really never got anywhere so she stopped.  I remember a lot of things my grandmother used to tell us about her family, but you know in my research I am finding that she did not remember a lot of things correclty. For instance she always told us that her mother died when she was 13 and she was sent to live in a Convent with the nuns..well...her mother did not die until she was married and at the age of 23...she could have very well lived in a Convent for a while, but I have not found out where yet (smile)..

My cousin did get the opportunity to do a lot of interviewing. Sadly my grandmother passed away years before I started my research. When I started, my cousin gave me all of the correspondences she had..which may not contain very much genealogical information, but they are a treasure to me all the same.

I got my entire family in on this family research. and I have a huge family..tons and tons of cousins, aunts, uncles etc. If anything it has brought us all together gain..We were all very close growing up but drifted apart as we got older and had families of our own, moved away etc. Now we all keep in touch via email. I also have had the opportunity to "email meet" many distant cousins that we never knew existed..Mostly on my grandmothers side..and I can just see my grandmother now..looking down at us smiling because we have all come together. Family was always very important to my grandmother.
Helene



 my mother , her brother & and sister had been researching there side ( cockrell, turnage, applewhite, hazlewood)since late 60s  mama had hit rickwall with the Hardins  i ecided to see what i could find on internet so i put my grandfathers name in  my suprise he had 2 daddys well i knew his father name was eli supris
 rite wife & kids wron daddy wrong place of death to make thing worse  someone wrot bookand put te incorrect info in this would have been easy  to chek out
 then when you get to eli's father Dr jonthan hardin and his brother  ezekiel henderson hardin you come up with fathers so just because you find it on the net don't beleive it
 i thank my grnd mother who died in 1986 at 102 every day for taking me to all those homecoming and showing me where ech grave was on her side and my granddaddys
 BBarkes


I'm throughly enjoying reading how everyone got started.  My search started   pretty much the same way as everyone else - a desire to know about my  ancestors.

  My grandfather left his family when my father was just 18 months old.  We   never heard from him or that side of the family again.  The family was split   up and my father placed in an orphanage.  My father always wondered about his   father - who he was, why he left, what his family was like.  So I started   researching in the hopes of finding my long-lost grandfather.  I really   wanted to give my father the gift of knowing about his dad.  It's been 13   years now and I've managed to trace that line back to the late 1700s in   Ireland.  I know why my grandfather left and why the family was split up.
  But I never did find out what happened to my grandfather.  Sadly, my father   died not knowing his Cassidy relatives or where his father was buried.  But   he did know the truth - that his father loved him very much and the breakup   of the family was not his fault.

  I keep having this dream where my father comes to talk to me about his father   and keeps repeating the date, 'June 1927.'  Wonder what it all means?

  Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year!  May the season   bring you all love and peace.

  All my best,
  Tracy - who wants a hippopotamus for Christmas!



I am not a new genealogist, but always learning and wanted to put my two cents in on this subject.
 I started on this about 1955 as the result of a school project.  We were to write an autobiography of our life and the first chapter was our ancestry.
I  still had 3 grandparents living at the time and started asking questions.
 Probably the most influential reason was that I had a German side and there were two German (Roosian) families in town and both had girls in my class
and  I was so envious of them being able to speak another language.  My grandfather only knew a few words.  (Explanation of Roosian-we spelled it Russian, but with a long o sound.  They were what is known as Volga Germans - people who had come at the invitation of Catherine the Great of Russia many years ago to settle in the Volga area of Russia and from there came on to the States. They had maintained their own language and customs.)

 Anyway my German grandfather didn't know much about his background as his grandmother had died on the boat on the way over and his mother died when
he was a child.  My great-grandfather and his brother had left the main part of the family in Illinois and settled in western Kansas so not much talk about the old country was heard.  But on the other side of the family, a bachelor in Illinois had been working on his family in southern Illinois and was writing to both my grandmother and her brother about what he was finding out about their family.  He wrote 30 and 40 pages letters on the old writing sheets (tablets about 5 by 7).  They gave me those letters, but had destroyed so many more.  I inherited them, but now find my mother has also destroyed some of them as she thought the names didn't pertain to us, but the deeper I get into the research the more I need those letters written in the 1940s and 1950s.

 I spent the next 5 years writing to every cousin my grandparents had an address for plus others and they were so generous to me to send copies of Bible pages, lists of vital records, pictures.  This was during my high school days.  I worked on it all the time, but you know snail mail is slow and I was able to keep up.  Went away to college at the University of Kansas and when I had a few minutes I went through their library holdings.  I also traveled to a couple of libraries in the vicinity hunting more information.
 My main love has always been history and I love doing crossword puzzles and thus this is the best of both worlds.

 After graduating from college, I married and had 4 children in 3 years. Little time left for the hobby, but after they slept at night I continued my snail mail research.  Moved to suburb of Chicago and thus the Newberry Library.  My husband would watch the children on Saturday mornings and off I would go.  Also at that time I contacted a lady doing fantastic research in Monroe Co OH (Mrs. Catharine Fedorchak) who lived in Indiana and a few Saturday mornings I visited with her.  She is today the main authority of  Monroe Co. OH, although deceased many years.

 Next chapter was I had to get a job in order to support the hobby as all the basic research ways were running out and I needed copies, etc. The rest is history for me as the work took away my only time to do research so for 20 years I have only worked a little here and there, but my mother who was not interested at first, took up the charge and kept all the data up as it was coming to my home address.  This plus she lived in the town where all the ancestors had homesteaded.  Thus she now got the letters, the phone calls and I did a little, but not much as too busy working and raising children.  I gave her all my boxes of notes and she organized them for me.

 Four years ago I quit both jobs and am now doing full-time what I always loved.  The Internet is the most wonderful thing to happen to us.  The cousins and wonderful people I have met is fantastic.  Mom read all her organization to me and I have all four sides typed into my computer now  (after 3 years of vacations to Kansas to sit and type every free minute),
 only problem is Mom never thought about putting down where I got the information so am now going back through all my notes and sourcing my data.

 All 5 children are raised.  I am retired and now have the time and resources to buy the books, travel tot he court houses, libraries and conferences.
I am having the time of my life.  Started locally, but have branched out to Salt Lake City, Fort Wayne, Indiana and just this past year 4 trips to DC.
I am lucky though as my husband's company has business around the world and I go with as always a relative or someone I need to hunt where he is
visiting  (or at least within a few hours driving distance).  In 1998 I took a daughter who spoke fluent German with me for 2 weeks in Germany visiting the small
 churches.  I had been there in 1982 a little bit and again in 1998, but her language skills opened all doors I needed.  Now she has two little kids and won't be able to do it again, but sure wish I could get her for one more trip for my new clues.

 Long story, but it was all the result of my school project and what is most interesting is that today I have so many of the younger cousins calling and saying can you help me as I need my family history for a project.
Greatest obsession there is and how those kids are learning so much more about who they are and about where they are in history and then the history of our
 great country and of the world takes on a life of its own.  Better than chasing golf balls around I think.  I do excretes every morning so not just a drone, but the search is so much fun.  The data entering is not so fun, but necessary.

 Merry Christmas to all.  My family was all here and I have to get back to them before they head off to Florida and other parts of the country.  I still live in Chicago area and we awoke Christmas morning to about 4 inches of  snow.  Perfect.

 Jerilyn



I started in genealogy about seven years ago. My father had always told me that we were Irish, Indian and Scottish. So I started wondering how we were Indian? He said we were descended from the Cherokee and Creek Indians (which are prevalent in the area where he and his family grew up). I started checking ( and still am) but as of yet have not found a connection to the Native American side. I have found that one branch does go back to Ireland, and one to Scotland and my surname, FINCHER, goes back to England (the Stratford-on-Avon area).I enjoy genealogy and family history and I enjoy this list and all the people on it. May each of you have a wonderful and very Merry Christmas!!
--
Jabe Fincher


It all started in 1972 for a family reunion.  I was never really aware of it but my sister and a cousin (both deceased ) were interviewing the family members and had them list all of their children with husbands names and dates of birth and place of birth.  She compiled the lists and also wrote a short history, as we knew it, of my grandfather, the "tap root".  He was very much anonymous at the time to us all since none of us grew up with the benefit of grandparents on either side.  All the information we had was "educated" guesses.  My sister was an excellent writer so the story was well told.  Twenty-seen years later, I got my computer.  I am a "digger" by nature so I went to work on Sebastiano (grandfather).  As time went on I was able to dig up bits and pieces about him and his friends as well.  The
Italians, I have found, are very close knit and emigrated to this country not as a group but as people who re-connected here in the USA and lived in the same neighborhood on the same street.  My mother married the boy next door.
Today, I have so much info and I only wish my sister, who started this, was here to read about it.  I still need some more info and I hope his naturalization papers will prove worth while when they arrive.  It can be expensive getting information from Italy and all my searching must be done there.
Grandpa this is truly a labor of love and I wish I had known you for not having done so leaves a hole in my heart.
Marie Scotto


I didn't take time to read all of reasons folks gave as the reason they got interested in genealogy. I did note, however, that one recurring theme is the attempt to track down a family tradition.

Most of us have learned - or soon will - that what we are told by our grandparents or parents quite often turns out to be wrong. Some recent comments reminded me of several messages I posted as the "editor" summarizing discussions following an on-line class for beginners in 1995. I thought they might have some relevance for "newbies." Below, then, are in the next two messages are three messages from the archives of the soc.genealogy.methods NewsGroup.

Richard A. Pence

                                 * * *

I am descended from someone famous. I know this because Ed Chapman is diligent about giving us the statistics to prove that, somewhere, somehow,
we all eventually HAVE to be.

In my case, however, that "famous" person remains to be discovered!

My 30 years of researching family history makes me long for the reference work David M. Jones asked about in his bibliography: "Does anyone know of an encyclopedia of dirt farmers?"

That, for most of us, would be the perfect reference. Mine is the 6th generation of the PENCE family to be born in America. It is also the first generation that was not primarily, if not entirely, made up of farmers. And, if what is happening to my cousins who still farm but are nearing retirement, is indicative, my generation will also be the last which has any appreciable number of "dirt farmers." In that regard, this family, probably like those you are researching, reflective of progress"
in our nation.

The job description  for "editor" for these first "on-line classes" is rather nebulous. However, as I understand it, my job is to round-up the responses, glean from them the wise and the witty, and add my own sage comments. While the sagacity of the latter is open to question, this is what I will try to do. And, as any "editor" is wont to do, I may "editorialize" a bit.

First, some general observations. Karen's class had as one of its objectives to impart one of the basic lessons of genealogy: You should start with yourself, your parents, your grandparents and work backward from that. Trying to work "forward" from some known person is usually a fruitless endeavor and, while, it might give you a lot of information about people with the same names you are looking for, it won't find you many ancestors.

Be that as it may, from my casual first-time exposure with the messages on this topic, it appears that there are a good many people who have become involved in genealogy because they had been told of an association with a famous person.

That's the second lesson: Learn to treat family traditions with a certain amount of healthy skepticism. While doing so, try to put your mode of thinking toward an understanding of how that particular tradition may have come into being. Is the name the same? Did your ancestors live near that "famous" person? Was there another reason, and what might it be? And, while doing this analysis, remember always the human urge to be associated with the "rich and famous."

