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Sunday, April 19, 2009

Neglected! And Digging Up Bones!!!

Well, it seems like the past few days I have neglected everything from reading blogs of my friends, to my facebook friends, to not making the bed or doing the dishes. All this in favor of working on my family tree. As I have mentioned before I have 25,000 people in my database all related to me but for the past couple years I have had it on the back burner and not done too much with it.

About two weeks ago a friend asked me if I knew anything about her son's dad's family (they are divorced) . She felt it was very important for her son to know his roots and where he came from and to know all about his relatives. She gave me the grandparents names and I decided to see what I could find to help her out. It was just the incentive I needed to get back into genealogy and I am so glad I did.

I started with just those two names and now I have traced portions of his family back for ten generations. As I began talking to people and looking up names and dates and birthplaces I found I could also add to my own family tree.

Then I found some old obituaries from our county all the way from 1800's through the 1960's and 70's. I found some obituaries I could use for my own genealogy. I was in
7th heaven as I read through some of those. It brought back memories of people I had known, former neighbors, people I needed to touch base with and just another basic connection with my own roots. Along with all that, I discovered new information about some of my ancestors. More squares to be added to the big picture.

Genealogy is a very rewarding hobby. I love going though old records and trying to find piece of the puzzle that fit. It gives you an understanding of what our ancestors went through and it also leaves a legacy for your children and grandchildren.

And now if you will excuse me, I will go back to Digging Up Bones. At least if I come up missing you will know where to find me.

That's it For Today!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Could you give your readers information on how you start to trace one's geneology? Where do you go online? How do you start etc. I enjoy your writing and can relate when you speak of rural life in Tennessee. I grew up in western Pennsylvania, and it is interesting how many common behaviors we have.
Gene S.