Stuck in the Past

I've always thought I had a good dose of OCD in my genetic makeup.
Why?  Because I can't become mildly interested in anything.
If I take up with an interest or a hobby or a job, I am ALL IN!
It's all I want to do and if left to my own devices, it IS all I do.
All day.
Every day.
24/7.....well except for that sleeping, eating, bathing stuff too. ;-)

Do you obsess over something or things?
I bet you do.

The thing that has me held captive lately is "armchair genealogy".
Not that I am searching for the history of armchairs but rather searching online records for family genealogy.  Having the internet and so many records being online, I can lose days sitting here just poking around in the past.....and I have!

Records that use to take genealogists months and years to search out via mail and on site location searches can be had in hours or mere minutes within a day now.
Of course you can't get everything online but for casual researchers like me and for digging into the top layers of history, the internet is 'da bomb!

Not that I am good at it yet, but I am getting better at putting 2 and 2 together.
It's like a giant time jigsaw puzzle.  And along the way I get history lessons too.  A win-win proposition in my book!

I work on one line and just keep going back until I hit those inevitable brick walls.
Then I go work on another branch.
And when I get bored with my family, I go work on the family of someone else.

I am so possessed that I've done a few people's trees and I don't even know them!
Someone posted a long gone family member on their blog and I went and built a family tree.  I'd love to share it with her but I'm scared to tell her......she might think I am creepy, ya know?
Someone else wrote a book about their great aunt's teenage journal and I traced her family tree back.

My daughter brought home a boyfriend and I started working on HIS family tree.....yah, but he was jazzed about it and WANTED to know.  It's too bad my daughter no longer dates him now.  But I did had a genealogy buddy for a short time......

I've just started Hub's oldest brother's wife's families and my brother's wife's families, though both of those have been difficult to get very far with.  Both have lines in North Carolina and for some reason, NC has some bad or non-existent records.

I have added every person who was ever connected to my family that I can find.....except for the family of the Sis-IL's ex hubby....and her new boyfriend....ooo!.....2 more families I can work on....yay!!

You should see my massive family tree now!   If I had to print this all out, I'd kill a rainforest in Central America.
Seriously.
My tree has 3572 peeps in it. 
I obviously come from some fertile clans....

My hub's tree has 312 peeps.
Hey, he's not interested in any of this stuff so I don't feel as motivated to do his side.....plus his father's side didn't come here until around 1900 and I don't read Italian or have access to records in Sicily which cuts into what I can do for free online.

And I have just started my oldest's longtime girlfriend's families.  Her grandmother seemed interested and gave oldest some basic info(name and birthdate) and I had this within minutes and sent this to oldest.

It's girlfriend's grandmother's  high school Senior photo.  So styling in those cat's eye glasses.....
Of course I can't get much more than this since she was born after the 1940 census year and I don't have her parents info yet.


So, does anybody out there want me rooting around in their family's past?
Want to know who you are named for or why you live where you do or how you got here and where your people came from?
If you have family info. for people born BEFORE 1940, email me and I'll see what I can find for you.
And I promise not to post your grandmother's high school yearbook photo on my blog.....unless you want me to. 8-)

Yes, I have a Ancestry dotcom membership and I know how to use it! ;-)

Sluggy