Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Introduction

This new blog is where I will put my adventures into genealogy.

My mother was the historian for her family, as well as my dad's family. SInce the 1960s, she traced her father's family back to the late 1700s in England, and my father's family back to the late 1600s in England, all with the old tools of the genealogical trade -- libraries, letters, and cemeteries.

When she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, the baton was passed to me. I've always had an interest in her work, and had followed it from a young age. I urged her many times to computerize her information, but she resisted, not feeling comfortable with the computer. So, three years ago, I brought the first box of documents home with me.

I began at Ancestry.com, which I've found to be an amazing resource. I took one of the countless family tree sheets that started with my mother and father. I just started typing in the names and dates. That first day, I spent four hours in front of the computer screen. I came out with a headache and sore eyes, but I had entered ancestors into the system back to my great grandparents on both sides.

When that first little green leaf appeared on Ancestry, which indicates that a search has found a match in the records, I was excited. I opened up a Census record from 1930 with my dad's family, showing my dad at 4 years old. Then I opened the image of the actual Census rollup sheet. I had my first historical document proving my history. I was a little overwhelmed.

Over the next three months, I spent every spare hour entering data from Mom's archives.One of the most amazing things was how much my mother had accomplished with no computers -- only letters, libraries, county registrars, and historical societies.