I've been researching my family's history since I was in college. I clearly remember getting the term paper assignment in a required Writing History 301 class: research and write your family's history. Oh great. My family didn't talk about their history; there were entire branches that were a complete mystery to me. This was before the Web and email, so I started by writing a letter to my grandmother, enclosing a questionnaire that she could fill in as she wanted to. Bless her, she did; I still have that questionnaire that she sent back to me. Somehow I was able to expand my research and finished the term paper. That's around here somewhere too.
I found a few interesting bits, and as I completed my history degree, I wanted to know more. I wanted to know where my ancestors were during the American Revolution, the Civil War (well, that wasn't much of a surprise), and even the during the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918-1920. How did they get from Ireland (in my early days, I was sure they all came from Ireland), to Mississippi, Oklahoma and Arizona? Did they ride in covered wagons? Were they all farmers? Why did so many of them commonly use their middle names? And what's with these Greek names used in the South?
I still don't know all the answers, and of course I have many more questions now. I have found a few answers though, and I've found many cousins over the years who have blessed me so much. I hope to repay their generosity by sharing my research with others.
I plan to publish posts on what I know or surmise on my ancestry (mostly from Virginia and North Carolina west to Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arizona), and possibly some from my husband's family (New England to Pennsylvania, Utah and California, as well as England and France to the Caribbean and Utah).
I hope someday my grandchildren get an assignment to report on their family history, and they find enough to say "Wow! that's so cool!" Because, you know, it really is so cool.
