Rooting Through Your Family Tree

Editor@newhznconsulting.com — Tue, 10 May 2011 04:47:00 GMT

Around 1995, a friend asked if I could help find the father she never knew. Having no experience looking for people online, I wasn’t sure if I could be of any help but I offered to give it a try. This opened up a whole new world of exploration for me that took me back to my own roots.

Genealogy is a fascinating hobby and the tiniest piece of information you find on a family member pushes you to learn more. That is exactly what happened in my case. While looking up names that were provided for me to find my friend’s father, I decided to type in a couple of names from my own family to see what information may be available.

Weeks went by before any relevant information could be passed on to my friend but when I did find something it was big. My friend’s father had left his family for parts unknown but through a lot of digging, other members of his family were found. Letters and phone calls were sent and received, and eventually an in face meeting took place. Though her father was deceased, she at least found some clear answers to some of the questions she had. Family members provided her with photos of her father and provided her with the place of his burial.

My grandfather’s family had me puzzled. All I knew about them is they came from Grey, Georgia, and were dirt poor. Through an online genealogical searching site, I typed in my grandfather’s full name and the names of his siblings. I guessed at how the first names were spelled but I did have the birth and death dates for my grandfather, James Samuel Adams. I posted all I knew about his family and waited for someone, anyone to contact me. Adams is a very common name in the Deep South so I really didn’t expect to get a response but it happened. What a thrilling experience it was. This turned into more than I ever dreamed and I will share with you what transpired in my next blog.

Thanks for reading what I wrote and I look forward to hearing any comments you care to leave. Keep it clean, okay?

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Category: Genealogy