I grew up with very little family. Genealogy has changed that for me in more ways than one. I have found cousins. Cousins have found me. And there is my growing "genealogy family". Plus there are all these dead folk who never ever disagree with me! Could I get any luckier?
When I first started , I had closed my business and was looking for a cheap hobby to keep me busy for a little while. I know some of you seasoned genealogists are laughing when you hear cheap, but the truth is Ive spent very little money. Ok , Ancestry.com is an expensive , but other than that , I only spend what I can afford to spend. There is something strangely delicous about having to wait a month to send away for a birth certifcate. I confess I haven't gone across the pond though. My expenses might wrack up then.
I have , however, spent an inordinate amount of time posting on different message boards ,etc. First there is Ancestry.com. Buckets full of last names to post to. Then , Cousinconnect.com..I havent found any relatives there yet but I know I will. Curtin .org and Ancestry.com on Facebook.
In addition to all of these there are websites to read ..that will lead me somewhere else. I could never forget Cyndislist.com. That would be like forgetting to eat the chocolate pudding in my fridge.
What has genealogy done for you and what are your favorite sites?
Last spring I downloaded a free My Heritage Family Tree and put in my information. About six weeks later I got a message that they found matches.
ReplyDeleteMy matches were in Germany and who I had found was a grand daughter of a sibling of my grandfather. He, Willi, had emigrated in 1926 and had five sisters who remained in Germany.
Her mother was still alive and she was able to identify all the sisters on the 90 year (or so) family portrait of them I had.
We have swapped information and pictures and via Google Translate are able to communicate. Her mother was able to name all the sisters in my picture, a thing I had thought would have been impossible. Her mom was so glad to get the pictures because hers had been destroyed in the war.
Thats fabulous. I have dreams of such things happening. Did you know you were German or not?
ReplyDeleteMy favourite newly discovered site it the genealogy search engine http://mocavo.com/ , it is still mainly US based but is adding sites all the time.
ReplyDeleteI have awarded you the "One Lovely Blog Award", please stop by my blog and pick it up http://storiesfrommanymoonsago.blogspot.com/2011/04/one-lovely-blog-award.html
I must say I'm a huge fan of the GenWeb sites. Free and often chock full of information.
ReplyDelete