Finally, it appears to me from the messages in this thread and from observations in the electronic media over the past several years that the three most popular families that people have an association with are the LEEs, the BOONEs and the JAMESes. Three families with names that abound in this country.

The LEEs bear a name that is ubiquitous and are the "aristocrats" our ancestors all were at one time in our nation's history, or so we believe. They also are the family about which as much has been written as any American family (and, unfortunately, about which much inaccurate information has been written!).

The BOONEs are the pioneers whose trails were in common with many of our own ancestors and whose frontier existence makes  finding documentation all but
impossible.

And the JAMESes - they appeal to the "Robin Hood" in all of us; their literature is full of the romantic good deeds done for the little folk. As a consequence, hardly a Missouri family exists that doesn't have a hand-me-down story about what Frank or Jesse did when they met up with great grandfather so-and-so (remarkably, these details are often the same for disparate families!).

These families - and many others - are representative of what one of your great grandmothers or great grandfathers _wanted_ to be, so it is not a stretch to suppose that he or she slipped into thinking it was likely so. Maybe not in that generation, but no doubt in earlier, better times!

At the beginning, I briefly mentioned that there are many reasons why folks get engrossed in genealogy - and many apparently are with us because they are looking for that "rich or famous" relative that grandpa told them about.

Dale O'Connor put it best when he wrote: "The fascination is in the pursuit -- in the detective story."

That is certainly true for those who are searching the romantic. But it is also true for those who just plod along behind the plow horses of our dirt-farmer ancestors.

David M. Jones wrote that he began by looking for an elusive relationship to the famed "Johnny Appleseed." He'd been told by older relatives about it, but none knew what the relationship was.

The outcome:

 Well, I decided if anyone could figure it out it was me.  Two years later, I'm sorry to admit I was a tad overconfident.

And some advice:

 My advice? Do your research from the present back and thrill in who might crop up. I'm just thankful Johnny Appleseed wasn't related to the Joneses!

Diana H. Bailey did just that:

 Well, when I started doing this crazy game, back in 1983, we started with my husband's family (my in-laws and I), as my parents were both born in England and I thought it would be too difficult and expensive to start there. Husband's family had been in Canada for generations, and rumour had it that the Baileys had come from VT (proved to be true). Along the way we discovered he is descended from a witch (Susanna Martin of Essex Co., MA), a poet (Anne Bradstreet) and two Governors of MA, Thomas Dudley and Simon Bradstreet. Also found a couple of relatives that weren't so illustrious (a distant cousin was one of the few men hung for murder in VT in the' 1800s).

See what interesting things turn up - more fun to find those than it is tolook in vain for a relationship that may not exist.

When Diane got to her side of the family, there were many "possibles" to be checked. Some worked out some did not. Her conclusion:

  So family myths are there to check out! You'll probably find a grain of truth somewhere, and may just find some famous ancestors in the bargain.

Finally, there's the message from Debi Beitler:

 I received a copy of an article printed in a small newspaper in Kentucky. This article stated the name Cornett was changed from Canaute in the late 1700's. This family is descended of the famous King Canute. I thought what a great line. Since I had never heard of this King Canaute, it sounded plausible to me :). After reading just a little, I realized the reason why they could make this claim. This King was from the 1000's. Since there are very little records from the time and the earliest Cornett's are documented in the 1700's, there was only 700 years that was missing.
 [!!] No one can say for sure that the Cornett family didn't  begin with King Canaute; on the other hand, I doubt if it ? will ever be proven. But I guess for some it's not bad to believe that you are descendant from a King no matter how far back you have to look. For me, I will just keep slowly searching backwards.

Sound advice. To which I will add this: Be wary of what you read in old (or even newer) newspaper clippings. My own grandfather's obituary states flatly that he was a descendant of a Revolutionary War veteran named John Pence.
Unfortunately, John was not born until 1774 (at that, he's just one of a number of military prodigies in the PENCE family; another was already a lieutenant in command of a company when he reached the age of 4!)

Like the biographical portraits in old county histories, many newspaper articles (especially obituaries) are designed to present the subject in the most favorable light possible. Hence, the noble ancestors and a long list of accomplishments. But, as Diana said, there may be a grain of truth. John Pence may not have been a Revolutionary soldier - but his father (Henry) was!

Part 2

Today I want to call your attention to some of the messages in this series on association with famous people. And, perhaps, provide a "heads-up" on
this topic.

Hayden Griffin wrote:
 

 The anecdote in my family, brought forward by a now deceased aunt, is that my gg-grandmother Fannie Hudson (m. Amaziah  Fogleman c. 1830) was a
descendant of Henry Hudson. A MELVYL search on "Hudson" revealed only one apparently good  source on Henry Hudson, an 1860's manuscript which,
luckily,  my library has. It turns out that, at that time, very little was  known about Henry's ancestors OR descendants. I've been through the book once and will go through it at least once more.

Rita Mackin Fox wrote:
 I have heard stories about a descendancy back to Henry  HUDSON (supposed through his "granddaughter" Susannah  Hudson). Haven't checked it out -
mainly because lots of other  researchers who've heard the rumor are checking on it and I'd rather spend my time on more sure bets. <grin>

And M. Lark wrote:
 

 My family on my paternal grandmother's side has kept extensive genealogical records over the years. I went to a  family reunion in North Carolina about 15 years ago and saw our  'family tree' laid out over about 10 six-foot tables. And there I  was, a little dot in the vast sea of names, dates, marriages and  lists of offspring. Needless to say, I was so intimidated and  fascinated that I allowed myself to be laden down with pages  upon pages of family history and photocopied documents. These I took back home to Oregon and promptly stuffed them in a box in  the closet and forgot them. I didn't forget the rumors that we  were descended from
Sir Francis Drake ('There's Drakes in the  family,' someone said at the reunion).

Without disputing any of the above possibilities, you should be aware that yesterday's "Bath, Ohio" scam was much more subtle (and much more of a scam)
than today's.

Earlier in the 1900s scam artists played on a newly aroused interest in ancestry, the ever-present desire for riches and an American population which was only beginning to have vestiges of disposable income.

The scam was simple. Pick a famous person = (Sir Francis Drake, Henry Hudson, Sir Walter Raleigh - preferably one who died without progeny, but one who could naturally have been expected to have gained great wealth through his adventures. Then start sending letters to anyone who might have something in common with that person: the name, a place - almost anything.
The letters were an appeal for money: "A vast fortune is gathering interest in a London bank awaiting its rightful heirs - and we believe you might be one of them! Unfortunately, establishing this claim is expensive...."

The letter would recount efforts that had been made to establish the claim, how the bankers (who had the use of this money!) were fighting the claim and declare that victory is almost within sight! "All we need is enough money for a final court case."

Thousands of attics no doubt have such letters and thousands of folks have been told about them. There it is on a piece of paper: We are descendant from this very rich and famous person! A "New York law firm" said so!

And the beauty of this scam is that the more someone tried to convince Aunt Matilda she was being bilked, the more convinced she became that there was a
conspiracy to cheat her out of her rightful inheritance!

I make no claims as to whether any of the above-named adventurers had this scam centered on his name - but I think at least one of them did. Drake is
the one who comes to mind. But I never could keep my explorers straight in history class!

Part 3

During Karen's class on "So You Are Related to Someone Famous," a number of messages alluded to the "grain of truth" in family legends.

An example:

Larry Hutchinson wrote:
 How timely! This Christmas I first heard the news that I am  related to Betsy Ross. Right. She is two, maybe three,  generations further back than I can yet trace on the Ross line.  But she's famous, so I assume somebody has done some  research on her descendants and published it somewhere.
 

 Internet to the rescue. In about two days I was flooded with  messages telling me Betsy had no Ross children! I didn't feel  like a dope, because I had been suitably dubious to begin with.  Besides, Betsy's husband John Ross had an uncle named George Ross. George was a signer of the Declaration of Independence,  and still famous enough to be related to.
Great. And if this Ross  guy I spoke to at Christmas said I was RELATED TO, not  DESCENDED FROM, Betsy Ross, he was right in a sense.

"Related to" and "descended from" are an important distinction! And that difference can serve to be the stepping stone for today's review.

Remember playing that game where someone is given a statement of "fact," silently reads it and then whispers the statement to the next person, and on around the room? What comes out at the end may include only one or two words of the original and may express a thought totally different from the original.

Oral history suffers from the same communications problem. Not only may the person imparting the "fact" fail to accurately state it, the person listening probably didn't accurately absorb it. A basic tenet of communications theory is that we hear what we want to hear, not what is said to us. After a couple or three generations, a story may be quite different from what it originally was.

Here are some "transformations" I have learned to watch for:

 * Generation skip: As with the obituary of my grandfather, mentioned in a previous message, what a person in one generation did may be attributed to a person in the preceding or following generation. "Her grandfather married a Jones" may be the story you hear. But the truth may be that it was her great grandfather.

 * Up the wrong ladder: Sometimes an event or relationship may be attributed to one branch of the family, when in reality it was another branch that was involved. One can imagine Aunt Bessie saying "We're related to So-and-So on my mother's side." The listener might naturally assume she was speaking of her mother's father's family - but it might have been her mother's maternal side. The more generations involved in such stories, the more chance for this error.

 * Proximity Ain't Participation: Not every person who lived in Boston was a Tea Party participant, yet the world is full of people who had ancestors in Boston during the Revolution who believe those ancestors _did_ participate!  (In my case, of course, it's true <G>.) Over time, the anecdote that a particular ancestor lived in a particular place when something important happened can easily become a story of participation. "Your 4th great grandfather lived in Boston during the Revolution" has a way of becoming embellished from generation to generation.

 * What's In a Name: The answer is, "not much." The most recent list I have of surname distribution in the U.S. is 20 years old, but in the 1970s there were more than 400,000 people named LEE in the U.S. If they all were related to Robert E., that would be one helluva family reunion! Again, one can imagine how such family traditions get started: A little boy named Lee is studying the Civil War. He comes home from school and says, "Grandma, are we related to Robert E. Lee?" Grandma, no authority on the matter since she is NOT a Lee, replies: "I guess so. I reckon all of the Lees are related if you go back far enough." A tradition is born.

                                       * * * *
<end, part 3 of 3 parts>

Richard A. Pence



My husband, Mike,  has been tracing his tree alot longer than I.  He sent many, many, hand written letters to England enquiring about his Spicer ancestors and only received one reply (unfortunately not related) but the two of them enjoyed exchanging family photos and histories by snail-mail, nonetheless.  I'm a totally obsessive gardener & when we got the internet, I made several searches and found "rootsweb" which at the time had a few garden-related email lists.  Then we found lists representing the surnames & areas of our ancestors (& over 5 years I found at least 18 cousins!!).  Mike has traced his tree back to the 1700's as have I and we are completely hooked.
(I'm also hooked on Gen-newbie!)
I hope all had a wonderful holiday.  I just have to go back to work for one more day on Friday & then 2 more days off for the weed-end (ahh such luxury!)
TTFN
Barb Spicer


I loved reading all your stories.  I spent much of my childhood with my grandparents and I new all my great aunts and uncles and cousins, and I knew many in my Dad's extended family as well, never thought much about them because thought I knew them all.

