I'm maybe kind of sort of almost a little tiny bit addicted to Ancestry.com.
First off, I want to say I blame our neighbors, Mike and Caitlyn, for this development. Jimmy and I don't have cable. We have Netflix, so we never watch TV or see commercials. Lately, when we're over at their house watching new episodes of Duck Dynasty (which I can't believe I just admitted to watching, in writing, on the internet), the f#%$*@^ commercials come on ALL the time.
So of course, I was curious what all the fuss was about. And what do you know, they have a fourteen day free trial going on. And now I can't stay off my laptop. I need to know.
I don't know why I need to know. I'm not especially interested in history in general. Most of my relatives that I'd find out anything new about are long dead. Actually, I didn't even meet most of them. But suddenly, I'm nothing short of obsessed with finding out everything I can about them.
I have actually found some pretty cool stuff. I found a photo of the actual passenger manifest from the ship that brought my paternal grandmother to the states. I also discovered that my paternal great-grandfather (whose name was Clifford--no, not joking), was a doctor. (And just what the hell happened to all those braniac genes between him and me, I might ask???)
I'm actually freaking myself out a little with how interested I am in all of this. Is this weird? Have I totally gone off the deep end, or is this just what happens when you're a night person and have loads of technology at your fingertips?
My aunt is a genealogy genius and gave us THE wedding present- the best, most sentimental, amazeballs gift of all time. Andrew and I have a 16x20 fan chart starting with us, going back nine generations, with the meaning of both surnames. (My response? Oh, why thank you for our baby name book!) If that isn't enough, we EACH have a full inch-thick folder describing all family history, data, photos, etc she has uncovered to date. She also opened a website to keep digital files of photos, letters, docs, videos, etc. Because that site is for all her tree branches, I have stolen (asked permission) this idea and have started a website of our own. I am officially obsessed. So, to answer your question- not weird. Or very weird and totally awesome and I'm with ya.
ReplyDeleteThat's FABULOUS. My mom's side of the family has a similar chart, but only for her dad's side. And Jimmy's family has one as well--but again, only for his father's side. So there are many branches of our family that we have very little information on. The website idea is awesome though--what site does she use?
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