So this is what this newbie is: second generation genealogy! G2! Being second generation, I've taken up the mantel of this genealogy stuff and some days it's too much fun and other days it's kinda heavy.
In the beginning when I'd talk to Mom (who let me remind you, is 93 and been doing genealogy since the 1970s) she'd tempt me with all manner of fun facts. She knows her kids and she knew exactly where my hot buttons were. She started with the stories... and had me at, "Did I ever tell you about our ancestors the counterfeiting twins?"
Then one thing lead to another and before I knew what hit me I was ordering up my copy of Family Tree Maker and downloading a GEDCOM, when just short weeks before I didn't know what a GEDCOM was! Next I signed on Ancestry.com and was introduced to those shaking leaves. UH OH! You know what I mean;)
It wasn't long before I discovered the responsibility of it all too. Data checking. Care of the archives. Putting information out to the relatives such that more of the cousins and their offspring get interested too. Looking down the long road to see that what has been compiled is not lost.
But there's fun as well. Hearing the stories is great and I wouldn't have missed it for the world... thanks, Mom! And discovers our scamps and scoundrels is always entertaining. But right at the moment on my learning curve the thing that keeps me going and putting one research foot in front of the other is that I do love wondering about my ancestors and what their lives and times were like. Whenever I'm in a slump I dig into the past of one of my ancestral lines. Just this week was wondering about Delilah Porter and who her father really was and if it was the famed Revolutionary War soldier, Moses Porter. I think I have a good clue too that it's Moses' son. But I'll let Mom be the judge;)
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