Do you know your family

This is a story about researching your family lineage.

 

Here I am, 37 years into my life, yet I have never met my father. During the early years of my life my grandfather filled the role, and I must say he was an amazing man. He treated me like I was the only person in the world that he cared about. To say I loved him would be the biggest understatement in the world. Needless to say we were very close. I spent every weekend with my grandparents and nearly the whole summer break. As my 12th birthday was rapidly approaching fate dealt me a horrific blow, and took the only father figure in my life away. The date was July 11, 1983 and I will never forget it. The succession of deaths in my life would seem to spiral out of control. It seemed to me anyone I would get close to died. Don't get me wrong: my mother was always there for me, and still is to this day. I love you mommy!

As I went through life, I guess the inner questions started. Where was my dad? Who was my dad? Anytime I asked my mom a question she always told me he was a good man. He had a job offer in California and had to move, but she was not ready to pack up and go. The only thing I know about him is his name Jay Wisniewski and he worked for Bethlehem Steel. If anyone can help please let me know.....

I was lucky enough to get to know my great-grandfather. I only vaguely remember my great-grandmother. Yes, I was spoiled by my grandmother. God, I miss her! That's as far back as it goes. All my memories stop at that generation. So, who am I? Where is my family from? How did they get here? What did they do for work when they got here?

All these questions now haunt me. I really want the answers to the above questions.

I did not even know where to start, so I enlisted the help of a Genealogist. She started knocking down these barriers and answering some of the important questions for me. For anyone out there wanting to know more about your family, here is how you can go about it.

Q: What is Genealogy?

A: Genealogy is the study of one's lineage and history.

Q: What does Genealogy mean to you?

A: Genealogy is my passion. It enables me the opportunity to discover my lineage and to discover ancestors I obviously never knew or would be able to know if I didn't do genealogical research to discover them. It also enables me to present my children with a detailed account of their background so they always know where they came from. After all, if even one of these ancestors didn't exist, neither would they.

Q: How did you get involved in Genealogy?

A: I got into Genealogy by accident really. In the summer of 2002, I was looking through some of my grandmother's old papers. Among them was obituaries for my great grandparents. It got me curious about their lives, their parents & where they were from. I went home and started scouring the internet looking for any information I could find.

Q: What is it that drives you to do Genealogy?

A: It is a fascinating hobby. To me, it is a biggest thrill to find ancestors you never knew & have been searching for for so long.

Q: What does it feel like when you make a break through?

A: Energized, excited & ready to do more research.

Q: How do you go about planning your research?

A: I just pick a particular individual or family, gather what data I already have on them and start searching.

Q: How do you decide in what direction to go?

A: There's really not any method that drives me on a given day. I usually just go by my instincts or whim that day. Some days I search for individuals that I haven't searched for in a while. Sometimes I continue research I started, but didn't finish the last time. Other times I will have new data ( a death certificate, obituary, message board posting, etc.) that will drive me in a new direction.

Q: What types of books or magazines do you use and find helpful?

A: There are tons of books out there on a wide variety of Genealogical research. What one is helpful depends greatly on what one's research concentration happens to be at the time. I read Family Tree Magazine faithfully because they usually have good ideas for making breakthroughs, list helpful & important websites to check out, and products spotlighted that can assist in one's research.

Q: What are some good websites for your info?

A: There are almost as many websites as there are books. Ancestry.com is almost a must for any researcher. Familysearch.org is wonderful too, and the data is all free. Rootsweb & Genweb.com are also wonderful for county research.

Q: What are your future goals concerning your research?

A: That's a simple and complex question all in one. The goal for any Genealogist is to trace their lineage as far back as possible. Genealogical research is rarely ever completed entirely. There's always an ancestor or familial line you want to know more about.

Q: How do you hope to accomplish these goals?

A: Just keep searching & searching! New records are available every day, new records are released online constantly, and new people become interested in their Genealogy weekly. You never know when the exact record you need just became available online or the new researcher putting a post on that message board you look at regularly happens to be a distant cousin.

Q: What advice could you give to someone who is just starting into Genealogy for the first time?

A: The best advice I can offer is to start your research close to home. For instance, ask any and all relatives you have to tell you any information they have regarding your ancestors. Go through old photographs, obituaries, even old letters and cards to look for clues about locations, names and dates that may help your research. Make copies of everything so you have them to refer to later. When I started, I only had a couple of obituaries to go on, and now I can go back generations and generations.

Q: Can you tell us what you have learned to this point?

A: I've learned all sorts of things! I've learned about my Polish line back to the 1700's in Poland, one Irish line back to the 1800's in Ireland and another Irish line's migration to Scotland during the Famine, then to the US. I've discovered siblings of my great grandparents that my family never knew existed. I've discovered scandals like illegitamacy & jailed ancestors. I've discovered people across the country who are somehow related to me in some way who are also researching the same ancestors I am!

I would like to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to Cheri L. Riser, for taking the time for this interview. The information that you have provided is greatly appreciated. Cheri has also been kind enough to provide us with some pictures of her research. Please feel free to view the images provided.

Author's Note

http://hubpages.com/hub/Do-You-Know-Your-Family