Make a family tree

“During a three-month break between jobs, I embarked on this project and spent the better part of that time, plus three more months of evenings and weekends on the project. I started online and quickly ditched that for diagrams on paper. I taped 16 pages together to make enough workspace for the various relationships (divorces and second marriages, 12 children born to parents only a few generations back) and repeatedly scrapped it and started over. Every time we showed it to our parents, there was a new relative remembered, or one in the wrong spot. Maybe a few names weren’t quite right. Babies were in the process of being born.”

“With our parents, we sat down and went through albums and collected notes on all the people we saw. With more distant relatives, I sent emails with specific questions asking for a reply and a photo by a certain date. Questions included, “where did you go to school, how did you meet your spouse, what jobs did you have, what kinds of things did you enjoy as a kid?” We traced our kids’ interests and talents to their relatives, found the one person in the family (several generations back) who had fiery red hair like my daughter’s, and learned we had a Great-Great-Grandmother who made candy in a candy factory.”

“I’ve been building my family tree for over 6 years and have over 1000 people in my tree (which isn’t nearly as big as some trees I’ve seen). My initial goal was to find out who my paternal grandmother was and despite still not having that answer, I have connected with relatives I did not know existed, had conversations with ones I haven’t spoken to in years, and discovered some really fascinating information. [...] The biggest takeaway I have had is that this is a huge time investment, and depending on how far you go, can get expensive. That said the journey has been well worth it.”