Genealogy
I’ve been doing genealogy research since 1994.
At that time I had a computer and I was looking for games for the kids and myself. A popular game was Kings Quest by Roberta Williams. When I was looking in a store I saw the software KinQuest. It was on a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk and with a printed label on the envelope. I didn’t think much of it until I installed it on my computer when I returned home.
Instead of a game it was a software used to enter information about families. Earlier that Summer I had been to a big family reunion; I was unable to locate my ancestors. And so I instantly made a connection between using the software and gathering information on my family. Honestly, I was not interested in doing this research with pen and paper only.
The genealogy program turned out to have some bugs, as it would not accept accents on letters as I am French speaking. I tried to find another software at computer retailers because there was no internet yet to do searches. A company wanted me to use their programmers to build a software. But it would have been too costly and he was only looking at making money anyway.
I did attend a genealogy fair the next year and they were presenting the Brother’s Keeper software by John Steed. It was free to try (shareware) as it is still to this day.
Three years later we formed a genealogy group and the majority of our members use the Brother’s Keeper software. Some use Legacy software. And some use sites like Ancestry.com to make their family trees. I rather go to the sources instead of relying on someone else’s data. Of course I will look if I am stuck, just to have guidance on where else to look.
Genealogy has been my favorite hobby since then. It’s never boring, that’s for sure.
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David, I am into Genealogy and enjoyed reading your story. I recently found my Mother’s parent’s. She was adopted in 1912 and I only had the father’s name and her mother’s first name which I put on my Ancestry Tree. I had a woman contact me and she told me about my Mother’s family which I didn’t think that this couple were her parents. She put me in contact with my Mother’s father great grandson and I had done a DNA test and no Anderson’s were showing up on my DNA so the Great grandson sent me a 23 and me DNA which I took and which he and his one living brother took and it came back a march. So now I had proof that this couple was my Mother’s family and am so glad to have finally found them.
I had the fathers first and last name and the mother’s first name and never thought I would find them but I did and found out she was a twin and her twin died 2 months after they were born in 1908. Her father passed away in January of 1909 and could not find her Mother’s death certificate. The friend who knows the great grrandson Robert Anderson she things she has found her death certificate as she died in a mental hospital where she had been since her husband passed away in 1909. Mother was with a Emma Sutton and her husband on the 1910 censor record and not sure who she was to the family but her name was on the death certificate of Mother’s twin Annie and so maybe she and her husband got were foster parents and that is why they had her. But she was taken from them in 1910 by the Society to Protect Children from Cruelty and put up for adoption in 1910. My mother’s name was apparently Changed at some point to Ruth as it was Nellie Anderson born 9/26.1908 and her birthdate was 9/29/ 1908 listed on the adoption papers. I found the both birth certificates for Nelllie and Annie Anderson and also Annie death certificate so do know why I my Mother never had a birthcertificate and why she would have had her name changed to Ruth and her birthdate changed from the 26th to the 29th. I am trying now to see if I can find out that information but so far I haven’t been able to find anything. My Mother had 3 brothers and one sister that were living when she and her twin sister were born. Robert who would have been 13, Alexander who would have been 11 , William who was 9 and Marion who was 6 and all the other 6 that had been born had died and Mother’s twin died at 2 months old. So I don’t know where Robert , Alexander , William or Marion were put but think Marion was put with her Mother’s family and not sure where her brothers were put . But hope to maybe one day find out and learn why her name was changed and her birrhdate as she did have a birth certificate when she was born and her name was Nellie Anderson born at home in Philadelphia, Pa.
Good luck with your searching annemarie. I use local newspapers which contain obituaries. It lists the family of the deceased and where they were living at the time. It’s not an official source, but it can help fill in some blanks.
Thank you David , I will see about finding an obituary in the paper for my Mother’s father .
My husband is also into Genealogy, he has a family tree, and is into all of these sites that help you find people. I am uncertain as to how far back he has traced the families now, but all very interesting.Thank you for the poat.
Thank you tania.
My father managed to trace our family history back to the early 1700’s, but sort of gave up when he discovered that most of that generation were hanged as sheep thieves.
LOL! colourful, Way!! tried tracing my roots on my Mother’s side – got back to 1796 when
they left Ireland but could go no further as it meant exploring Parish Records in Ireland!!
You don’t know what will be found in researches.
Can’t pretend this as a subject holds much for me, but my niece is very much into the family tree – the most I have contributed thus far have been a few photographs she needed.
It’s not for everyone. But once you get bitten, it’s addictive. Lifelong hobby.
Great article. Sorry, but I’m new.