How old where you when you started doing genealogy?

Question

Why do you do Genealogy?

Answer 1

i have always been interested in my family history even when i was a kid. maybe because my grandmother was so hush hush about it it sparked my curiosity. though i have found nothing that shocking to me i guess in her day maybe it was more so. i just find it interesting to know where i started and to see how far it goes when my time ends.

Answer 2

I was age 58 when I begin the deepest interest in it, and I
was doing it for Medical Reasons, esp. on the females, to
see how many generations had about the same type of
locations of illnesses / diseases, and it is amazing what
can be found in documentation too.
I was able to research and document proof of 8 to 9
generations of females, and what they suffered from at
various ages, etc.
I discovered at what age they were when they married,
at what age they were when they had the first baby, and
what age they were when they had the last baby...and
how many babies died at birth or were stillborn, and
how close the pregnancies were, and how many kids
were still at home when the youngest was born, and
from that determined what ''genes'' have been passed
down to cause an illness or weakness in the body.
In the men, it seemed that it was the liver or the
stomach, of certain generations and in another it was
heart disease, or cancer of these, and it was not until
recent generations that lung cancer and more heart
disease, and severe cancers of the stomach developed,
and so did the contents / additives of the food items,
change from generation to generation, and filters on
cigarettes began to be more common...
You can learn a lot from the study of your ancestors,
and cousins.
One lineage might have more of one disease in it,
than the other lineage will, and that is most interesting.
My brother and a cousin researched history for over 30
years and they are just interested in the statistics of it,
but I like to search for the family stories, and how the
people lived their lifestyles.
For instance, when my great-grandfather came from
Tennessee, (Robert Hatten Wright), he was the son of
a U.S. Marshall, and he married a woman, Amanda
Elizabeth Griffith, a woman of lace dresses and a dowry
of $1,200..00, (got paid to take her off the family's hands,
so to speak), and when they got to Oklahoma, he didn't
have an easy life. He went on a cattle drive to Montana
and took one of his sons, age 9, and it took 3 years to
go there and back. He later became a make of whiskey
and made lye soap, an homebrew, and I found the list
of all these ingredients on a debt paper he owed a local
grocery store when he died, and his probate papers are
50 pages long, detailing how his $1,000 life insurance
was to be spend. His widow got $30..00 allowance, after
the funeral was paid, and store too. this was in 1926.
It cost the widow $3.00 for transportation to go 32 miles
to get the $30, too. That's where the life insurance policy
was in an account there.
So, yes you can learn many things when searching family
history.
A person doing research needs to search for probate records
because you might have some Legal Rights to some land
or Mineral Rights...you just never know what you can dis-
cover, when digging up...family skeletons..
(Too Funny)

Answer 3

When I was 8 or 9 years old. My father's side of the family loved to tell stories about their families and where they came from, so I started with that. I also have always loved history, so tracking down my ancestors is like finding my own personal history. Plus, a lot of times you find family secrets that are fairly surprising (children born out of wedlock, cheating spouses, ancestors who did time in prison, etc.) making me realize that people really aren't that different over the span of time.

With so many resources on the internet, it's much easier to start researching your family history than in the past. My mother-in-law also is into genealogy, so it gives me something to talk about with her.

Answer 4

Well my great,great aunt always did genealogy and talked about the family and the stories of our family. I was about 18 yrs old when it started to matter to me and I really became interested in making my contribution about 10 years ago and thats why to remember my Ancestors and to record the story of there lives and to make sure its passed on after I die to future generations.

Answer 5

I was ten years of age. My neighbor, a sixty year vet of it, got me started. Since then, I have found out I am a blood descendent of Bonnie Prince Charlie..Charles Stuart. Robert the Bruce..mom's side. My father's..Hatfield and McCoy. Also on my father's side, I am blood to three important Cherokee Chiefs in the Eastern Cherokee. Do a Yahoo Search on Chief Red Bird. He's my 6th Gr-Grandfather. It's a wonderful thing that keeps a disabled person going. I became a professional genealogist in 1998.

Answer 6

I was in my early 40's when I first started getting interested, but didn't actually do anything but make mental notes and sort through old photos until I was 50. Last year my sister and I both got busy and started putting together everything we knew about the family, asking questions, buying software, joining ancestry.com, and getting into the research of the ancestors we never knew anything about. It's been interesting, but we have a long, long, ways to go........

Answer 7

I was in my early 60's when I started doing it seriously. My Mom used to tell me family stories and wrote down what she could for both her side of the family and my Dad's side, but until I had internet access, I did not have much chance to do any serious work on it. Libraries never seem to be able to do the inter-library book thing and I certainly could not afford to go to places to do in person research.

Answer 8

I guess I'm not that old yet cause I don't do it.