Geek + History = Bliss

First off, a little background.  I'm the youngest of 3 adopted daughters and two "natural" born sons.  And of the five, I'm the only one currently interested in genealogy.  Add to that the irony that I'm obviously adopted, being the only one not caucasian.  I've worked with the family photos off and on and in my dad's last year, we went through as many photos as possible.  He was happy to pass it all on to me and trusted that I'd take care of the family history.  He wasn't surprised at all that I was the one interested.  First of all, I love museums and history and second, he said that since I was last, of course I'd want to know what happened before me.

I picked up the genealogy research again (before only going as far as the easy ancestry.com searches allowed), this time I went through every documentation as much as I could, making notes and citiing sources like a good English Major.

My dad's side can be traced back to the mid 1400's in England.  My mom's side, just to Great Grandparents and one set is missing.  So as I was studying the census records, I came across a name I hadn't noticed before.  She was listed below the family with a different last name and I almost missed it.  But there she was, as "mother-in-law."  Voila, I had discovered "my" 2nd Great Grandmother.

With a little more research, I found her husband's name and their children.  I was so happy to have stumbled on that tiny bit of info, that launched me back another generation.  It was like I had discovered hidden treasure.

I've been emailing with a distant cousin who was able to send me a photo of these grandparents.  And I've recently sent her a thumb drive full of my photos.  We're both pretty ecstatic and phrases like the "mother lode" and "new discoveries' have popped up.

This is all a bit exciting but also funny and ironic.  And I can't wait to make more "new" discoveries of these people that I've adopted as my own.