Why a Family History Blog?

a/k/a Coming to My Census

After spending the last six years researching my family history with more than a healthy intensity, I have come to the inevitable conclusion that I’m never going to be finished. As with many collecting hobbies, I’ve learned that the pleasures of genealogy are all in the hunt. Of course I enjoy having my family data entered into all the appropriate fields in Family Tree Maker and my primary source documents filed away by family group, but I really get a rush from discovering new bits of trivia about my family’s lives and trading stories with other researchers. These are the stories I’m planning to share in this blog.

It will probably be years before I pull together all my findings and share my conclusions with family and far-flung cousins in a formal printed or electronic manner. So, hopefully the accessible structure of the blog will encourage me to write down my thoughts about my research on a somewhat regular basis and provide a vehicle for sharing the excitement of my discoveries with others.

Earlier this week, I corresponded with another Family History blogger, Ralph Brandi. You can check out his site at http://www.brandi.org/geneablogy/. Ralph suggested that his blog was great cousin bait. I loved the expression and used it in my domain name. Thanks, Ralph for your help. Perhaps this blog will lure in a few new “cousins” for me.

If you suspect that you might be one of my far-flung cousins, please email me and we can compare notes. If you have stumbled upon this blog and aren’t related to me, I suspect you will find my musings make pretty dull reading. Other people’s family history is typically pretty deadly. On the other hand, if you have interests in some of the geographic areas from whence my ancestors hailed, you might get some research ideas!

Let me know if you find something in this blog that is particularly helpful to you. Feedback and suggestions are always welcome