Family History - How I Caught the Genealogy Bug 2011-03-31
Family History has always meant something to me, I come from a close knit family and have always enjoyed hearing stories about the past. I caught the genealogy bug back in 2006, it started quite innocently actually, I came across an article online on the King's Daughters aka Les filles du roi and wanted to know if I was related to these women, so I had asked my Mother what her grandmothers last name was. I didn't know much about my ancestors, yes I had heard stories throughout the years, my grandmother would tell me about her mother and father. I knew she had a sister and a cousin, beyond that I really knew nothing.I didn't quite know where to start with my research and please dont ask me how I found the first site but I did, it was called Family Search and I proceeded to type in my grandmothers name. I came up with nothing, I then went to my grandfathers name and low and behold I did not find him but I found his father. Thru that I now had another name, my great grandmother. So I jotted down their names in my trusty notepad and I went off to a land where only genealogists truly know about. A place where you get lost, you can spend hours and hours researching and it doesn't even bother you.
I spent many nights up until 3:00am or 4:00am and the only reason I decided to go to sleep was because I couldn't focus any further, my eyes crossed and I'd fall asleep at my desk. I lived this way for months, only stopping to create videos and ask family for their photos.
That's another tip, I started asking family to scan their old photos for me, they had all kinds of old photos of my grandparents as children, and even my great grandparents. Below is one of the photos I found from one of my aunts, it's a photo of my grandparents on their wedding day.
I also found out that people loved the information I found, I was sharing every bit of knowledge I had with my family. I then decided to create a family tree that I could share with them online, I found a great free site called TribalPages, they also offer upgrades 3 different upgrades, their prices are from $19.99 to $36.00 a year (as of this writing).
Once I started updating the family tree they all started sending me information that they had i.e. birth dates, pictures of their children, stories that were told etc. Some were concerned about privacy which is totally understandable, so in order to make my them feel safe Tribal Pages allows you to put a password to have access to the family tree page, this way only family could have access and see it. I also could have hidden all living relatives, many software offer that service. It seemed the more I put up on the site, the more they wanted to add to it.
I still needed and wanted more, I went online and found out where my local genealogy library was so I would start spending days there. You would be surprised what you will find at the genealogy library. I think the only problem I had was that sometimes I didn't know where to start, so I grabbed my trusted notepad and looked at the first name on my list and proceeded.
I'll tell you something else about the world of genealogy, for the most part fellow genealogists love to help others out, you'll usually find someone online or at the library who is willing to guide you in the right direction. However, I do suggest if you find someone online that has information you need you can and should also offer to share some of your own. I found many were willing to share but do like something back in return which is not a problem if you have done your homework.
That's it for now, I will be back with my 2nd part of Genealogy and Family History where I'll be offering tips on how to create a photo montage of your family's genealogy.
Thanks for stopping by!
Robyn
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