I can’t agree with this more! I wish I had the tools available now, when my grandmother was still alive. My mother provided heaps of info when she was still living. Chasing your family tree is good for those older family members you have. I have pulled census records for a nearby community where my paternal side of the family is from. I’ve shown my father who is in his mid-70’s. As I rattled off names going down the list, he began to light up as he would tell stories about the family members and he would tell specifically where these people lived and we travelled the backroads with the census taker.
If you have never tried to put together a family tree, I urge you to take a stab at it. Like TW said, there’s so much free info out there. I’ve worked on mine twice now. Lost access to the electronic file of the first one and it was done from old Bible records and talking to people. This iteration it seems everything is electronic and easily accessed. In addition, other people have made their own family research available and it’s easy to tie things together and create entire new branches to your tree of people you never knew existed.
