What I Wish I'd Known When I Got Started In Genealogy

A Trip Down Memory Lane

The major things I wish I had know when I got started in genealogy is:

1. To write everything down or record conversations with family members.  And when you write it down make sure to include every tidbit of information, the "Who", "What", "When", and " Where" answers to questions help a lot. And, to remember that any little hint about a person's life may come in handy at sometime or the other.

Now, the memories of riding down the road and visiting cemeteries with family members and listening to their stories of their family have faded with time and would help so much in putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

2. To realize that older family members do not live forever and their memories are invaluable and precious. They remember things that other members of the family may not recall.
I wish I had known my father-in-law's memory would decline so fast from Parkinson's and that my older family members would not be here to share their memories. I wish we had taken more time to spend just on the subject of our family roots and the generations that came before us.

3. That asking questions and getting to know family members would bring us closer.  And that along the way I would find other family members; "cousins" with a common interest and that we would become great friends because of this common interest in genealogy. Friends, kin by blood, that would help each other fill in the blanks in areas that we didn't know about our family...and, helping them to do the same.

4. That when you become the family genealogist that it is for the rest of your life.  This is your baby, to nurture, to care for and to insure that future generations know their family.  That this is your legacy to your children and grandchildren and all family members to remember the ones that came before them.

5. That all these memories of trips down memory lane are for a greater purpose.  That in some way or the other our ancestors' lives have touched our own. And that their memory would make them real, so real that tears have been shed for the lives that they lived.  That we had a lesson to learn from their lives, the trials and tribulations they went through to raise a family, and their children went on to raise a family, that eventually we became a part of that family.   That we would not be here if not for them.

Come along with me...I have stories to tell...let's take a trip down memory lane.