Ancestors

I did some extensive research of my ancestors about ten years ago and found lots of information at the time.  I had it all written out on large white sheets of paper and rolled up tight in the bottom drawer of the buffet.  I pulled it all back out the other day to have a look.  I remember what started it, I stumbled upon a website that talked about Mennonite family names and gave brief histories of the families.  My family names where in there and that sparked a renewed curiosity about the people I came from.  That led where it always does for me... big sheets of paper, hours of research and a pencil.  Not a pen... a pencil!  (Believe me, not a pen!)

I started with another really big sheet of paper, this one thankfully had lines and I made the framework for my family. I thought I'd be able to get more generations on this sheet, but the fact that each generation requires twice the lines, it gets tight in a hurry. Hours... and hours... and hours went by and there were more and more names on the 254 lines. A few days passed... and this is one of those photos you take at about 1:30 am when you are just too tired and bleary eyed to continue:

 Lots of those lines have names above and dates below.  Progress. 

At this point the top half are my father's father's ancestors.  The lower half are my mother's father's ancestors.  Mainly because I have very little information to go on for either of my grandmothers.  So... I'll keep working on these for a while and then move on when I can't find any more.  I'm missing some information at this point to finish out these nine generations (including me) and will then follow some of these lines that go back to 14 and 15 generations... maybe further.  It's tedious and I'm not really sure what I'm learning about myself in this process.  I'm enjoying it though, aside from the tedious aspects.  There are discoveries that mean something to me along the way.  More on those later. 

Researching,
-Carmen Rose

Passing along a little message from Bill

Do you or anyone you know want to be a host family for the 2010/11 school year? Now is the time to Pay It Forward and begin a cross-cultural adventure for you and your family. The students are pre-screened and must have good English skills. The host family provides shelter and basic food an the student pays for all other outside expenses. There is a small tax benefit. If you have been wanting to volunteer for something but you have limited time, opening your heart and your door is a very rewarding way to volunteer. You will be promoting good will between the US and another country. You will be building a relationship with another family across the globe that you could perhaps visit one day. You will be teaching your own family about tolerance and creating a curiosity about other cultures that will last a lifetime. You will be sharing your American Family experience and enriching the life of another child from another land. Learn more by visiting www.facetheworld.org or by contacting Bill Murray at bill@facetheworld.org or by calling 561-379-8837 please put potential host family in the subject line of your email inquiry.

Thanks and God Bless,
Bill