Saturday Night Fun -- Sunday Morning

Randy Seaver, over at Genea-Musings, has issued his weekly challenge: "What event or person inspired you to start your genealogy research?"

For me, it was the absence of information. As I mentioned earlier, my husband's mother gifted us with a family tree for his dad's family that went back a couple of hundred years. It made me think about what I didn't know about my family. My dad rarely got together with his brother's family, and I could count on three fingers the number of times I could remember seeing his parents before they passed. Just not a close knit family. I knew my mother's family, but not where they were from, other than they were Lithuanian (several Lithuanian dishes had made it to the table when Grandma was visiting). Even when I started research, Dad wasn't very forthcoming with information...always glad to hear what I had found, frequently saying "Oh, yeah, I do remember that", but also a bit bemused that anyone would be interested.

I started with census records and was hooked. Back then, they were only available until the 1910 census, and I took a trip to the National Archives to read the films. It was amazing to me that there was all this information about people who lived so long ago. After that, the hunt was on! Now, I'm squinting my way through online images of land warrants that date to 1715, from the comfort of my home!

So, thanks to my mother-in-law for what she knew, and my dad for what he wasn't telling! And thanks to Randy, for the inspiration!