I have been spending too much time obsessing over my family history over the past few days. Once in a while I have this urge to search the web and find out who my extended family might be and where my ancestors came from.
When I was a child I used to have this fantasy that I was descended from European aristocracy. Now I amused to know that I am a descendant of the town drunk.
I know a few things that I've been told since I was a child. One of my great-grandmothers was the first of her family to be born in this country, her next oldest sister, my great-great-aunt, was born in the old country. Another great-grandparent would not talk about family history pre-America because he was an American.
Ancestry searches are much easier now than they were in even the recent past. Many documents have been digitized. I have transcriptions and pictures of grave stone markers, copies of census pages, newpaper obituaries, and passenger manifests. All of these documents were obtained without having to pay any money and without having to leave my own home. I have a hit a point where I may need to leave my home to do research. Time will tell.
