Seriously G2

I'm infatuated with this idea of how we second generation genealogy people are so different than our first generation relations. I think we need a support group. Or maybe there is one and this newbie just doesn't know it... and if so please let me know:)

Received an email this morning from Cousin Steve who just got some more memorabilia from his brother. (His Mom and my Mom were sisters.) In the holdings was a Wriggley's gum wrapper and on the back was a note from his Mom written on the first date she had with what turned out to be her husband and my cousin's father! How magical is that? He also discovered her prom picture. He's warming up the scanner as I write this. (His summer fun is golf and his winter fun is genealogy.) Can't wait to hear what else he finds!

He and I are both second generation genealogy fans. Actually there are degrees to this G2 stuff, I'm finding. My Mom is seriously into genealogy but his wasn't so he's got all the work to do on his Dad's side. He's starting from scratch with the usual early brick walls to overcome. We both benefit from the extensive work that Mom and Aunt Betty have done on the Williams side. Our work will be to figure out what the next step might be into the future. We already know where the hardest brick walls are because Mom and Aunt Betty pointed them out to us right away! And those walls look gigantic, at least to us now. I need a support group!

Mom, her Mom, Aunt Dottie (her sis) and
Uncle Camey (her brother). Abt. 1930.

I'm G2 and Loving It!

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;)