The Arm Chair Genealogist posted this morning “The Moment I Knew”.

I can honestly say there was not a crystallizing moment when I understood that I was was the keeper of the family story. It was just a matter that it was something I was going to do. My Mother and her siblings are very interested in their family history and genealogy, so I came to this at an early age. Cemeteries are nothing new to me, papers, family stories and pictures have always been around and abound.

There was a moment when I did understand that maybe it was time to that I should actually start doing my work and not just listening to the stories. It was after my father in law passed away. It was his family that had a mystery so I set out to see if I could solve it.
I have in the last 21 yrs figured out some of the puzzle, but I am now faced with a why to solve.  Isn’t that always the way.

Jim’s, my husband, Aunt gave me a had written family tree on a large piece of paper, many of the names reaching back to pre-revolution in VA and NC. I then started working on his mother’s family tree and trying to fill in the blanks that she left in the tree. I had marvelous success with this. It seems to me that Mountain folk, or maybe southern folk in general have a keen understanding and appreciation for their ancestors and are liable to have much of their lineage either in their heads or actually written or perhaps it was just this  Eastern Kentucky family that had the desire to know their past. I have much more to do on this family, I have tucked them away for a while so that I could concentrate on my paternal lineage. Mom is busy working her lineage and I thought it best that I get some of Dad’s taken care of. This journey as been an exciting one! When I was working on Jim’s family it was his and even though it was fun and challenging it didn’t leave me with as much excitement as I find doing my history.

Now all I have to do is learn to stick with one person at a time and get them all fleshed out before moving on to the next person. If anyone has any clue on how to do this please drop me a note and let me know how you manage it.

Happy Hunting!

Julie Hogston - Visit Website