With the first blog, I briefly explained how one would get started researching their tree.  In this blog I will go into more detail about how my interest came about and turned into my passion.

When I was little, my father’s cousins would put together a yearly gathering.  For the most part we all lived within a two hour drive of the park where we would meet.  Have vague memories of these family days.  What I do remember is a long winding road that led to a gravel parking lot.  To the left was a paved area and boat launch, with a pier.  Straight ahead was a grassy area with picnic tables, grills and trees everywhere.  One of my father’s first cousins drove a motorcycle and he would give the kids a ride on the back.  These were very happy times for me.

It wasn’t just this family gathering but all the celebrations and somber gatherings.  My grandmother on my mother’s side was very close to a few of her sisters.  She was one of eight children and I loved spending time with my grandmother so she would bring me along when visiting the sisters in Reading.  I really had no idea at the time that she had other older sisters or twin brothers, but because I went with her on these trips I found this information out.  Of course, I would have questions, and as typical with families there were disagreements and hurt feelings that prevented relations from meeting.

It was during one of these visits with my grandmother that I found out I had a cousin.  Wait, not just a cousin, I had at this time two first cousins and one on the way, all three girls all three younger, but an older, male cousin!  I am the oldest in my family, a younger brother, and then a younger sister.  I always wished I had an older brother and finally, I had one, kind of.

“MomMom, how am I related to Chris?” I asked her with delight in my eyes.

“He is the son of Tom, and the grandson of Uncle Harry and Aunt Toot.” She proclaimed.

It was in middle school that all these introductions were beginning to make sense.  I had to keep track of it so I found a family history photo book/journal.  I began to fill in the information but I didn’t know much so I began to ask my parents to help fill it in.  When they didn’t know, they told me to ask someone else, my father’s older sister had a lot of information and my mother’s mother was a wealth of knowledge. 

Of course, I took what they all said with a grain of salt.  My father’s parents passed away well before this had happened, but my father gave me his father’s belongings.  They included an Irish passport, an American Passport, an Irish driver’s license, a marriage certificate and some photos.  These items provided the documentation necessary to begin my search.

As I said earlier, do not accept what is told to you as a hard fact.  My father and aunts always told me that my grandfather came through Ellis Island.  It wasn’t until I started researching that I found out that Ellis Island closed its doors in 1924 but my grandfather came to the States in 1925 according to his Irish passport.  So, that information was proven false.

Be social, interact, speak and engage with your family.  They are your richest asset.