From roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Thu Jan 5 15:19:43 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.16.34]) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k05MJhSK014300; Thu, 5 Jan 2006 15:19:43 -0700 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l.rootsweb.com [66.43.16.22]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k05MJeca030088 for ; Thu, 5 Jan 2006 15:19:40 -0700 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l [127.0.0.1]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k05JrBFI015775 for ; Thu, 5 Jan 2006 14:53:11 -0500 Received: (from roots-in@localhost) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.8/Submit) id k05JrB3j015774 for roots-approved@rootsweb.com; Thu, 5 Jan 2006 14:53:11 -0500 Received: from lists5.rootsweb.com (lists5.rootsweb.com [66.43.18.41]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k05JFnFI015664 for ; Thu, 5 Jan 2006 14:15:49 -0500 Received: (from slist@localhost) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) id k05Lg7Se012956 for roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com; Thu, 5 Jan 2006 14:42:07 -0700 X-Envelope-From: huggins_huggins@yahoo.com Thu Jan 5 14:42:07 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.16.34]) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k05Lg7SK012947 for ; Thu, 5 Jan 2006 14:42:07 -0700 Received: from web51801.mail.yahoo.com (web51801.mail.yahoo.com [206.190.38.232]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with SMTP id k05Lg5VJ005741 for ; Thu, 5 Jan 2006 14:42:06 -0700 Received: (qmail 32431 invoked by uid 60001); 5 Jan 2006 21:42:02 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.com; h=Message-ID:Received:Date:From:Subject:To:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding; b=51VFOx4b0vZI5GE62ZoPOGzSiJfQq1J3cEpnkdW3q56cFLF1gV382uJ+FkYkAjNIItSDzXCIaD2CpP4jw4F6028ZwEi2GWuQ86HL89Y2R3TwewhWNuQFD5eDq/w6V4DNM82RPfw2YF0tZn/bx42X9KsSjj+neGf8UVIOe+s2fnk= ; Message-ID: <20060105214202.32429.qmail@web51801.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [67.101.221.213] by web51801.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Thu, 05 Jan 2006 13:42:02 PST Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 13:42:02 -0800 (PST) From: huggins huggins To: ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com In-Reply-To: <200601051300.k05D0Mgp029832@lists5.rootsweb.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.16.34 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.16.34 Sender: roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Subject: [ROOTS-L] How I Became Interested in Genealogy My mother came from a large (and very poor) family in Marshall Co.,WV. Her father regularly beat her. When she was a teenager, she left home and never went back. She begged two of her sisters to come with her but they were too afraid. Mom ended up cutting off her entire family and rarely spoke of them. My father died when I was a teenager. At one point, I remember telling Mom I wish I had asked him questions about his childhood and family. (He had been married 5 times and had other children but I knew little about them). I was so angry - I told Mom I didn't know anything about her family either because she didn't want to talk about them. I didn't want to lose her one day and have the same regrets about not knowing about her. After that, she would answer my questions but never elaborated. In the 1980s, her favorite sister somehow got our phone number and she called many times. She loved Mom and had missed her so much. Unfortunately, Mom rarely talked to her - most of the time, she'd tell us to say she wasn't home. She didn't want to be reminded about her family. My mother was a very loving and giving person but if she cut you off, that was that. Mom died a few years ago. In my grief, I needed to do SOMETHING. I wished I knew her family - I felt so alone except for a brother who lived at the other end of the State. That's when I decided to try to find the Aunt who had called so many times. However, I was soon stuck because I didn't know much about her family. Then I saw an ad - probably ancestry.com - and decided to try to piece together my family. I was hoping I would then be able to find out my Aunt's name and phone number. It took a few months (and alot of luck) for me to find her. It was so wonderful to hear her voice again - finally, I felt a connection to family. The worst was telling her about Mom's death - I can still hear her screams. Ever since then, we talk a few times a week. She helped me to find another Aunt and one of my Uncles. I talk to them regularly as well. There were two other aunts but one was dead and the other had run away as Mom did. (She might be in Florida but we don't know for sure). There is also another Uncle and I'm working up my courage to call him. (I'm very shy). I'm so grateful to have found my Aunts and Uncle. In addition to getting to know them, they've provided me with alot of info about our ancestors. It feels good to care about my family and knowing they care about me. I've missed that since Mom died. I've discovered some of my ancestors were as mean as my Grandfather. Several of them were even murderers. One ancestor (and 3 of his sons) murdered another ancestor over grazing land. The sons received 5 years in prison and the father 8 years. A female ancestor confessed to 3 murders on her deathbed. She had poisoned her 1st husband, her 14 yr old daughter and a boarder. She didn't want the murders to be on her conscience when she "met God". Another ancestor served in the Civil War then went home to his wife and children. Shortly afterwards, he went out one day and was gone for 18 years. He had married another woman and fathered more children. Eighteen years later, he left the other woman and went back to his first wife. He moved back in as though he had never been gone and stayed there for several more years, until his death. What a jerk. I love finding stories such as these because they make the names in my family tree come alive - they're no longer just names on a census or in a book. dee