My Dad's family said we were descended from Kings, and in school I learned that a Bourbon never forgot anything he learned, he just never learned anything, also some Indian somewhere.  Mom's side was German, they came, got in stagecoach and arrived in NE (that is what I was told).

My sister in law was researching my husbands family and I couldn't imagine someone who didn't even know who is grandfather was, or that his last name wasn't really his, and that is what drew my interest many many years ago.

I work, and now that my family is grown, have children, and cannot work on it as much as I would like, but keep adding names and my only real problem is, I
work on his line and mine and sometimes I am really spread thin.

The Bourbon line which is the line I have always wanted to do, I have never did anything with, except find out where my ggrandfather was born in France.
Other lines I have really worked on, and I think I have a couple thousand names in my program.
That is how I started, and every time I find something new I am as thrilled as the first time.



My genealogy start was real simple. I was looking for records of me. One side of the family called me by one name the other by another. Neither side could or would, tell me why.
Since I began my quest I have found records of my natural father, and great great grandmother's four siblings. A bit from each side of the family. As for me, I am still searching for the proof of existence even as I sit and write this letter.
Have the Merriest Holidays and may all your bricks start tumbling in 2003.

Rita, Ontario, Canada



I have always loved the stories that my grandparents and parents told me of their childhood. I really started here about 7 years ago looking for my father-in-laws brothers and sister whom he hadn't seen in over 20 years. I wrote hundreds of letters to people all over the country until one day I got one letter back and it was one of the brothers. I am proud to say that Dad got back with his family and stayed in close contact until his 2 brothers died within 2 weeks of each other. But at least he knew his family once again before his loss. On my mother's side the family was always a mystery and I can remember my grandfather searching for his family and I have been doing alot of research on his line and I love it. I always tell my mother that I was born in the wrong time era.<VBG> Having lots of fun and meeting lots of new family and friends. BTW I found 2 great aunts still living that my father-in-law never knew he had. What a great feeling when you find those new connections.
sharol


Twenty plus years ago my cousin was researching my father's family and shared copies of letters from 1840's and 1860's and other tidbits to get me interested but I had a young family and a full-time job.

Two years ago we had a major flood in my area-Houston, Texas-and in helping a flooded relative clean the mess I took a Bible to try to salvage.  In the wet Bible were notes of family history and a letter from an aunt telling the few facts of my mother's family that she knew.

Checking with cousins, we did not even agree on the few "facts" we remembered-so the search began to find the great grandmother-who was only a last name.
Most of the family stories have proved wrong but I have explored the internet, the local library, LDS films,civil war pension files, and old newspaper films and have learned a lot-but still not sure who her parents are.

This list has been most helpful and my search goes on in fits and spirts as time permits.

Mary in Houston



My grandmother who just turned 90 researched her family 20 years ago. For Christmas 20 years ago she gave a copy of all her research in notebook form to all her grandchildren. I looked at it, read it and said "Oh that's nice".
Since then  I have reread that notebook several times. My daughter has used it as homework for one of her classes. Twenty years ago I was going through some family problems. My immediate family disowned me! They didn't approve of my living arrangements and that I was having a child out of wedlock (They were no angels and had done alot worse then what I was doing). So at that time, I didn't care about our history or where they came from. The more I read the book the more I wanted to know. I started to gather information from what family still talked to me and then just lost interest. Then one day just over a year ago I was bored sitting at my computer. I saw an ad for Ancestry so I tried it and I have been going ever since. I have found 6 cousins. I will be meeting one of them in about a month for the first time. Another one has given me a copy on all the research on his line from 1768 to 1999. This is on my great great great great grandfathers side, the Anderson's. I have found that my great grandmother had two other children besides my grandfather. I now know what my great grandfather, Lundy looks like but I
still don't know who his parents were or if he had any siblings. But some day I will. It's just so exciting. I have a couple of letters that were written over a hundred years ago to my great grandmother from her father and from her mother and other family members. I try to get my daughter involved and she just looks the other way. A few times I have caught her taking a look at what I have. Her fiance has given me what little he had on his family tree that was sent to him.

Hope life is treating you well,
Lori Lial



I first became interested in genealogy 4 years ago this month.  During that first month I discovered Ancestry.com and found several lines of my Bowser and Jackson families.  A few months after that my Mom (whom I have little in common with it often seems) decided to start her line.  My Dad is an average historian and his mother's written records were not *exactly* correct, but they are still helpful.  One of my very biggest thrills was learning the previously unknown surname of my gg-grandmother.  Her last name turned out to be Otto which is/was the middle name of my grandfather, father, and brother.
That was a red-letter day at the Fort Wayne, Indiana library!  I found this list not long after starting and I lurked for quite a while.  I've only recently tried venturing comments other than to beg for my usual help with my dumb computer!  The members of this list have played a big part in my enthusiasm for the "sport" of genealogy.  I thank them (you) all once again.
 Nancy


I married into the Dingman family in 1953 and started asking questions of his family because I wanted to get to know some of his family and where they came from.  Most thought I was being nosey but complied.  Later I wanted to search the Cherokee Indian background of my mother.  My sister was searching for our Wood family of our father so I went with the Bartlett family.  It filled a lot of lonely empty hours and then I got excited about what I was discovering.  I have been at it for years until all I can do not is sit at the computer and search for something online.  I still love it. jean


I got started in genealogy because I was looking for a long lost college friend.  Seemed like all the places I looked (except for the sites for missing ppl) I got asked questions about Carolyn as though she was a relative.  I finally just pretended that she was a relative in hopes that someone could give me some clues as to how to find her.

Well, after many years of searching, etc., I decided to do some research on my father's side of the family.  I already had a very complete genealogy from my mother's side (her parents spent years on it)...all I need to do is update the latest marriages & births.
My father's family had always been somewhat of a mystery to me though.

My father would mention his father on occasions, but there were always discussions which he seldom would take part in.  He did not like his older brother. (Who by the way is still alive & just "barely" practicing law in IA...I have heard that he has done some
rather unscrupulous things...but since my father didn't discuss him, I made it a point to stay out of it.)  Then when this same Uncle
was making the rounds in this small little town in IA & got this other woman pregnant, he suddenly requested a divorce from my Aunt Rose.  From the stories which I have heard, after Rose died of a heart attack out in Colorado, Jim, my Uncle stood outside the church where her funeral was being held, but he would never go in.  To add to all this, my mother detested Jim & when my father died, she refused to even let him know that his brother had died.

Then we have another brother who went to Hollywood to make it big.  He was indeed a handsome man & had a wonderful voice.  He married a woman quite a bit older than him...a retired Ziegfield Follies gal.  She babied him & I think this is what John Dick needed.  The boy's mother had died when they were young & even though their father did marry again fairly soon afterwards, John
always had hold of his mother's aprons strings.  Don't think he ever could let go of them & that's why he ended up marrying this
retired dancer, singer, whatever.  John Dick Ames Coonley...think his stage name was Jon Clark, died in Hollywood on a movie set.  He was playing a bit role in a Calvary scene.  I believe this was in July & it was hot there.  He decided to take a nap on one of the cots in the back & never woke up.  I have his death certificate & it would appear that he died from a massive heart attack (don't know if that's the correct phrasing...but what I basically know).

When I finally decided to give up on Carolyn, I decided that it would be fun to look for my father's family.  I did a general search on Ancestry.Com & came up with all sorts of COONLEY surnames.  What's rather ironic, is that they are mostly my relatives.  I have
been in touch with several & we are all related in one way or another.

I also was lucky enough to come across several people who had written up genealogies on my family.  I say my family, I mean the COONLEY line.  My own line through my father & his grandparents are far & few between.  I have found information about Edward Ruggles COONLEY & Ulilla Titus COONLEY...who had come to Kenosha & had in total 10 children (one my grandfather).  The other line which I am having such a hard time on is the TRIER line.  Hopefully, I won't be searching this line when I am so old & gray that I haven't gotten anything else done.

My genealogy has become a challenge for me.  I know I spend way too much time on it.  However, where I live, there really isn't much to do & I find the people are not friendly at all.  We thought because this was such a small town..and were assured that people were friendly, we would fit in.  It has been just the opposite.  I have quit trying to make friends.  I am friendly, so don't get me wrong, but I have stopped going to many of the groups which I belonged to.  People around here are not accepting of new comers until you have been here for around 10 years & sometimes longer.  We are called "flatlanders" because we come from the Valley & people up here think that Valley people are dishonest.  That's one reason I have gotten into genealogy.  Just wish that I
could work more with my FHC...I've been going there now for nearly 2 yrs & you would think by now that they would trust me.  I still am not allowed to fill out a request form by myself...nor am I suppose to take too many books off the shelves & look at them.  There really isn't much there that interests me any way.  If someone would offer to help me with their computer system, I would really appreciate that, but no one ever seems to have the time.  I sat there for over 2 hrs one day waiting to see if I could get some
help.  I finally left.  I think I have been back maybe once.  I have been sick though, so I cannot blame all that time loss on them.  I
would like to work with our genealogical society in Payson...but because they are housed in a nursing home & I guess they are short on volunteers, I don't seem to have much luck at catching anyone over there.  I know their times, so I'm not walking in expecting someone to be there when they are not.  And finally forget our NEW LIBRARY.  They refuse to help anyone with genealogy & I get the impression if you went over there & just looked around to see if they had anything which would relate to your
search, they would be onto you before you knew it.  I tried to request an inter-library loan & they refused to get it for me because I made the mistake of saying that I needed it for genealogy research.  I ended up renting the film from SLC & reading it on a reader over at the FHC.

So I will keep on trying to find this one man...John Jacob TRIER & from there I hope to go further back.  I was curious about one thing.  I have all 7 daughter's names & 1 son's name of John Jacob TRIER & Mary Lorena Ames TRIER.. Is it necessary for me to
find out who the women married & then their children...same with the son?  Seems as though that could go on forever & ever!!

May you all have a most Blessed Christmas & a Happy & Healthy New Year!!!

