I've always been interested in my family history. I can remember as a tween and a teen asking my father where our Williams family came from. His answer was, "The British isles. We are mutts." But the conversation never went much further. And I never learned much more about my family history. Which is sad, because most of my grandparents were alive at that time. How I wish I would have sat down with them and asked them some questions! But I started my journey after only one grandparent remained and after she was suffering from the middle stages of Alzheimer's.
So I started this journey like I start many things, I jumped in head first with only minimal direction. I used Google, Ancestry.com, and whatever else I could find on the Internet. I called aunts and uncles and began searching for other distant relatives who might know more about the family than I did. I wrote e-mails,letters and paid for professional research. If I would have kept track of the time and the dollars, I think I would be a bit concerned about their sums. I know my wife is!
I am writing this blog to share some of the things I've learned that work in research and some of the things I've discovered. I'll also share what has happened as I have helped some friends and coworkers with some of their family history research.
I hope you enjoy my journey!
