As you probably don't know, I am my family's Geneaologist. I got this job by wanting this job. I think that's how most people get into it.
I do not proclaim to be an expert in this field. I spout phrases like first-cousin-twice-removed and have no idea what it means. And the beauty part is that nobody else knows either, but they're too polite to actually question me down about it. And they should. And that's what I love about humanity in general. But that's a whole 'nother rant...
Bottom line is that I really like family history. And I'm particularly interested in my own.
I don't mean to brag, but I singlehandedly discovered that I am descended from an ax-murderer. Really. My sixth great-grandfather killed my sixth great-grandmother. With an ax. In front of their tiny children, as well as several neighbors. I found this amazing fact at a local library as I was casually perusing books looking for other things. I love stuff like that!
I started digging into all of this about 10 years ago. After about 6 months of research, I discovered that a really distant cousin of mine had already documented (and very well I might add) the basic family lineage, and had self-published a book about it. I am not a fool. I contacted him and bought the book. It meant a crashing end to my journey of discovery, but it's damned interesting reading.
Before I discovered that most of the basic family history work had been done, I joined every local county geneaology society that I could find in southern Illinois. (I was hoping to use these organizations as a resource in my quest...) Those little societies did a fine job of sending me their quarterly newsletters for several years. I gleaned a lot of pretty cool anecdotal stuff about my ancestors, so it was totally worth the $10 a year membership. After a few years, I stopped sending in my dues check. The mail from them stopped.
Until today. I have been informed of and invited to the 25th anniversary of the Maucoupin County Genealogic Society Extravaganza, with will be held in Staunton, IL in June of 2005. They'd like me to share my family story, my lineage since my ancestors left the verdant prairie of Illinois, and any pictures I might have (and I have a BUNCH....I'm especially proud of the one of my own Grandmother, sitting on a horse, in front of her first claim shack in the Dakota Teritorries...circa 1900...)
They're also publishing a Maucoupin County Cookbook for the occasion, and are soliciting family recipes. I have some beauties for their collection which I will contribute. Most of them involve green Jello.
I am also toying with the idea of attending the event, altho I am not aware of any direct relatives currently living in the area...it just sounds like a good, old-fashioned, small-town gathering. And I like the idea of that.
Wanna come with me?