Jen in AZ



 My dear Father died in 1997 and the day after the funeral, my 2 sons who lived out of state helped me move his belongings out of a small trailer where he had lived after my mom died. In his belongings were many photos. I was still numb with grief, so I told the boys to divide the photos...but... both boys wanted some of the same photos. I told them I would have copies made and that way they both could be happy. After they went home, my oldest son would call and ask questions about the uncles and aunts, never telling me why. That Christmas he presented to me and his brother, also to my brother and his 4 children, a book of genealogy of the "direct lines" on both my paternal (BECKNER) and maternal (SKILES) sides of the family, back 6 generations (plus many photos). My dad died the 15th September and this was for Christmas....a little over 3 months!!! I was simply overwhelmed! How did he do it that fast? He just smiles! The only thing wrong was....there was no documentation. That got me enthused and from then on it became an addiction. The following March, I went to the local library (taking all of my genealogy with me..Why? I don't know) to do some research. I found some very interesting information, took copies, but didn't write down which book they came from.......and to make a long story short....I stopped at the grocery and my car was stolen and all the genealogy I had was....poof! GONE!  They found the car, but it was stripped. The first lesson I learned was DO NOT TAKE THE ORIGINALS WITH YOU....Copies, yes!  I went back later to the library trying to find the book that I had found with the ships manifest documenting my 7th g-grandfather on my paternal side......couldn't find it. The second lesson I learned was TO WRITE DOWN THE NAMES OF THE BOOKS OR DOCUMENTS where I got my information. So from Dec of 1997 to 2002 has been 5 years of joy! I have found very, very few errors in the information that my son collected in that short time. I just wish I could share and ask questions about what I have found with my Dad...he would be so pleased. The 3rd lesson I learned is TO ASK QUESTIONS NOW, BEFORE IT IS TO LATE. 2 years after my dad died, I moved to western Kansas where my oldest son lives and guess what we talk about when we are together????? I now have 10,000 plus names in my computer and my moto is "I'm collecting relatives,and I don't care how far removed".
    I have enjoyed reading of all the stories of "getting started in Genealogy". I have been a Gen-Newbian since 1998, but am shy about writing. But I do look forward to each and every message that comes!!
    Ruthanne Beckner Wise
    Western Kansas


I guess I was always curious about my ancestors but just never did anything about it until recently.

My first false start was back in the mid-1960's.  My maternal grandmother and my paternal grandfather died within about 2 weeks of each other when I was 13 years old.  Some time after that, I remember working toward a "Genealogy" badge for Girl Scouts.  I still have my sash, and I did get the genealogy badge, so I must have gathered enough information to fulfill the requirements of the badge.  But my work disappeared and my interest remained dormant for several years.

There were other close calls with this obsession.  My paternal grandfather changed his name from Armfield to Johnson, and we always wondered why.  My cousin Gwen and I talked about several times and *almost* got serious about researching it six years or so ago, when another family researcher called us and piqued our mutual interest in genealogy. But I didn't pursue it.

Fast forward to this past May.  I was working as a self-employed marketing research consultant and had just finished a 5-month project.  I literally had *nothing* to do and had just made a grundle of money on this project.  I'm a type A personality ... I don't do *nothing* very well.  I have to be busy doing something.

It was Monday, May 6, and I opened my juncque-mail newsletter from Earthlink.net.  At the bottom of the newsletter was an offer for a 2-week free trial to Ancestry.com.  I thought, "what the heck" and signed up.  I put in the only name I could remember -- my grandmother's maiden name, Mathena.  I found her!!  ohhhh I was so excited!

I hit "father of..." and then "father of..." and then "father of..." and kept linking back and back and back until I hit the earliest entry in 1080. I had traveled back nearly a millenium in about 15 minutes, from my grandmother, to the first American who emigrated from England around 1663, to knights in Burgundy and Belgium.  I was hooked.

I had just happened to pick the ONE grandparent whose family line is extremely well documented, with lots of experienced, credible and methodical researchers.  Had I started out with any other family line, I doubt that I would have gotten so excited about researching my family history.

Since May, I have followed 3 family lines back into Germany and England. I've found dozens of distant and not-so-distant cousins who have become good friends.  I've learned how helpful and sharing and smart and curious and funny these "genealogy types" can be.  I've learned words in German and Dutch and gotten over my reluctance to go to the LDS library and stare at microfilms for hours.

And I found this list, which has given me such joy and camaraderie over the past few months.  Thank you all for being here.

Merry Christmas to everyone.  May the New Year be blessed with peace and cooperative ancestors!

Paula



In 1945 my father's dad died, and among the things we received was a quilt Grandmother had made of her  family tree.  We were poor, we 5 kids slept on an unheated porch with more windows than walls.  (in Oklahoma) We used the quilt until it was tatters.
In 1960 I began asking all the living aunts about our history, and kept all their letters, etc.
In 1991 I retired and began researching the families.  Of course I would love to have the head start of the quilt, on the Hipkins family, but that is lost forever, and of course that family is my brick wall, a mile high.
Jackie


  Back a few months ago, the end of  August to be exact, I found an ad for Ancestry.com. I started putting in the names and dates that I knew <which was actually more than I thought I knew>, then all of a sudden my "temporary 14 day membership" expired.  I didn't know it was temporary!  But, by then, I was hooked!!  So I bought a 1 year membership and have now continued scouring every record I could possibly find.  It has been a great journey so far, and I have met wonderful people from many different lists.  I have gotten a lot of help from all of you, and I am finally learning how to ask the right questions!  So actually, I am very much of a "newbie", and loving it. Thank you very much to all of you who have helped me along the way so far, and who will continue to help me as I go along.

Have a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year,
Catherine in Florida



I got started on genealogy in the early 1970s after reading a published family history and then began trace my uncle's ancestry - he had married my mother's sister and he and my aunt had no children and I spent all my school vacations with them and they were like a second set of parents.  His parents and grandparents died when he was 6 years old and went to live with someone we knew but all we knew was that he had cousins.  As a result I found many cousins and we began reunions.  Some of these cousins had never met and some hadn't seen each other for sixty years.  It is one of the most rewarding things of my life to reunion with them once and sometimes twice a year and keep in contact with some of them more often.
    I also pursued my own tree and in September met up with relatives I had met via Internet in Scotland.
    Genealogy has taught me history, geography and brought me many wonderful friends.
    Happy Holidays to everyone everywhere and a wonderful 2003.
    Marion from Maine where we are expecting a blizzard tomorrow night.


We were planning a trip to Ireland for our Silver Wedding Anniversary in May, 1985 (stop counting right now!)
Jack's life's work as an engineer was/is computers, but I never got beyond the electric typewriter (and I am still a fast typist).
So, I bought a little paper back I still own, FINDING YOUR ROOTS by Jeane Eddy Westin, cost $2.75. Next, I headed into Philadelphia's City Hall and found all sorts of McCANNEY information at the archives.  My dear Aunt Florie, Daddy's sister, had a brilliant mind with a memory to match.  I had a good start.

We added two more children to make six and adopted another to round it out to seven.  Fast forward at least ten years...PC...right in our home.  I knew of family in MN for years, even had a letter with great information.  The COMPUTER gave me Land Grant papers, Civil War information.  I even found a Great-grandmother's Baptismal record at an exquistely done website from Delaware (she was NOT born in Delaware County, PA after all, but Wilmington, DE, just over the state line!)
The COMPUTER gave me grand on-line friends.  And the COMPUTER will help my jump the pond very soon.
I can't thank anyone for nominating me for "Best Jammies".  I have a confession to make.  I nominated myself!  Those red Disney jammies ARE pretty special though:-)
Love to all,
Mary McCanney Finley



Two of my older cousins (different lines) wrote books which I have.  I got curious to prove the lines for the DAR.  With the advent of computers, I was able to prove three lines (so far).  And- I knew there was some sort of scandal in one line in the 1850s.  I THINK I have solved the mystery.  Now, I am debating whether to put in in my notes!  Oh, and I have two more lines to send in to the DAR!  And, by computer, I have documentation to the 900s on one line.

So, it's fun- if one does not take it too seriously.  Everyone had ancestors.  Some just managed to leave records.  Personally, I prefer the ones not so perfect- they seem more real and interesting!  I'd love to find a pirate or something back there!  At least, one managed to get thrown out of his church!



I got started because of my mother.  She expressed a desire to know more about her parents and where they had came from.  Her dad when she was young got upset with his family and threw a trunk outside for the garbage men.  Mom rushed out there when he wasn't looking, saved a couple of photo albums which she hid away.  Putting names with the faces has been an interesting journey for us and a fun one at that.  One day we were at the library and looking through the Missouri books for Boone County and lo and behold I found a biography in there and showed mom and off we went and for the past 8 years it's been one fun roller coaster ride after another.  The people we've come into contact with that have helped us along the way, who've touched our lives... even the Sheriff who I contacted in Colorado and asked him to take the odd chance that I was legit and take a letter to a retired deputy that he knew lived around there, and re-uniting my mom and her 80+ year old cousin who she ha!
dn't seen in over 40 years has made it all worthwhile.... I know some of us wish we could just unlock the door and have all the answers right there before us, but I've found it takes time and dedication and in the end it will be a lot more rewarding road that we've travelled.

Wishing you all a merry christmas and a happy new year.

Peg



I have a very good friend who has been investigating his family for more than 25 years.  Several times he had tried to get me interested. I tried a little bit, but couldn't get going.  About the summer of 1997, I attended a family picnic that is annual, but I hadn't been to one for a good number of years (14 hr drive!).  My cousin had sent out a questionnaire about our families, a story or two and any other interesting information.  She gathered these together and made a booklet of about 50 or so pages.  After handing these out to all attendees, I said that I would try to do something in the way of putting them into a genealogy program.  There were about 75 attendees and with the printouts (similar to a FGS), I felt that I could do some sort of report.  I tried about a half dozen different programs (it seems that at that time, the program was more important to me than the information <G>).
I finally stopped with FTM and entered my data.  It ended up, just from that picnic, I had over 150 individuals.  About this time, a friend introduced me to Family Origins which I found much easier to navigate and it was more complete in the facts offered for fill-in (Still working with the software <G>).  Once I had settled on
a final program, and had transferred the information over to the FO, I was able to produce some reports, (book type and pedigree).  This now was getting intriguing.  I found some more information at the LDS (being mentored by my good friend) about my sister-in-laws husbands family. (branching out <G>).  With this information and some smaller parts that covered my own line, it was getting more and more interesting.  (Getting Hooked?).  I tried and tried for almost 2 years
to find more beyond my grandfather on my fathers side.  My father was no help as he had run away from home before graduation from high school and had rather bitter feelings about his family (father and mother primarily.  His brother and sisters were still close).  I searched the internet and by accident, connected with an individual who had researched and collected a very complete collection on my family line.  She and her sister had written a book concerning my line.  I bought a copy from her and found within, my first American Ancestor all the way down to my father.  What a blessing to have located this document.  The documentation in it is excellent and gave me leads to further determine my line and associated line.  Along with that and several fortunate connections, I have been able to extend my
line and collateral lines to the extent of about 11,000 individuals.
Not all are fully verified and there are some conflicts, but with that reference and another that I discovered when we cleaned my fathers house after his death, I have a very good line back to England and the 1500's.

My mentor has said many times when I have presented the information that I have found, that I am one of the luckiest researchers that he has ever worked with. <G>

Keith Thompson



I think some people are destined to become the family genealogist.
I'm sure, in my family, that I am the one.  My dad, an only child, knew little about his mother's side of the family but his father talked often about his childhood.  Dad asked me in the 1960's if I'd see what I could find out about his mother.  I personally knew my grandmother and grandfather - they both died at the same time when I was about 11 yrs. old.  It was my parents' 15th wedding anniversary, on an Easter Sunday. It left quite an impression on me.  When Dad asked if I'd see what I might find he told me his parents were married in Iowa.
They'd met in a newspaper office where they both worked. My grandmother was only about 15 yrs. old.  I wrote to the County Clerk's office and received the marriage information, but found little else about them.  There my "research" lay for about the next twenty years.
Sad to say, my father died, and I later retired.  It was then I really became interested in the family history.  My husband wasn't particularly enthralled with my suggestion that we should go to court houses in Iowa - we lived 10 hrs. away - but about this time, a cousin of my husband had also become interested in their side of the family.
Because my husband liked to travel and didn't mind driving, I encouraged him to go to Kentucky where I knew his family had once lived.  I figured he'd be interested in seeing where his ancestors once lived. This we did - that was the first summer after we retired - and the same pattern continued every year for about the next 10 yrs.
We mainly traced his family from Virginia to No. Carolina, into Indiana and Kentucky and finally into Iowa.

