Thursday, May 3, 2012

"I used to have a wife. Now I have a genealogist."

"I used to have a wife. Now I have a genealogist." So says my husband who has witnessed and (thankfully) supported my transformation into a total genealogy geek. I've always been curious about the stories of my family history, but the compulsion intensified around three years ago.

I am grateful to both sets of my maternal great grandparents who had the foresight to research and document my family tree back in the 1920's. From this British and Western European lineage, I can connect to just about any major event in American history for the last 400 years. The volumes of preserved documents and photos from these families are astounding.  On the other hand, my paternal Scandinavian lineage is more recent to this country, arriving around the 1890's. Unfortunately, there are very few people alive who know even morsels of information, making it extremely difficult to trace that side of my family.

My husband's Eastern European Jewish ancestry has been the most rewarding to study thus far.  Most of the family came to New York City in the early 1900's and the strong connection to their religious and cultural roots is still palpable in the family today. I've also learned to be sensitive when asking about the darker or more painful moments of a family's past, but not to hide from it either. By interviewing the family elders and sharing what we learn among the large and tight-knit family, we've learned how critical it is to collect their stories before it is too late. 

Using my skills as an interpreter, I see how the most important information to learn isn't simply what a document says; it is about what it means. The discovery of raw facts and data is just the beginning. For me, the thrill comes when I put them into their historical and geographical context and weave it together with known family lore.  The picture becomes clear and the individuals come to life. Suddenly, one can feel empathy for their experience and their loves and losses, an appreciation for their efforts and a context for their choices. They are no longer just names and dates of strangers on a page, but real members of our family. It is a privilege and honor to keep their memory alive.

Each time I uncover a clue, I learn more about all of the characters and experiences that create our family's truly American story.  Some of the characters were heroic, some were shady, some were artists, some were inventors, some were power barons, some were farmers, some were oppressors, some were oppressed, but all were brave survivors and without them, we wouldn't be here.

With all my passion for family history, I started as a volunteer document transcriber for both the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's World Memory Project and for FamilySearch.org. I help my friends when I can, and I continue to work on my and my husband's family trees. As if that wasn't enough, now I'm taking my interest to the next level and have decided to become a professional genealogist.

Recently, I enrolled in the summer program at Boston University, joined the Association for Professional Genealogists and the New England Historic Genealogical Society and have even taken a few professional webinar workshops. I cannot wait for classes to start next week and to formally begin my journey to one day becoming a certified professional genealogist.

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