For several years, I have been very interested in genealogy and have played around on the web looking up information.  About six years ago, a man, very distant cousin of my mom, contacted our family as he believed we were related.  It turned out that we are!!  Over the past six years, we have shared, traded information, and started a very nice friendship.  I hope to be able to meet him and his family when we return to the states. 

In the mail yesterday, I received a copy of his report of our family history.  Its over 260 pages.  With cross references, maps, photos, and more, it is truly a treasure to share with our family.  I'm so very excited to be able to sit down and read through this.  I have also discovered by briefly looking through it, that I believe that a girl that I went to school with is a distant cousin.  How fun is that?

He has also been able to provide a few pieces of a puzzle to our family tree.  His report is of my grandmother's mother's family.  My grandmother's father, I know nothing about other than his parents names and that he was one of eleven children.  By researching his obiturary, this gentlemen provided nine of his siblings names.  How wonderful, a place for me to start!!  Also a puzzle.  My grandmother and her sisters said that their father was in WW1.  In fact, the only photo I have of him is about a 3x3 photo of a group of men in the men in the war, and he's in the back.  His head is so small I can barely see it.  I'm looking forward to being able to run off with this new information and finding all kinds of wonderful family history.  Hopefully, anyway.

On my father's side, we're supposedly related to Davey Crockett somehow, although its never been proven.  I hope to be able to find out some of that information by going through censuses and doing online research.  I look forward to that adventure.  Although, I know it will take years of research, it should be fun and exciting. 

How far back can you research your family?  I look forward to hearing about it.