Family Reunion got me hooked

My name is David and I live near New York City. I have dabbled in family history in the past, but I became fascinated with genealogy after a family reunion six months ago. I spoke with many cousins, whom I had rarely or never met before and found their stories very intriguing. I was eager to learn more. I am still quite new at this, but I have spent much of my free time on this hobby ever since.

I love the premise of LostCousins. It was a great exercise for me to find most of my direct descendants in the 1880 US Census. All of my ancestors were living in the US by 1880 and many came much earlier. As a result, I may not find any cousins here until this service becomes more popular in America. Nonetheless, I will keep adding distant relatives who lived in England, N. Ireland and Scotland between 1881 and 1911. Perhaps I will get lucky.

I have also just discovered the FTA app. This is really a fantastic tool. I had been looking for a good way to identify relatives who might be in the NYC vitals archives from 1870 to 1930. This makes it fairly simple to find them and prepare myself for visits to the City Archives. The error checking tool is also very helpful for a new researcher like me. I have already removed several duplicates.

I look forward to exchanging tips and suggestions with all of you.

 

Welcome to the forum davidNY

 

I have always loved History as a subject at school but never thought about looking into my own ancestral line until my aunts told me stories about my grandparents, and my mother told me all about her childhood. Straight away I was fascinated and could not ask enough questions. My mother already had a lot of information about her German line so I have only managed to trace a very tiny way further back. A Mennonite church was destroyed in a fire and all the recorded documents were lost, so that scuppered my chances of verifying some more details. My research slid to a halt in that direction. I was very fortunate that I quickly came into contact with a distant elderly cousin of my father's, and she had already done a lot of research from my grandfather's side. As she was Jewish she had easy access to the Bevis Marks Synagogue records. I have carried on looking at the non Jewish side and found out a lot more , but I think it was when I did my own research into my paternal grandmother's family that I became hooked. Because I was doing the actual research, and finding records all by myself, it was exciting. The more I found out the more curious I became.....and that's how it happens doesn't it. You find a record, you delve a little further and the housework goes to pot! I love every minute of it . Welcome to the forum davidNY

 

My interest started when I set about finding out why I had an Irish surname, Doherty. It turned out - surprisingly quickly considering I did the research pre-internet - that my great grandfather had come from Ireland to England in the mid-1830s. However, it was going to Ireland myself and, a bit like David's family reunion, meeting my relatives, the majority 3rd cousins once removed, that had me hooked on family research for ever.

 

A girl friend of mine decided to keep her maiden name Doherty when she married. Her husband, Swiss, has an Italian sounding name.

She has bitterly regretted it. When she picked up the 'phone, most callers used to say "oh, sorry" and hung up. I think she now answers with her husband's name.

I met her when I heard her parents talking "English" outside our local restaurant whilst on a visit. I remarked on how nice it was to hear English in our tiny, out of the way village. "No, we are Irish" was the answer. I backed away, shamefully!!

 

Oh dear. What a slap in the face! You wouldn't have got that reply from the majority of my Doherty relatives because, being Protestant, their primary allegiance is to Queen and Crown! TThis came as a huge surprise to me when I 'found' them as it had never occurred to me they would be anything but Catholic. But let's not get onto the subject of religion in Ireland.

 

No, let's not. Nuala and I are the best of friends, despite our backgrounds!

 

The same goes for me and my Irish relatives, too.