Our Growing Family Social
Learn More About Our Ancestral Lines
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We Welcome New Cousins Daily!
We Welcome New Cousins Daily!
Pssst! Every genealogist has a little secret...we've become involved in a hobby that is more than a hobby...we've become passionate about the family tree and the many branches of SURNAMES stemming from it. Yes, we'll even admit that it is an addiction...and then quickly continue to plead our case that it we are involved in a very worthwhile cause. Somewhere along the line we've become one of those family members the 2nd cousins refer to as "the family historians" (as they take a wide stroll around us to avoid the conversation involving great grandma's birth and death dates). HOWEVER, if you're around us long enough, you'll find that genealogy is contagious!
We profess to a few bouts of odd behavior. We enjoy walking through old cemeteries - we mentally file the location of those little old family plots to return to and explore when we're alone or with someone who will appreciate the hike. It doesn't have to be family members' gravesites to encite enthusiasm either (stones of the 19th century are the ones we migrate to and stones of the 18th century will bring uncontrollable "ooohs" and "aaahs"). And I'll admit I've even found myself talking to my 3rd or 4th great-grandparents on occasion. I don't think they'll answer - it just helps me to concentrate on the problem at hand. And the conversation usually goes something like, "Okay, William, fess up! Who's your pa?"
On a more serious note, I've come to believe that all of my ancestors are worthy of my quest to learn more about them. Most of them made worthy choices in order to provide a home, a home church, and a good moral upbringing for their children and grandchildren. I think they would want us to remember their dedication to these noble causes and the hardships they suffered to provide for their families. Of course, a few made mistakes along the way, but I've learned that it's true about the skeletons in everyone's closet and I choose to forgive them for their wrong-doings.
The point to this story is that this generation of genealogists has found a new source (which is one thing all genealogists pray for). And it couldn't have arrived at a better time! Just when we were wearing out tires driving all over the countryside; running out of empty bookshelves and file drawers and the wall space to set up new ones; and scraping the bottom of our penny jars for copy machine money, someone mentioned the Internet. "The what?" we questioned thoughtfully, lifting our eyes from the endless pages of birth and marriage records. And through the Internet we've found new cousins and new tidbits of information that it would have taken us much longer to find on our own. New branches sprout off of the old limbs and the family tree is fertilized. (Of course, now we've begun stocking up on floppy disks, hard drives and RAM to speed across the world more quickly!)
This is my attempt to organize our family tree and attract new contacts. Many many descendants of the various ANCESTORS are working toward the same goal and I hope that this page will help fill in some blanks for you, and help correct any errors I've made in the process of transcribing and organizing my information. By searching throughout these pages, you may be able to learn more about your links to our family and connect with some new cousins. As time allows I'll be updating these pages with any pertinent information and links to various related pages.
Please don't hesitate to correct something that you see wrong or E-MAIL me with additional information.