The In-Depth Genealogist a digital community for all genealogists
I am very excited to be joining the team here at The In-Depth Genealogist. As a relative newcomer to the world of family history I hope to prove an informative and, at times, an entertaining writer. My future column will highlight the well-known as well the little known lineage societies that are available to those who qualify. For instance, do you have a colonial inn keeper in your family? If you do, keep your eyes open for my column in a few months. In addition I will be writing blog posts about technology that genealogists may find useful in keeping up with the latest and greatest gadgets.
Even though I have not been involved with the genealogy community for long I feel that I have found the place I have always wanted to be. It was a long journey to get here. I earned my BS in Biology from Indiana University with the goal of going into the field of genetic counseling. After college I worked briefly in a quality control laboratory until the birth of my first child. At that time I resigned from my position to become a stay at home mom and raise my two kids. In January 2011 I jumped into the world of family history and genealogy with both feet thanks to the prompting of my oldest child’s family tree project.
My father was a history teacher and every story, family vacation, or trip to the local grocery store became a history lesson. As a child, I loved listening to the adults talk at family reunions or other social occasions and hearing all the stories about the family. I never dreamed that one day I would learn more than what I already knew, or in some cases completely destroy the family myths with a search at an archive. I am the second genealogist in recent memory from both sides of my family. My mother’s cousin spent nearly 40 years researching in the pre-internet and computer age until his death in the mid-1990’s. On my father’s side my grandmother and her baby sister dabbled at genealogy trying to piece together their heritage. Her parents were grandchildren of Irish and German immigrants and they were trying to piece together the family journey. I could just kick myself at times for not being more insistent that I really was interested in the family history, and not just a kid to be seen and not heard.
Within 6 months of starting I knew this was going to be a lifelong project and I wanted to learn more and more about the community I was joining. On a whim I entered the Family Tree University contest to become their next newbie blogger. I served as the second Family Tree Firsts Blogger at Family Tree University and the possibilities were endless for me after that. My year tenure with Family Tree ended in December 2012 and I knew that I wanted to continue to learn, grow, give back, and connect with the genealogy community.
At the same time I was the Family Tree Firsts Blogger I also began my personal blog, Trials and Tribulations of a Self-Taught Family Historian, also known as TNT Family History. I started it as a supplement to my writing at Family Tree Firsts. The blog quickly became a place for me to post my research, hard sought for finds, thoughts, opinions, and a myriad of other things that I found interesting. I have always loved teaching and education which makes a personal blog the perfect outlet. Feel free to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.
I hope you will enjoy my upcoming posts and learn something new as well. There are some pretty interesting tech gadgets coming out and there are quite a few obscure lineage societies that caught me by surprise. I am sure there will be something new for everyone to learn about!
