Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- How Did You Get Started in Genealogy Research?

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:

It's Saturday Night again -

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has another wonderful challenge for us this weekend:

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible music!), is to:

1)  Jacqi Stevens recently suggested, in her blog post "The Networks of Life," the question "How did you get started in researching your genealogy?"

2)  This week, let's tell our "getting started in genealogy research" story.

3)  Tell us in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please leave a comment on this blog post to lead us to your answers.

I have written about the origins of my genealogy research. My friend, Susan, took me to Sutro Library in San Francisco so I could see what all this genealogy research fuss was. She was my children’s babysitter when they were young and every winter I would have to find a substitute for a week when she went to Salt Lake City to research at the Family History Library. I wanted to know how someone could have fun doing research from 8 am to 10 pm (those were the hours back then) six days a week.

Well, it didn’t take long. I found my grandfather, Cyril, living with his siblings and mother in Hamilton, Ravalli County, Montana, in the 1920 census.

Of course back then it wasn’t that easy to find them, like we do now using search fields. I had to figure out their Soundex Code, then get the Soundex card film to find their card. Then I had to get the correct microfilm to find their household in the census. I was too cheap then to take the film to the printer machine, so all I have is my transcription of that household.

Then I found them in the 1910 census. And lastly in the 1900 census. My grandfather was the youngest at age one. His father was in this census, too. So in one sitting I had found two generations of my ancestors, people I didn’t even know. It was exhilarating.

I had so much fun, that on the ride home I told Susan that I was going to Salt Lake City with them the next year. And I did!

I truly enjoy this wonderful hobby.  I work on some aspect of genealogy every day, whether I am reading genealogy blogs, checking up on new things at genealogy Facebook pages, researching my own family, or doing work for others.

My biggest goals this year, is to start a new book about my parents and to begin archiving the many records and photos I have been given.  Wish me the best.

Copyright © 2019 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.