Tracing My Family Roots

Welcome to my 'Tracing My Family Roots' section. As of right now, I have no actual content for this page. My intention is to use this area as a sounding board for my new hobby - genealogy.

I have been thinking about tracing my family roots for many years. It has long been a source of fascination for me. Even when I was a young boy listening to my great-aunts recounting the tales of their childhood, I tried to envision what life was like for them. From what I know now, life was a struggle with times of grief and of simple pleasures. Through these stories, my great-aunts live on in my thoughts, even though they have long ago passed on. I feel a great need to expand my knowledge of my family's history in order to pass it on to my grandchildren - Lord willing.

I have recently borrowed several beginner books on genealogy and have researched various software tools for organizing my information. I believe I will purchase the latest version of Family Tree Maker, but if you have any other suggestions, please feel free to . I want a software title that allows for export to HTML, although I currently have no intention of publishing my family tree here. But who knows, I may change my mind.

In addition to to the above research, I have been surfing like mad to all the genealogy sites I can find. As a result, I now feel that I know what direction I want to take my hobby. It will be as extensive as I can make it, with general comments, stories, and pictures of as many of my ancestors as possible. I plan to solicit information and photos from my relatives with the offer to send them an updated CD of my work on a yearly basis. Of course, I'll have to charge a small fee to cover my costs and postage, but the actual work I want to share free of charge. This type of information is supposed to be shared - and passed down.

Luckily for me, much of the research has been done by relatives on both sides of my family, and of my wife's family. Unfortunately the information is hidden in boxes of papers and newspaper clippings. This may seem like a daunting task, but I consider it to be a sort of treasure hunting. I can hardly wait to sink my teeth into this!

In any case, I will be using this section to report findings, and to request help filling gaps in the tree. It is my hope that it becomes a center of communication between myself, genealogists and relatives. But, we'll have to wait and see.

August 5, 2000 - Today was my great-uncle Bill's funeral. Last autumn he had invited me to come to his home so that I could look over the Harper family tree information. I never did.

I feel an incredible sense of urgency now to start gathering information and photos. I need to talk to my grandparent's generation before it is too late. I think I will make this a priority task once the summer is over and the evenings become less agreeable to outside activities.

If you have any comments about this section or especially if you have information and advice to share, please .