Learning about my family's past has been my passion for 16 years. My mom, who has researched the majority of her adult life got me started when I was just 18. She was busy transcribing a notebook that my great-great-great grandfather Daniel Charles Williams wrote for his daughter Ursula, and I was fascinated. As a budding history major in college, anything along that track was awesome, so I took his notebook and ran with it. It contained his family history and a selection of birthday poems that he wrote yearly to his mother with anecdotes.
I started with his names and dates and escaped to the State Historical Society whenever my schedule allowed (and didn't allow) it. It was addictive. It's like a big puzzle that begs to be put together.
When I began, the internet was just getting started as a resource, so I did most of my research at the libraries and pen and paper correspondence. I tracked down long lost relatives who supplied me with more stories, pictures, and wonderful friendships that still continue.
As a mom now, the internet is my main avenue for research. My little ones do enjoy going out and stomping through cemeteries with me, but their attention spans don't always allow the time that I would like to do fieldwork.
The internet has changed the face of genealogy for the good and bad. I still love the thrill of the chase where I can walk where my ancestors walked, see where they lived, touch their tombstones. With this blog I will document my new adventures with my old and new family:)
"Now my dear girl I have spent hours in writing this book for you and I hope after I am gone you will find pleasure in these pages and remember one whose love to his Mother, his Wife, and his children was enduring as time and eternity." ~Your affectionate Father, Daniel Williams
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