Let's Begin

I have been working on genealogy since my siblings and I started planning our parents 50th wedding anniversary 15 years ago. As I worked on an album of pictures and a slide show, I realized how much I didn't know. So I started asking questions. I found interview questions and started bugging mom and dad. I learned a lot.

 But I wanted more.

I got basics for the project, but that led to a subscription to Ancestry.com, trips to the library, then trips to libraries, and connections to people who are related through Ancestry.

I've learned a lot.

But I want more.

I hope you do too.

Mom and Dad have been gone for us for a while now. We are losing those who can tell our stories. If we don't get the stories written, their stories end. We have relatives who have been forgotten. I want to know others care about the stories. I want those of you in the older generation to know WE care about the stories.

I've lived so far away and dad either didn't know or didn't want to share, so I don't have many stories. I want to know more about my southern heritage. I have facts discovered from census records and other resources found on Ancestry. But how sad that my great-grandfather, who all I've talked with have said was a good man is all but forgotten? He died and no one knows when. He changed names and no one knows why. These are stories lost. Or are they?

Do you know stories about relatives, now gone, who's stories will be gone if you don't let someone know.  Share. No story is insignificant, because every story builds personality. Every story builds connection. Every story contributes to legacy. Their lives matter. Our lives matter. Your life matters.

If you don't write dictate to someone who does. If you don't have stories interview and record our older generation and then share here. Tell the stories. If you need suggestions, check the link to questions on the side.

Share.