We obtained detailed county maps from every state we visited, went to court houses, libraries, found the land once occupied by his ancestors and interviewed old time residents across the country.  In the first ten years after we retired, we traveled over 300,000 miles and gathered reams of records and info - mainly on my husband's side of the family.  After we published a book about them, we turned once again to my side of the family.

We ran into a brick wall almost immediately - finding only the marriage record of my paternal grandparents and little else.  It wasn't until I happened onto a divorce record of who I thought my grandmother's parents were, that I found she'd been adopted. The surname my Dad said was hers, was NOT her birth name.  This became my big detective mystery.  The route we took in finding who her parents really were and where they came from took on a life of it's own.
Suffice it to say, I did find who my grandmother's parents were, who their parents were as well as several more generations.

My single biggest problem has been what happened to my grandmother's natural mother and I've been working on that for the past 8 or 10 years.  My great grandmother was widowed when she was in her late 20's. My grandmother was given up for adoption  and no further record seems available about what happened to her mother. I've tracked my great grandmother's parents to their deaths, obtained death records on several of her siblings, none indicating my  missing ancestor as a survivor.

Searching on the internet has not proved very beneficial to me thus far.  Since my father was an only child, I had no aunts or uncles to talk to, no cousins, no acquaintances who could tell me anything.  If we'd not been able to travel to the various court houses and libraries throughout the U.S., I doubt I'd have found any info about my grandmother.  Curosity in looking thru civil court books caused me to find the divorce record that revealed my grandmother being adopted.
Thumbing through old birth and death records in the court house, I found things that I'd probably never have known about. Such as an adoption being recorded in a grantee/grantor index.  Now that the census records are available online is a valuable thing for researchers. They were not available except thru the LDS when we
began our research and we spent many hours in the library in Salt Lake.

If I have any word of advice on putting together a family history it is to talk to all of your family now.  I think about how many questions I should have asked my Dad and never did.  It has been my biggest regret. Don't procrastinate - talk to your family - write down what they say, or take a tape recorder. Even if you aren't actively working on your family genealogy there may be a day you will.

juanita



Hi, this is Linda in Texas.  I grew up an Air Force Brat (and durn proud of it also).  We did not live near relatives often and many times the roads ran in one direction...we want to see you - you come here - you want to see us - you come here.  I did not grow up knowing many of my realtives really well.  Since gotten closer to several thru this endeavor.

My uncle spiked my interest when he talked about my grandfather speaking Spanish to my great grandfather.  Now why would he do that I inquired to find out that great grandfather is of Spanish origin.  When I mentioned this to my mom her immediate reply was "OH BULL!"  Now uncle is 8 yrs older than mom so I figure his memory is pretty good.  My mom's side of family is German/Spanish and ????.  Growing up in South Texas in the early 20's etc made for some bad experiences with the Hispanic background.  Mom would not talk about this and my brother was in his 30's before he ever knew of
the Spanish/Mexican connection.

The German side kept her and rest of  family very closed mouthed.  She would talk up to a point and then "I don't remember" or change the subject.  She never wanted me to delve into this area at all.  Guess that is why I am doing it...stubborn hardheadedness from both sides of family.

Paternal great grandfather died when granddaddy was a very young child...no dates have I turned up yet.  Stories of Indian blood abound...found truth here but not as close as was told...

Guess my getting into genealogy was a case of curiosity killed the cat...good thing they have 9 lives as I am still working on trying to drive to ground some info on the families.

Merriest of Christmases to you and yours and may be all find those hiding ancestors of ours in 2003.

Linda in Texas



I've had a moderate interest in my ancestry since my teen years but I suppose you could say I got shocked into doing something about it.
When my husband died in 2001 I wanted to contact his paternal aunt and realised I didn't know her surname and had only a vague idea of where she lived. I realised also that I knew of no one to ask - my children and a nephew were the oldest living members of my husband's family. Shock, horror.

This got me thinking about my own family: apart from one aunt who was 83 at the time, my brother, cousins and I were the older generation.
Then and there was born the urge to begin a genealogical record for my children before any more of the older generation, MY generation, joined their ancestors. A few months later my kids bought me a modem and set me up with the internet so I could indulge my anti-exertionist tendencies and start searching from the comfort of my living room. With that, local sources, and many enjoyable hours spent with my aunt, I feel I've made a good start.

Margaret in NZ



Greetings Newbies far and wide from Aotearoa (The Land of the Long White Cloud) deep in the South Pacific.

My paternal grandmother from Sussex, England and the rest of the family followed my father to NZ in 1925.  She died in 1952 when I was 12 and for a number of years before that I spent all my school holidays staying with her.  There was of course no TV in those days and in the evenings I listened spell bound as she related stories of family dating back to the middle ages and names of ancestors that crossed to England with William the Conqueror in 1066.  She was a history teacher and although I know that the stories may have become distorted over the years I have little reason to doubt their basic authenticity and I wish I could remember the details now.  The same stories have been borne out by descendants of other members of the family and in my later research I have already found many of the details that she told me about 50 years ago.  She also told of a family bible, now lost, that had records back to Norman times.  The existence of this has also been confirmed by relative!
s still in England.  I am currently back to 1499 on this line and the names of those Norman ancestors reappear consistently.

In 1978 while serving in the NZ Army I was lucky enough to get a flight to England with the RNZAF and while visiting an elderly cousin of my father's on my grandfather's side I was able to copy the flyleaf of my great grandfather's bible giving details of all my grandfather's 12 siblings from Buckinghamshire.  This I filed away until recently.

My mother died in 1996 and after going through her papers and photos I decided to also trace her forbears who came to NZ mainly from Scotland between 1848 and 1865.  Luckily a cousin had already done considerable local research on this, but now having access to the internet I have been able to find a lot of early detail and we are now working together on this project.  On all my other three grandparents lines I am back to the mid 1700s but do not hold out much hope of finding much earlier than that.  I am working on it though.  I would love to be able to search the archives in person but 12000 miles is a long way for a pensioner.

For many years I had toyed with the idea of getting something on paper and when I retired in 2000 I invested in a computer  and dug out all my old notes and started setting everything up.  It is presented in chart form so that I could distribute it around all our family grandchidren and I have finally just got to that stage for Xmas, 40 copies of 200 pages including photos and personal stories.  Everything is in transparent file pockets to permit easy insertion of updates and amendments as more information comes to hand.  It was not for another year that I was in a position to have a telephone connection and gain access to the net and it has been all go since then.  Although I now have FTM everything is still basically in chart form and I am transferring the detail to FTM in slow time.  I live on my own these days and I am really hooked, spending about 12 hours a day on my computer.  It certainly keeps me away from the temptation of spending too much time in the local ex ser!
vicemen's club.

Sorry to waffle on so much but I have really enjoyed all the postings on this thread and I thought I would like to add my bit.

A Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all,
Malcolm Dobson
Gisborne  New Zealand



My search is for both the living and the dead.  My quest for the living is stronger.  I'd like to find some of my mother's family before she dies.  It is an urgency without a deadline.  I've been trying to also fill in the blanks of the dead.  My heart is divided into two schools of thought with neither feeling fulfilled.

My computer enables me to continue both battles.  Curiosity has been fleshed with names and facts.  As I capture each new fact, I am drawn further into the web of the past.  Each cobweb I clear reveals another.  Each puzzle solved exposes one larger, more involved, with fewer facts.

What began as a minor hunt has become a major part of my life.  My husband's grandmother instilled in me the thrill of the hunt.  I have instilled in myself the thrill of the find.  I am a hopeless addict and will remain gleefully so.

I wish you all many successes for your hunts in 2003 and after.

For those of us who eagerly await RootMagic, I pray for patience for the appearance of a great new genealogy software.

For 2003 and always may we embrace this tag line by Mark Twain.  We should all be so lucky.   Those who possess a happy, loving, kind, and giving heart are at least on the right road. :)

J



 As a teen ager I heard about my aunt that was doing "family history". I think my response was, "What's she doing THAT for?"  She sent a pedigree chart to her siblings and I 'think' they all kept them but really had no idea what it was telling them.
  In 1994 I was told we were related to a notable person, Felix WALKER, so I asked a neighbor (who volunteers at the local genealogy library) as to how I could start checking on this.  She sent me to the local public library who had this large book, "Genealogies In The Library Of Congress".  Indeed I did find him there with his ancestors.
  I sort of 'wasted' one entire trip to Salt Lake City Family History Library copying everything I could find on the man and his family.  I now am the proud owner of a 4 inch 3 ring binder of information and I believe I have DISPROVED we are related to him.  But I feel it is just as important to disprove as prove, as the case may be.
  But the largest problem I have is my grandfather, James Green ORANDER.  As so very many (if not most of us) have done is not ask questions when there was someone alive to answer them.
  He told his daughters he was born in Patrick County, Virginia on 20 June 1874, to William Pleasant ORANDER and Barbara Ann GIBERT and was 'orphaned at about 7 years old'.  I obtained his application for Social Security, in his own handwriting and he did in fact give them as his parents.
  Neither my aunt who did genealogy for 20+ years or I in my 8 years have been able to prove anything he said except he said he and a friend rode bicycles out from Virginia to Nebraska, where he met and married my grandmother in 1902.  I did finally get a snapshot from his 'neice' showing these 2 men with their bicycles  taken in Illinois, so I presume it was on their trek.  I have NO idea if he had a destination in mind or if he just found a job--wife--etc and decided to stop roaming.
  I first found him in the 1900 census living with a man in Sheridan Township, Washington County, Nebraska and he was listed as a "servant". Since there is no 1890 I searched the 1880 of Patrick County, Virginia and did indeed find him listed as a 5 year old son with his 'mother', Barbry Ann ARNDEN and it stated she was a widow.  Then I searched the 1870 census for Patrick County, Virginia, and there is his 'mother', Barbara Ann ORRENDER , age 35, living with her sister and family (back in Patrick County, Virginia) and listed her four children: John J. 16; Nancy A. 13; William P. 10 and Alice Virginia 2.   No husband around. ?? Then I find the entire family in 1860 in Stokes County, North Carolina; William Pleasant ORRENDER, wife Barbara Ann and three children: John Jefferson born 1853; Nancy Ann born 1855 and William Pleasant, (Jr.) born 1857.
  We have not found a death or burial place for either of these two 'parents'.
  I have corresponded with searchers on the GILBERT side and they are quite certain that William Pleasant ORRENDER died before 1870 and that James Green ORANDER must be an illegitimate child of ???? Barbara Ann or even one of Barbara Ann's daughters. ??? This supposed 'brother' is 21 years older and his supposed 'sister' is 17 years older.  Noone has found a record of a second marriage for Barbara Ann Gilbert ORRENDER.
  There was one 'neice' that I am sure knew  the information I was seeking.  She married into a family that was almost revered and would not have any 'scandal' in their family.  She told me to write my questions and she would answer them.  She was a retired school teacher and VERY sharp at 96. She lived alone and drove her own car etc.  So I compiled my questions and left large spaces for her to write the answers, sent a self addressed stamped envelope.  She replied once and did not answer a single question but gave me some "background" and told me of the hilly country around there etc.
  Well, she died at 96 and took all the information with her to her grave, it seems.
  So, outside of that 1880 census the only information I have on his background is what he himself has said.  On his marriage record he gave his parents as: William ORINDER and Barbara GILBERT.
  So I now am the proud owner of  about 10 large 3 ring binders of people I still have not proved as related to him.  I keep them so I can pass on information anyone asks about them and in hopes of someday being able to link my grandfather to at least some of them.
  The very best New Years gift I could receive is all the pictures and possibly the REAL information this 96 year old neice left behind regarding my grandfather.  I am 76 years old.  Should I still believe in miracles?
  Thanks for a great list and SUPER listers.
Happy new year to you all.
Maxine


Okay, since everyone seems to be telling their story about how they got started.  So will I.  I have always had the yearning to have some kind of family traditions and celebrations.  Cultural stuff, you know.  Well, it was then that Mel Gibson stared in a movie that forever changed my life.  It was a movie based on the life of a real life hero, William Wallace:  Braveheart.
I found myself wishing that I had some Scots in me so I could be apart of that noble people.  I admired them for their courage, strength.  That was when my father told me that we were Scottish/Irish/Welsh (Mom's side/German/English (New addition yet an irony if you think about it.)

