I am a Genealogy Researcher. Both for fun and self employment. There is very little else that I like to do so much. I combine the Genealogy Research with digital photography and personal publishing. It is an unbeatable combination. I never knew much about my family tree before. Now thanks to many "live" cousins I have found around the globe, I have photos of ancestors and have collected articles from my ancestors. I have found books where my ancestors were authors and books that my ancestors have been written about. I have many tangible items that tell the story of my ancestry.

I have ancestors from Canada, Ireland, England, Bohemia, Vienna, Sweden, Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Australia. I have "live" cousins I email and some that I have even met. I have found wills from the 1800's that were written in script and signed. I also have fun looking on ebay, ancestorstuff, amazon and other auction places online to find family history. Whether it is a photo, or a glass bottle with my ancestors name on it or a hand made trunk that crossed the ocean with my ancestors in steerage.

I have found myself most drawn to the Burlands, Bulls, Beede/Beedy and Atkinsons branch of my family. I knew little or nothing before I started researching. Now after 11 years of searching and finding, I feel as though I know the people on that side of my family. With military documents I know what they look like and what kind of scars they have. From newspaper articles I know what kind of wedding dress someone wore to their wedding. or when Fred Burland went missing when he was 16.

I have a history wall in my house. It has the photos I have been given and collected over the years. It is fun to see how people farmed back then, (using tractor wheels without rubber.), trying to guess why the Schmeisers had a bottle with a porcelain top made with their name and place of operation on it (Landskron), and most of all I have photos of headstones and old home sites where my ancestors lived.

I spend hours in dusty archive rooms in big and little cities, long hours in libraries and historical societies to get vital records on my ancestors. I know how they died, why and how long ago, I know when they were born and who their parents were, if I get very lucky I can find another piece of family ephemera, like postcards of where they lived, to add to my collection.

This research has "completed" me. I feel like I know better where I came from and what these people endured to make life better for me. I can visit graves and say Thank you, to the many who came before me. It is a great thing to do for yourself and to give to your descendants for them and the next generation. I feel I have something to leave as a Legacy to my child and grandchildren. And someday they will pass that on.