Aside from beginning with ourselves and working through the immediate family and so on, we began our search for Harry's roots with a few pages sent from a cousin. These pages were from "The Heritage of Watauga County, North Carolina" Volume One. The database on our "immediate" family began snowballing with the pages sent by Cousin Pat. We are so grateful that she shared this information with us. In fact, we have since purchased our own copy of this book and its companion, Volume Two, from The Genealogical Society of Watauga County. This little sapling has grown and stretched its branches beyond our wildest imaginations.

I think we feel more comfortable referring to ourselves as compilers of family history rather than as 'pure' genealogists. While we have always endeavored to locate and secure documentation on our direct blood lines (as well as on other related lines when available) we have made notes on others who are documented in sources such as heritage books, county histories, genealogies of other lines crossed with ours, family notes, etc. Every source is documented on each individual's record in our database. By the way, if you're just starting to research your family roots, CITE EVERY SOURCE in your records. Too many of us waited until we had a huge pile of data before going back and noting each detail.

Some people complain that this method of researching family history only serves to perpetuate errors in dates, etc. Obviously this is a problem, but is it better to exclude people/names because you cannot say with absolute certainty that any or every detail about that person is the gospel truth? If everyone believed and acted with this mind set, we would have very little in our family histories. Certainly, I don't want a history filled with twigs or branches that shouldn't be there, but I really appreciate any good lead! And while some of the leads we come across may not help us with our direct lines, it might help a new-found cousin down the road.

These pages were originally set up after more than a year online and countless hours "surfing" genealogy web pages/sites. I tried to take what I liked about the pages I saw, omit things I didn't like about others and implement things I thought were missing along the way. After working out the basics, I began searching graphics sites for a background and miscellaneous items that appealed to me and fit with our view of what we wanted our page to be. Our Family History made its web debut on January 13, 1997. It is now in its fourth "edition".

When we initially uploaded our page, what I did not expect was to have our entire opening page stolen...lock, stock and barrel, as they say. One person in particular copied the complete page, changed our email address to his and deleted only the data that pertained to us specifically. Or so he thought. Unfortunately his response when questioned was evasive at best. How sad that something as relatively easy to build as a web page is considered fair game by some.

In spite of everything, it is our hope that you will find these pages useful in your genealogy searches around the "Net." We are always on the lookout for new things, and we're connecting with so many "new" cousins that things will be changing around here a great deal. Come back often.