Well, that was when I had the desire to find my clan that I belonged to so I could join and wear the colors with pride.  That is how my start began and I have remembered it because it's such an interesting story.

Angelic



My first interest in genealogy started when I was in elementary school.

I grew up in the small town of Winamac, Indiana,  population 2000.  I  went to a Catholic grade  school.   One homework assignment I had was to draw a family tree
.
Well, I was a change of life baby, my mother being one month away form her 42nd birthday when I was born.  She, also, was a change of life baby.  By the time I was three I had no grandparents living.   I was ashamed at how little I had on my family tree homework assignment compared to the other children.   My father died when I was 6 and he had come from Ohio so mother knew little of his family.   Her Mother came from Germany and she knew little of her own  family.
All I had on my tree were parents and grandparents.   :(

As a child I think it bothered me that I had no father or grandparents like the other kids.  My siblings were grown and away form home.   When I reached 60 (two years ago) I decided that I wanted to leave something behind  me for my children.  A feeling of belonging, a feeling of family.  So, I started my search.   I was living in California and I contacted my niece in Indiana.  Every night after she got off of work she went to the graveyard with her flashlight and took notes from tombstones.   She said if the police ever came by and asked her what she was doing out there with her flashlight in the middle of the night she was going to refer them to me, AND I had better get her off.

I found an old letter written by my great aunt to my grandmother.  It was written in old German.  When translated it showed that it was written from a convent.  She was a nun.  With a lot of help from the list and Rhonda Huston  I was able to traced the convent records.  The convent it's self had long ago closed.  The convent records showed the village she came from in Germany.
From that village's Catholic church records I was able to trace the mother's family back to 1620.

I sure wish I could go back and have a second chance at that homework assignment again.

My mother is now gone along with my father and brother and two sisters.  I am the only one left.  I feel what I am leaving behind me may be of value to one of my descendants one day.  This will be my legacy to my family.

I am also going to see that the genealogical department of the Winamac, Indiana, library gets a copy of everything I have.

P.S.   I have found a real live first cousin five times removed living in Germany.   His hobby is also genealogy.

Donna Cotter in Scottsdale, AZ



About three years ago, I was reading the local newspaper where I grew up on line.  There had recently been an election in my former home town, and I was
interested in the outcome.  I was really engrossed in reading the results, so much so that my right hand on the mouse slipped off the pad and I inadvertently clicked it.  There was apparently a sidebar on the newspaper about genealogy, and up popped this message on my screen, "Enter your surname for your ancestral history".  I did and within 15 minutes I was back to 1659 in this country.  I had one missing link between what was on the screen and my known gggrandfather, and after a few weeks I found that link through this list.  I have now gone through both my husband's family and mine and have only a few unknown lines.  I was helped by my grandmother's stories, she was a great yarn spinner, and it has mostly all turned out to be true.


I actually started at about age 8!  Not knowing at that time that I would be still doing it at Age 84,   AT about age 8 my family met a woman in St. Louis who was really, really involved in her Family Search.    She found my great-grandfathers Civil War Discharge papers.  She got a copy for me, she told us to keep that - someday someone would want to go further.  Thru depression and family being split up, that copy was with my papers. She had also found a printout of the Holy Bible that belonged to him, and it listed his entire  family.She told  me to keep it, that someday I would be interested.  Those papers wre never lost, and I still have them!  My mother died when I was 19, but the papers were intact.  I always kept them with my papers, graduation diploma, marriage, one daughter, divorce, remarriage, final move to Texas, in 1958, still never did anything further with papers, but always it was in the back of my mind.

 I got started again about 6 years ago when a roommate bought a new computer and for Xmas gave me a copy of FTM.   She taught me how to use the computer
and get started searching.
 The first question I put on the net was asking about Anna Viola Palmer, my grandmother,with whom I  lived with until she died in 1926.  Within 4 days a man sent me a message that he had info. on the PALMER family (My grandmother's maiden name)  He would send a picture of her about 18 years old. Instead he sent me a BOOK  about his family, mine also, with histories going back many, many generations.  My files now runs about 1600 pages.

I visited the Dallas library and found a thin book of Illinois marriages and there was proof of my great-grandparents wedding.

Now 84, I have 1 daughter, 4 grands, 8 great-grands and 2 gggrands, the youngest will have his first birthday at the end of January.  His father is in the Army in Germany.
Just recently found a 1918 copy of my mother's brother's discharge info. from WW1. They only had one daughter, who died 3 weeks BEFORE  I located her
address in Fla. She was also 84.   No children, end of  that line!  Off to another line.
                       So, never give up!!!                   Viola Moslein,



My maternal grandmother knew a lot about her family, partly because she was descended from a very well known American theologian who lived mostly in the
first half of the 18th century. She was proud of it and kept her descendants well informed.

My mother's older brother, in adulthood, took up the cause of tracing their paternal line in Canada and back to Ireland, to the extent that he and a 2nd cousin once removed arranged a family reunion in 1983 in Saskatchewan, which my husband and I attended. Sadly, he lost a great deal of his material that was in a briefcase because he set it down outside his hotel room door while he was overseeing the arrival of the rest of his luggage and it was stolen.
It was never recovered, but I think he was able to refer to notes he had left at home in California and replace much of what was lost. Even more sadly, he was soon after stricken with encephalitis and lived out his remaining years unaware in a nursing home in Stanislaus County, California.
His daughter packed up all his genealogy materials and mailed them off  to the previously mentioned 2nd cousin (my 3rd cousin) who had stopped "doing" genealogy for personal reasons.

Then my aunt injured her back riding on a jet ski, and required surgery. During her convalescence she started playing with Family Tree Maker and gave me a copy of my line. I got hooked, bought FTM, and am now addicted.

Connie


I had always been interested in who my ancestors were and the places they immigrated from. But working and raising a family only left me with enough time to do small bits of research.  Every now and then the grandkids would ask "Grandma, I have a school project on who and where my ancestors came from-Can you help me with this?? "  Of course, I could fill in the basic information, always enough to get them through their school project, but I knew there was more to the story then what I could tell them.

The real beginning came about five years ago when I was visiting the cemetery where my Grandparents and some other relatives were buried. In this same cemetery my Ggrandparents were also buried.  All of a sudden, I had an urgency to find my Ggrandparents grave.  I had never visited their gravesite before.  I walked the whole cemetery to find it and when I finally did, while visiting their grave, it seemed as if my Ggrandmother was asking me to find out more about the family. This
feeling has never left me. What it is she wants me find out, I have no idea. Since I started doing this research on my dad's side of the family, I have been able to visit
their home town in Luxemburg and visit the church they were married in. Walking the same streets that my Ggrandparents walked in their time was an awesome feeling.

Now on my Mother's side, a cousin of mine had done research some time ago so I didn't get real involved with it.  But one day while cleaning out closets, I found
an old brown envelope that I had stored away maybe 15 years ago.  I opened it to find out in it was all the genealogy information that was given to her from my
cousin.  ( I had completely forgotten she had given this to me) My mother was always interested in genealogy as well, but never pursed it except by hearsay.  So
now I am tracking down her side of the family also.  They came from "Austria". I now know the area they came from is known today as Slovenia Well, needless to say -I never did that closet cleaned out that day once I opened that envelope!!!!  I guess my mother knew who to give that envelope to, as the rest of my family has no interest in Genealogy and probably would have thrown it all away.
I have letters written by her from the late 1980's when she corresponded with my cousin.Just to see her handwriting today gives me a presence of her when I am working on her family.  She passed away in 1998. There is a lot more to my story, but will wait until another time to add it.



     After my mother died in 1994 I got to thinking that I was now the matriarch of the family and would be asked many questions about the family by the younger members.  I didn't know that much other than nationalities and a few names that ran through my head every now and then.  One day, about three years ago, I put my Dutch great-great grandfather's name into a search engine.  A whole family web site came up with pictures that I had never seen and names I had only heard of.  A second cousin of mine had done a whole lot of family research and had made the web site.  I can remember today seeing the face of my great-great grandmother for the first time on that computer screen with tears rolling down my face.  I was hooked and from then on I have been diligent in my research, time permitting.  Last summer I was my "Cemetery Summer".  I traveled to nine different cemeteries in my area after researching grave locations.  I took many photos and wrote down cemetery landmarks for future visits.  I actually have made a cemetery book for each of the cemeteries I visited.  It contains the photos I took and the grave locations.  I also included obituaries and photos of the deceased (if I had any) plus an index at the back of each booklet stating who these people were and just how they were related to my brother, my sisters, and myself.
Hopefully, these books will be a legacy for the younger family members.  I am happy to say that last summer I stood at the grave of my fraternal grandmother for the very first time.  She died before I was born.  I also stood at the graves of all eight of my great-grandparents and six of my great-great grandparents.  I have since located the gravesites of another set of great-great grandparents and will visit there next summer.  Last summer was my "genealogy summer" and I am hoping that it won't be my last....


