Okay -- so are all members new genealogical folks or have you all been researching for a while?

I had been being pushed to research family for a while in junior high and high school but ignored it for the most part. then when I was older and the elders who were urging me into it were gone I wished I'd not ignored it. The usual genealogical lament.

Then I formed a new best friendship with a fellow parent in the neighborhood and in our conversations we discovered we were both into researching family tree -- and away we went -- we went at it for a decade or so and then it got lost in life events until recently since we are both now retirees. In fact husband and I will join her and her husband in February at a day long genie seminar in their town a ways north from us and we are kicking around the idea of a week sojourn with help in Salt Lake City just to get motivated if nothing else developes.

Off to check out the books listed!

I'm 14, and i've been at it since i was in fourth grade. I found out that a few of my camp friends are related to me......its a small, small world.

I've been at it off and on in the past but its only since more became available on the Internet
that I've had more luck adding to the facts I
already knew. This past year especially has been
very productive thanks to the help I've been
given,

I've been at it off and on over the past years as well. I lucked out and found someone online who was researching one of the branches of my family tree, and he had a ton of information to share. He had been to Salt Lake City and over to England where this particular branch came from, so it was a great find. I just haven't had time lately to do anything. I have an older version of Family Tree Maker, but I haven't touched it in years (it's actually on an old computer that I don't use anymore, so I should get that information off it!).

Don't you just have to LOVE it when you fall into those connections with a big chunk of research which happens to be your line as well as the person who did the work? It is also great fun when such a connection solves a riddle for both parties.

I had the same thing happen -- found a man who had written a book on one my lines and that took me all the way back to the 1600's in Switzerland -- I was amazed -- but then it also opened a few new questions which I now need to resolve. That's the way it works -- a big step forward and a few steps back.

A man who is related to my Great Grandmother on my Dad's side found my aunt a few years ago. She then gave him my address and through him I have research for a branch of my family going back to 1200's in Holland.

Hello, I have been doing my genealogy for 34 years now and I still have not found a stopping point. My Grandmother started me when I was 17 and I have been going since. The only times I have slowed down was during the time I was raising my two children.

I have been researching my family for over 30 yrs. It moved along at a snail's pace until the Internet came on the scene. My family came mostly from England with records dating back to the first colonists in the 1600s. I am also a member of DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution). Most of my ancestors moved from their Virginia home to Kentucky after the Revolutionary War. Although I have traced some of my direct lines back to colonial times, I have a couple of other direct lines that are brick walls for me from the mid-1800s and later.

I now have 14,951 individuals in my database. When you get started, you don't know when the least thought-of connection pops up.

I could probably set up my own library with all the genealogy books and references that I have collected over the years. Since I love to read about history and mystery, genealogy is the perfect hobby for me.

I got bit by the genealogy bug 2 years ago. I had a copy of a 10-year old handwritten family tree someone had started on. I used that as a starting point and while I was putting the info in Family Tree Maker, I was able to use the Internet feature to fill in many gaps. Within the first year of my work, I got into contact with 30 long-lost family members all over the U.S. who had also lost touch with each other. For fun I sent out family reunion invitations and 35 people showed up, some from 3000 miles away! Everyone was finally back in touch with each other and loving it. My genealogy finds have really enriched my life :)

I peppered my elders with questions as soon as I could talk and really have not quit yet. They probably wish I would though! Some relatives even threatened to quit telling me things because I was writing everything down that they told me, word for word. :) I really started with the true research as a result of a class project in 6th grade. As soon as I could drive I was interviewing relatives and frequenting libraries and grave yards. Not your typical teen... Years later, the result of some super sleuthing I now know that I am a niece of famous Indian fighters, scouts and frontiersmen in Ohio and Virginia (1700's) and a granddaughter and niece of some of the victims of the Salem witch trials (1692).

I started about age 16 writing down what my grandmother could tell me in my diary. Little by little I picked up odds and ends here and there. My Uncle Damon helped me very much by putting me in contact with a distant cousin who had lots of info and pictures for me. She also took me to the cemetery where my great grandfather was buried. Then I went to work with the Mormons at one of their groups and they were super helpful helping me do a GEDCOM and submit it to Salt Lake City so it could go into the big records which they save in case I were to lose my work (fire or something). They showed me how to enter things correctly and get great printouts. You can actually do some of this work online and I need to get back to it but have gotten distracted by many other things. I keep hoping to find someone who has done much of the work and then I can just link on. I have known quite a few people who have had that great good luck. I cannot get back "across the water"....sigh!

My parents started the family tree and I inherited all their research & have picked up the torch and admit i'm now addicted. I enjoy history, so it's fun to find out where the family came from (England & Scotland) and many came in the 1600s (including William Bradford on Mayflower). So far i've found we're descended from 2 of the Salem "witches" Susanna Martin (hung in 1692) and Mary Bradford (accused but not hung). I use Family Tree Maker and share on geni.com (free website!) & belong to the local Genealogy society in my area.

Is anyone here researching the following families: Hogan, Elmore, Harwell or Fagan? I have a lot of information but need a lot as well!! Please let me know and we can share what we have found so far.

Thanks,
Marilyn

Hi everyone,
I've been out of pocket because of a writing deadline AND conducting more family research that I weave into my fiction novel. I recently found out that I have a host of white relatives that possibly don't know they have black cousins. I'll keep digging and hope to meet them.
View some of my old pictures at www.patsimmons.net