Several years ago, I became a genealogy addict. It all began when I took over my mom's research into the family history of her French-Canadian father and Scandinavian mother. At the same time, never shying away from a challenge, I started looking into my dad’s Italian family history.
With a lot of work, careful research, and some fits and starts, I managed to break through a couple of genealogical brick walls. To do this, I used a combination of records and DNA results. But as everyone who has done the same knows, that is not the end of the story! Not even close. In my experience, every breakthrough reveals more questions and adds many more bullet points to my to-do list. I am not done! Far from it. In fact, from where I sit today, I feel like I have just hit my genealogical stride. There is much more to do. There is more to discover! And I am excited about it all.
The sense of discovery and putting together a puzzle is what keeps me coming back, and back, and back... For me, it is like the old advertisement for Lays potato chips “you can’t eat just one.” With my genealogy research, I cannot possibly stop when I am on the trail of a coveted document. I admit I am a confirmed, fully crazed, midnight family historian. And let's face it, who stops at midnight when they are on a genealogical treasure hunt like that? Not me. I often go to work the next day bleary-eyed and yawning after pulling a genealogy all-nighter. But, oh my, the information and family mysteries I have revealed as a result!
As far as I can tell, I am not alone. There is a large community of, dare I say obsessed, genealogy researchers out there. The beautiful thing is that we find each other either in our local clubs and libraries or online, where so much of our research and interaction seems to take place these days. Using online resources and organizations, I have connected with people from all over the world, including DNA matches, like-minded researchers, and friendly genealogists who just want to help. What I have found over the years is that the world of genealogy addicts is big and welcoming.
With my website and blog, I hope to share some of my genealogy research, document family stories, and discuss my experiences as a family historian. I would also love to connect with others researching the same families. I have wanted to start this website and blog for a long time. So, here we go!
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