 As a teen ager I heard about my aunt that was doing "family history". I think my response was, "What's she doing THAT for?"  She sent a pedigree chart to her siblings and I 'think' they all kept them but really had no idea what it was telling them.
  In 1994 I was told we were related to a notable person, Felix WALKER, so I asked a neighbor (who volunteers at the local genealogy library) as to how I could start checking on this.  She sent me to the local public library who had this large book, "Genealogies In The Library Of Congress".  Indeed I did find him there with his ancestors.
  I sort of 'wasted' one entire trip to Salt Lake City Family History Library copying everything I could find on the man and his family.  I now am the proud owner of a 4 inch 3 ring binder of information and I believe I have DISPROVED we are related to him.  But I feel it is just as important to disprove as prove, as the case may be.
  But the largest problem I have is my grandfather, James Green ORANDER.  As so very many (if not most of us) have done is not ask questions when there was someone alive to answer them.
  He told his daughters he was born in Patrick County, Virginia on 20 June 1874, to William Pleasant ORANDER and Barbara Ann GIBERT and was 'orphaned at about 7 years old'.  I obtained his application for Social Security, in his own handwriting and he did in fact give them as his parents.
  Neither my aunt who did genealogy for 20+ years or I in my 8 years have been able to prove anything he said except he said he and a friend rode bicycles out from Virginia to Nebraska, where he met and married my grandmother in 1902.  I did finally get a snapshot from his 'neice' showing these 2 men with their bicycles  taken in Illinois, so I presume it was on their trek.  I have NO idea if he had a destination in mind or if he just found a job--wife--etc and decided to stop roaming.
  I first found him in the 1900 census living with a man in Sheridan Township, Washington County, Nebraska and he was listed as a "servant". Since there is no 1890 I searched the 1880 of Patrick County, Virginia and did indeed find him listed as a 5 year old son with his 'mother', Barbry Ann ARNDEN and it stated she was a widow.  Then I searched the 1870 census for Patrick County, Virginia, and there is his 'mother', Barbara Ann ORRENDER , age 35, living with her sister and family (back in Patrick County, Virginia) and listed her four children: John J. 16; Nancy A. 13; William P. 10 and Alice Virginia 2.   No husband around. ?? Then I find the entire family in 1860 in Stokes County, North Carolina; William Pleasant ORRENDER, wife Barbara Ann and three children: John Jefferson born 1853; Nancy Ann born 1855 and William Pleasant, (Jr.) born 1857.
  We have not found a death or burial place for either of these two 'parents'.
  I have corresponded with searchers on the GILBERT side and they are quite certain that William Pleasant ORRENDER died before 1870 and that James Green ORANDER must be an illegitimate child of ???? Barbara Ann or even one of Barbara Ann's daughters. ??? This supposed 'brother' is 21 years older and his supposed 'sister' is 17 years older.  Noone has found a record of a second marriage for Barbara Ann Gilbert ORRENDER.
  There was one 'neice' that I am sure knew  the information I was seeking.  She married into a family that was almost revered and would not have any 'scandal' in their family.  She told me to write my questions and she would answer them.  She was a retired school teacher and VERY sharp at 96. She lived alone and drove her own car etc.  So I compiled my questions and left large spaces for her to write the answers, sent a self addressed stamped envelope.  She replied once and did not answer a single question but gave me some "background" and told me of the hilly country around there etc.
  Well, she died at 96 and took all the information with her to her grave, it seems.
  So, outside of that 1880 census the only information I have on his background is what he himself has said.  On his marriage record he gave his parents as: William ORINDER and Barbara GILBERT.
  So I now am the proud owner of  about 10 large 3 ring binders of people I still have not proved as related to him.  I keep them so I can pass on information anyone asks about them and in hopes of someday being able to link my grandfather to at least some of them.
  The very best New Years gift I could receive is all the pictures and possibly the REAL information this 96 year old neice left behind regarding my grandfather.  I am 76 years old.  Should I still believe in miracles?
  Thanks for a great list and SUPER listers.
Happy new year to you all.
Maxine


I was at one of my brothers funerals last Jan. and afterwardsall the family got together(the only time anymore it seems is at a funeral) and of course everyone talking about dead family members,etc.,later my neice was asking about her grandparents,she really never knew. so I said I would make an album of the family phoyos that had been my parents, well started making copies,and putting names with info into the book,and I just decided to start finding out about some of these people mysef,that I never knew.My fathers side I knew about and the info. was coorect(my gggrandfather was a mormon pioneer) my mother always said her fathers side of family came on the mayflower. Well they didn't! James Veitch"the sheriffe" came to the america in 1651. So far thats the only story that wasn't true,everything else I rember relatives telling is true.
I just wish I had gotten started sooner, I always thought all of my mothers relatives were dead. She still had a living aunt that died in april of this year. at age 96. I'm sure she could have told me a lot. But I am meeting lots of distant cousins from my fathers side.
Sue in Idaho


Hello Folks:
I must add a few words. I was not really interested in a long list of relatives, but my brother retired and started a search. He wrote the Bureau of Vital Stat. in Washington D.C. and got the names of all the Hepner people in the U.S. then proceeded to send an inquiry to all of them.

A couple of hundred answered, and to make a long story shorter, he went to see them.  Then told me I could join the DAR. I was not really interested then.

Well, I decided to self-publish a Family Cook Book,(  1985) so I asked  all the relatives that I knew, to send a recipe and also to write  a page about their respective Dad, Mom or grandparent. My brother took up the torch and wrote a synopsis of the  family history, and I included it in the Cook Book, as well as all the family stories. I made everyone pay in advance and when a local print shop finished, I had the addresses, money and mailed them out.

My brother then passed away, and all the "legal" records were lost in somebody's garage, so I started getting curious and decided, since we had the story, perhaps I could make use of it.
As a result of the internet, I found the guy he got much of information from, and he sent it all to me, and now have compiled enough records to submit to DAR membership.

Of course, I am still plugging away. I now have a web site and have published my brother's story for others to see. It is on the first page at the bottom, and the web address is available to you if you email me. The names besides Hepner, are Batdorf, Walborn, Feg, Stonebraker.

Have a great 2003.   Mary   [email protected]



my Father and his brother was raised in the boys home in Birmingham,AL. my uncle never married but my dad raised 10 kids he lied about his age and joined the Marines and was very proud.
As he got older he would remember bits of his youth in Paulaski,TN.
When he passed away I got hooked into finding out about his people to make a long story short,after much digging I got a family reunion together and 71 family members came together not knowing much about each other,and this was in 1998 and have had one every sense with more showing up every year my daddy would have been very happy!!!!!
-- Lynda Alabaster,AL.


I had no idea that searching for one's roots could be so gratifying.  For the longest time, starting when I was 4 years old, asking my mother "where is my Daddy?' I now am discovering who I am.  My father left England when he was 17 as a shiphand going to Canada.  My mother left England when she was 18 and married my father when she was 23.  I was born in 1940 when my mother was 28.  My father joined the Canadian Army when I was 6 months old.  If it had not been for my life's struggle to seek answers as to why I was an only child, why my father didn't come home like all the other kids dads did,  and why my Aunt & Uncle whom I grew up with, would not let me ask any questions about my father, I would have given up long ago.  I always felt that my father had a history that would connect me somehow to "blood" relatives thereby creating a "family" for me.  I took action to do something about the "lost feeling" that I had when my grand daughter 8yrs old, started asking questions about my childhood for a school project.  She was very good interviewing me, asking questions like  "What were your grand parents like?....How many Aunts & Uncles  did you have?....Where did they live?...How many cousins do you have?" Why did your father die?......It wasn't until I heard these questions reverberating in my head that I realized I had to do something about it.  My grand daughter was asking the same questions that I originally asked when I was a young child.  I now have the Canadian Army War Service Records of my Father, Certificate of marriage of my fathers' parents, both disclosing information re brothers etc.  I have also found five 2nd cousins, still living.  Their mother & my father shared the same grand father.  I was so overcome with the news via e-mail, via an answer to a querie on a Message List, that it took me a couple of days to get my act together. Old photos were exchanged which provided "proof" that we were connected.  If it had not been for my grand daughter doing a school project, I would have always wondered about my heritage.  I have since come across a book called "DOOM BUSTERS" and one of the passages reads "  IF YOU"RE NOT LOOKING FOR A SOLUTION, THEN YOU'RE HALF THE PROBLEM "  I am so grateful for the oportunity to receive and share this genealogy information with all of you listers.  I wish for all of you a year filled with all that you desire.  Being an only child, I now feel connected with family type, 'like minded' people who help me to enjoy the day to day challenges to overcome.  This site has chased away so many ghosts in my life and opened doors to a lifetime of learning.  Thanks, sincerely.
Bonnie, Perth, West Australia.


My mother and her cousin were interested in genealogy.  They didn't have much of either time or the money to gather documents and peruse dusty files in old court rooms. This was pre-computer days, when genealogy was even more challenging. But, they had collected family documents and newspaper clippings and miscellaneous notes saved by my grandmother and my great grandfather.

They organized and preserved all that they had. They wrote letters to distant family members.  They stomped through old cemeteries collecting as many names as they could. One day, with her eyesight and energy failing, my mother asked if I would want to have the results of her years of effort.  What could I say?  No?

"Sure, Mom.  I'd love to have it all!" (Fingers crossed behind my back.)  She was delighted. "Well, then," said she, "do you think you could find out something about (third great) Grandma Herndon for me?  There were always such wonderful stories about her and I would love to know where she came from."

Oh gee!  I was stuck.  The good news was that there is an LDS library nearby.  The bad news was that I had never done anything like this and had never gone near a computer.  But, the staff at LDS are wonderfully helpful and patient.

They got me somewhat oriented and so I began the search for Fanny Herndon.  Couldn't find her and was getting really rattled trying to go through all those computer discs and make that peculiar machine behave for me.  Finally it occurred to me to look for her brother, Archer.  A man might be easier to find. So, I started over.  Typed in the name.  Changed the computer discs umpteen more times.  My patience was wearing VERY thin.  But, then, on the screen, there they were, all gathered together!  There were Archer and Grandma Francis Herndon with all their siblings AND their parents!  I gasped, "OH MY GOD!" in a loud, inappropriate voice.  This was in a church after all. Bless them, they didn't throw me out.  I was hooked. This first family I "met" was marvelously colorful and interesting. I've been chasing ancestors ever since. Thank you, Mom.

Phyllis Braga in the NY Helderbergs



I first learned that my family was born in Ireland when I found the 1900 Federal census entry.  I found a cousin who had all the bmd dates from the family Bible. I ordered every record I could.  Each one said that Hugh (my G-Grandfather) was born in Newtownards, Co. Down.  I joined the Co. Down list and posted a query.  SKS send me the marriage record for my G-Grandparents.
Hugh was from Ballyhay, Donaghadee Parish, Co. Down.  (But,  Hugh was not born in Donaghadee Parish. He was born in Newtownards Parish on the family
farm named Green Hill.)

I researched what records were available.  HA!  Few records exist in Ireland.  But I discovered that the dirth of records led volunteers to record Gravestone Inscriptions in all of Co. Down.

I ordered the microfiche and found my G-G-Grandparent's:

                                                       GORDON  Erected by Agnes Gordon of Ballyhay
                                                       in memory of her beloved husband Hugh Gordon
                                                       who departed this life on the 3rd day of June 1868
                                                                      aged 62 years.
                                                            A loving husband and father dear,
                                                            A tender brother sleepeth here,
                                                            Great was the loss we did sustain
                                                            But hope in Heaven to meet again.
                                  Also her son Samuel aged 28 years, engineer of the S. S. Cambria, who was
                                drowned by the wreck of the above steamer on the 19th October 1870.  Also the
                                 above named Agnes Gordon who departed this life 7th May 1895 aged 85 years.


