I don't know about you, but I love to delve into my families past and uncover nuggets of history that I previously didn't know. Finding those connections from one generation to another are very satisfying.
I started my journey as the family historian looking for a birth great grandfather. (Still looking but finding clues!) I started over 30 years ago and each find has truly been a gem.
One of my favorite finds was a connection to a family in Yorkshire. We started emailing and confirmed the connection. He graciously extended an offer to visit and look at a treasure trove of documents he had. As in originals from 1500's!
A few years later I was able to travel to Yorkshire. Unfortunately, in the intervening years he had passed away. I did however, meet with his son, another cousin! I was given a private tour of the home my ancestors continue to reside today. Did I mention they are peerage?
It was great fun.
I would never have had that experience if I hadn't started down that road, looking for family connections.
Making the connection on paper is a great thing, but to actually travel to those places make your own, private history, come alive.
Imagine crossing the Irish sea on a small ship looking for the opportunity to farm your own plot of land. Or peruse the castle ruins of the long-ago king that ruled the city state that was your 15th grandfather. Or imagine the countless families that fled the potato famine by immigrating to the U.S.
Their stories are your stories.
Traveling to those small villages might, just might, open a small chink in that brick wall that you hit. While troves of documents are available online, so many more are not and only a trip to the local parish or depository will have that one piece of paper, that one vital piece of information that you need to take that next step.
If you have a group of people that are interested in the same area, all the better to share and bounce ideas off and research together.
Maybe you already have a group of people interested in going to Ireland, or Scotland or maybe Germany. Or any other place that you may wish to research. Give me a call and we can put together a lovely itinerary to include sites, research options and more. Groups can be as large as 40, small as 10 or even couples or individuals.
The World is waiting. Where will YOU go?
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