Since around 2000, I have been working on my family tree. It has been challenging and interesting. Along the way there have been roadblocks and revelations. My sister Debbie and I have become unofficial detectives in the process.
For me, working on my tree is just as much about history as it is connections, but it is really cool when you meet the one right person who can open up an entire branch of the family in one call, email, or Facebook message.
We have connected with family as far away as Latvia and as close by as Florida. My daughter Adrianna, had an opportunity to meet some of our family in Latvia last year and shared a common bond of blue eyes with that family there.
Meeting our family in France was really fun too and made the trip even more special.
DNA testing has made the journey even more fascinating. Looking at connections and trying to place them in the tree can be a real mystery, but when a clue is followed and it results in the answer it makes it all worthwhile.
In addition to finding connections, we love to read the history of how family moved from one country to another. It is mind enriching and fun to find the facts. For some family it was fleeing war and oppression, for others it was opportunity.
We even found some celebrities along the way.
Some of my favorite sites are Ancestry, Jewishgen, Geni, and Gedmatch.
Swimming Upstream 