I got Griffith's Valuation of Ireland for Ballyhay.  I networked.  I wrote to churches for records.  I found cousins,  bmd's, friends, a six page obit....

I've found nine cousins in Ireland and countless cousins in the U.S.  I also have cousins in NZ, Australia, England and Scotland.

                         Sandra



I have always been interested in my ancestors and even asked questions & took notes over the years. However, my curiosity was not strong enough back then to pursue it any further.  My dear sweet grandmother (deceased 6 years ago) tried to interest me and I enjoyed listening to her talk about things she had discovered in her research. But I was a young mother at that time and didn't feel I had the time to do the research. Fast forward a couple + a few more years okay, when...
A strange group of coincidences over a period of several weeks pushed and tugged at my dormant curiosity until I could no longer ignore it!  It started when, just out of curiosity I asked my husband some questions about his birth mother. She had died when he was 13. We had never really talked about her much and I wanted to know what she was like. He said he couldn't remember much about how she looked except she had red hair. I thought that was really very sad.
 A week or so later I decided to get our family pictures organized. This decision had nothing to do with that earlier conversation. It was simply a matter of years of taking pictures and never taking the time to put them in reasonable order so we could enjoy them! While going through a box of pictures I found an envelope that contained wedding pictures of his parents.  He had forgotten he even had them! You see, he was active duty when his grandmother died and before he left, to attend her funeral, he asked me what I thought he should ask for as a keepsake. I told him if it were me I'd ask for pictures or something she had made. When he returned he got back just in time to deploy on a Med cruise. Those pictures he brought home with him remained in that envelope forgotten for about 10 years until I opened that box! This was the first time I had seen them. What a treasure I thought!
I was so excited when I recalled our recent conversation about his mother I could not wait to show him the pictures! He was at work and I was so delighted for him I was bursting to share the news. That is when I decided to call my parents. When my dad answered the phone I told him, "You won't believe the treasure I found today!" After I told my dad what I had found and explained why it was so special, he agreed it was very special. Then my dad said to me, "Speaking of treasures, you won't believe the treasure in front of me." Then he told me he was looking at my grandpa's (his father) papers and in those papers was a list of his ancestors, a little journal, and other personal papers.
That's when it hit me (or is that bit me?)!  I had no idea what I was really getting into! I began my search in March 1999 and expected to complete it in time to present it to my older children at Christmas! <smile> .........  I wanted more than just some names and some dates. I want to visualize them, I want to be able to imagine their lives, and their thoughts! I want to know about their sorrows and their joys! I won't be satisfied with just generic details. I want details for my specific families and individuals. To me that is what makes them real and interesting! Since I started I have made only a little progress on those two family lines. I have made some incredible progress on my mothers family. I have made many new friends and met several "new" cousins I didn't know I had. A few of those cousins would never have been known to me if I had not started researching! One of the best discoveries has been this Gen-Newbie mailing list! This list is like another family to me! Unfortunately, this past year has been difficult for me to research but I am hoping to be able to do more research this New Year 2003!
Peggy M.


Joyce Ragels said:
"What began as a minor hunt has become a major part of my life...I am a hopeless addict and will remain gleefully so."
That pretty much explains what happened to me and my attitude toward genealogy. I began searching for information about my mothers family in 1999. She died when I was 12 and I knew little about her background except that she was raised in an orphanage in Oklahoma. Her father was killed in a train accident when she was 5 and her mother died when she was born. Not a pretty picture. I was ecstatic--as some of you may recall-- when I found the orphanage and some of the documents surrounding my grandfathers death. I haven't been able to trace either the MANN or PEASE family back to the next generation But I keep digging I have some pretty strong maybes on the MANN side. I wasn't even going to pursue my fathers side of the family. My parents were divorced when I was young and I didn't think I was really interested in knowing much about the CAREY's, WRONG! One evening out of frustration I entered my father's grandfathers name, PAULLIN, at Ancestry and went back to the Revolutionary  War. Then I posted a query on the WARFIELD board and someone sent me a picture of my greatgrandmother! That was it -- I was hooked. I became fascinated wanting to know these people and how they lived it has been an amazing adventure that keeps me up way too late at night! Speaking of famous people it's quite a stretch but through the warfield's we can get back to the Duchcess of Windsor!

Throughout my married life my mother-in-law talked about the genealogy research she and her sisters had done and all that she had found. She didn't really show us anything just talked about it, she seemed so interested and excited about it. She died in the fall of 2000 and the task of cleaning out the house fell to my husband and I. Thankfully I had just enough genealogy under my belt that I knew we needed to be watchful and keep everything together. As we cleaned we watched and watched and found nothing until we began in some back closets and then we found grocery bags and boxes stuffed with letters, documents, pictures, etc. What a mess. No organization what-so-ever. As bad as it was it was also wonderful, this lady never threw away any correspondence and I have a whole new respect for what genealogical research was before the computer came along. As we went through things I separated into BROWN, WHITE, and GATLIFF boxes and just this past week have begun the task ordering  and entering the data. The marvelous thing is that unlike my family I can enter all the dates and go all the way to England with the BROWNS but more importantly there are all the letters and stories between the sisters that puts lives and times in perspective -- I can hardly pull myself away. Sadly many of the pictures are unmarked. I don't know if we'll ever be able to figure it all out, but I am doomed to wander in marvelous old court houses, libraries, archives, and spend late nights traveling cyberspace seeking my elusive kin.

I am so thankful I found this list, I am also glad to know there really are alot of newbies on the list! I was thinking there were mostly very accomplished, experienced genealogists out there. Thankfully all of the very experienced folks are also patient and supportive teachers!

Happy New Year everyone
Bee in Nebraska



I was interested in family history since I was 16, my mother gave me a list of her family and my fathers, but no dates.  Didn't do any thing till my 3 boys were all out of the house.  Then I took a genealogy, for 10 weeks at Akron University.
Sure glad I did, got started right.  That was in 1970. I worked on my dads family and compiled a family history.  Had to buy a 100 books to get it printed.  They are all gone much to my surprise.  Then my son, said, it would have been much easier if I had did the book on the computer.  I had typed it and made the index on the typewriter.  So he took me to look at them when he came home from CA.  I didn't know anything about computers but I learned.  My son that lives around here, helped and I had bought the computer from a local store, they ordered Roots 3 for me and put it on.
I belonged to the genealogical society in Wayne Co. OH.  A man there kept me going on the Roots 3 program.  By 1995 I had compiled 5 more families and  had them printed at Kinko.  Much cheaper and I could get as many as I wanted.
Now I have "Family Tree Legends."
My husband used his vacations to take me all over the country, to Courthouses, libraries and Salt Lake City to the Morman Library, Ft. Wayne, IN and so on & on.  Now I have to use the internet as I am alone and don't drive. I was 88 this year.
Marge from Ohio.


How did I get started?  As a child I read immigrant stories and thought it would be "cool" if there was a successful immigrant in our family.  I asked  parents where we came from, and for a while counted on my fingers "English, Irish, Scotch, French and German"  Just enough fingers. I especially liked the Irish idea.

I never knew grandparents.  Of the 18 or so aunts and uncles, I only knew three.  Parents and their siblings were all busy making their living and raising children, and didn't correspond much.  However, we cousins, when on our own, began visitingeach other and the aunts and uncles. When my mother died in 1944, I was back living at home while husband was in WW11.  It became my job to sift through Mother's things; to sort and toss or keep.  One sister was there to help.  We had photos, letters, and some notes of information from aunts back in Missouri.

When my oldest sister retired and moved nearby, she had a battered suitcase of family material that she was going to organize and type up the records. It happens she died before she started that project, so the next sister and I took up the challenge.  We chose sides, and worked out our own format.  She recorded our mother's family, and I our father's.  Then she left my place and traveled into California and Arizona, visiting her sons.  She stopped to visit a cousin in Arizona who intoduced her to the "real"way to go about recording and finding information, with ancestor charts and family group sheets; by LDS libraries and queries in "The Helper"  By the time she returned to my place on her way home to Alaska, there were several letters in answer to those she had written to possible cousins.
We found relatives close by and visited, and started re-writing, using the forms available.  We also visited libraries.  I remember my first find, an article in a historical society bulletin "Three Leachman Family Bibles" That did it.  There, in a book was the marriage of a ggrandfather and mother!  We were hooked for sure.
made.

  Then my sister went home again, and it seems most of the searching was up to me.  I've contributed one chapter to a printed family history, and piled up a lot of paper.  A goal had been to find the immigration of families to colonial America, believing we could then connect with European records.
Some relatives have shown  the arrival of two or three immigrants, but we're still stuck in early eighteenth century in Virginia for the ancestors of parents' surname lines.  I definitely don't have enough fingers now.  The English part is no doubt true.  One line was French Hugenot, one German, but I've given up the Irish green for Oregon green.  Helen



Mom is a pack rat, of the OCD hoarding order. Upon un-earthing her home I  found "I had not only family" but..... that she may well have been keeper of ALL!
In two/three years I've dispersed various items (or copies) to  proper lines. Letters, books, funeral cards, bibles, pictures, news clippings, watches, paintings, medals, ribbons, wills, deeds, obits, a Navy  hat, a clock, funeral books, lake boat records, poor records, stories,  store records, farm records, temperance records, calendars, furniture,  pension records, report cards, baptismal records, marriage & death  certificates, &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&, more than I can think of & I'm not  even 1/2 done I'm sure.
It all started with I wanted MORE information :O) & LIVING family contact.  I called a cousin I knew (at the time I knew 1 cousin on each side of my  family but had little or no contact with since a child) At the time told her I'd found  many photos' I had no clue on & mom wasn't cooperating or no longer  remembered. My cousin suggested I contact her brother who'd done some genealogy  years ago. Little did she know he was still doing it & he was shocked at  the volume of info I had. (I was too, lol) He'd been searching the dead for 15  years but the wealth was coming from the living now it seemed. Needless to  say, we've found many family members to date & I've even meet a few. One  traveling all the way from AK to the East Coast to meet me :O)
Last summer we held a small family reunion (1st time since like '74) where  we brought some of our genealogy info which of course wow'd many/most.
We're presently up to a doz. or more gen-hunters across the country. :O)  (though I'm still the sorter & spell checker, lol)
Better yet, mom has come around & looks forward to e-mails from family now,  some she knew long ago. She'll tell stories & has lead us to many missing  pieces of the family puzzle. We've got her writing relatives, asking  questions & mailing copies of lines. I believe if I'd not questioned so, more than much would have be lost.
I'm an only child thus I'm not in fear of tossing w/out  looking & learning first (though my family wishes it were quicker & there's  days I do too, lol). We even had to buy a lg. barn for this mass sorting,  but it's been a blessing for many.
Moms happier than she's been in years,  she's fighting us less in hoarding & has a new spark w/she can correct us, lol. She's 81 I'm guessing this will add to her longevity in the end :O)
Ahhhhhh, she's even baking again too :O)

 The saga continues :O)....................................... cool!
 'raine
  S*N*Y*D*E*R_S*I*M*O*N*S_H*A*Y*N*E*S_W*R*I*G*H*T_P*E*T*E*R*S*O*N



 

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