Entering My 27th Year of Genealogy

Happy new year! My genealogy journey began in 1998, when a beloved maternal first-cousin-once-removed asked me a routine family history question about my father's father. I knew only the man's name, not his birth or death date or place. Curiosity led to determination and then to obsession and as I continued my research, I discovered loads of cousins who were new to me! 

Now 27 years later, I'm still excited about connecting with cousins and connecting the dots for a more complete, more accurate family tree. Most important to me is to keep sharing what I learn so the knowledge isn't lost to future generations. That means writing/posting more bite-sized ancestor bios and using other means of perpetuating the names and stories. It also means regularly backing up my genealogy data to keep everything safe.

These days it's so easy take photos with phones yet easy to forget to get those photos off phones and share. I'm making a point of sharing right now. And in the coming year I plan to get even more family stories into the heads of other family members to keep them alive.

During the holidays, two grandchildren asked about their immigrant ancestors who lived in Cleveland, Ohio. You know I have stories and info to share--redoing the research to find anything new for a new family history photo book I'll create this year, including when and why these ancestors left their homelands. Spoiler alert: they came to America in search of economic opportunity, settled in Cleveland where others from their home villages had already put down roots.

Happy ancestor hunting in 2025! You never know what discoveries await this year.