As I write this, the day is January 13, 2017. The first Friday The 13th of the new calendar year. That has no relevance to me since I am not superstitious (knock on wood :) ) and think any result from my actions or inactions result from them, not from the day of the week. Nonetheless, I have not written here since August 2016. That is too long; one wonders where the time goes. And why I chose not to spend as much time here as I should or wanted to.
Keeping in mind that one of my stated purposes was to write more for stress-reduction purposes, I might just get my chance to do exactly that.
As a reader might know, I have been working on my own family tree for a few years. The reason is pretty simple. As I age, learning more about my near- and far-ancestors becomes more important to me. I grew up somewhat detached from my grandparents and all relatives living in the United States because I grew up the son of a US diplomat in the Middle East. I spent those formative years mostly in Jordan but also in Beirut, Lebanon and Ankara, Turkey. Those were experiences I would not change but they were not all positive. Looking back, I see how much I missed; not really having a "home town" or lifelong friends or, really, even roots. I recently read that the only person whose name I remember from my time in elementary school in my parents' hometown of Wilton, New Hampshire, before leaving for Jordan, Harley Savage, has died. He was one person I hoped to visit; I cannot do that now and that leaves me a bit sad.
It is the connection to my past through my parents and Wilton, New Hampshire, that has driven me to try to sort out the leaves on my own family tree. Formally, doing so is called genealogy, the study of family history. I have joined and spent money on the largest of the genealogy source sites, Ancestry.com. This organization is closely tied to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah, the largest, most accurate repository of genealogical records in the world. The Mormons have been serious genealogists, professional and otherwise, for their entire history and have collected family histories for that long. They make much of it available to the non-LDS public for free and their Family History Center in Salt Lake City can be very helpful doing family history searches.
Until the advent of the Internet and recognition of a possible revenue source, one had to visit there in person. Now, however, companies have been created to funnel some, if not all, of that information around the globe. So it is with Ancestry.com. And so it was with my becoming a member.
A few days ago, a Facebook contact of mine, a professional genealogist, recommended that I start a blog as a non-professional 'beginner.' She thought my description of my journey to fill out my family tree would be valuable for other beginners. Since I like to write and have been looking for ways to increase the time I spend writing - in hopes of improving my skill - starting another blog sounded like a good idea.
I gave some thought to just adding to this one, but quickly enough cast that idea aside. This blog is really a place for me to vent, to keep these fingers typing, and to be a bit of therapy. Whether anyone reads or not is not the purpose and, honestly, is not that important. It is for me. Writing a 'genealogy for beginners' blog would have an entirely different purpose. Finding readers would be important, so I decided to create another Blogspot blog.
That is the first of many steps and I plan to spend this day, Friday the 13th, working some of the details out. I have a support system; remember that Facebook friend I mentioned? The professional genealogist? She is probably a cousin since her maiden name is also Wilkinson and she writes a very popular New England genealogy blog. She has offered her help, has given me the contact information for some other bloggers, and knows that what I would write would fill a bit of a void...not many bloggers are from the area of southern New Hampshire my own ancestors lived in.
So there it is, dear reader. I have an idea, a laptop, a desktop, time, energy, and the willingness to put all of them together for a purpose. Doing a new blog will be difficult, frustrating at times, and almost always entirely enjoyable. I will explain what I do in my own family history search, what I find, how I validate a finding, why I reject any that do not meet my comfort level, what roadblocks I encounter and how I overcome them, if I do.
Hopefully, you will come along on the journey with me. Road trips alone can be just a trip from Point A to Point B. Road trips with others can be a journey, almost a vacation. Let's make it together. Heck, I might even pique your own interest in learning about your own ancestors.
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