The Wonderful World of Genealogy
or, Collecting the Dead and Annoying the Living
Andy and I have spent the past eighteen months researching our family tree...actually, that's not true. For the first nine months I was researching and Andy would say, "Don't you have anything better to do?" Then for about two months, he was more like, "If you don't stop it with that family tree I'm taking out our Internet service!" After that, we didn't speak for a while. But then, something amazing happened! I would find him glancing over my shoulder at what I was doing without commenting. Soon after this breakthrough, I was able to make comments to him about the genealogy over my shoulder while he was watching television and he would actually look at me when I spoke. I knew this was progress.
Little by little and bit by bit I would feed him tasty little scraps of history like worms to a fish until one day, much to my surprise, Andy pulled up a chair next to me and asked me to teach him about ged files. Oh, rapture! He finally took a place in the drivers seat and he seems quite content there. At times. At other times, he's quite happy for me to do all of the hard work and he gets the joy of emailing, "We found another one!" emails to his family.
At this point I have been fairly satisfied with the pace of my research. In the beginning it was a feeding frenzy - there were just so many resources out there that I was discovering. It was quite an exciting thrill. Don't get me wrong, it still is, but now I'm at the stage in the game where I'm becoming increasingly more interested in helping out other genealogists on their quests as well as persuing my own.
The past year and a half of research has led me down many roads and I've met many knowledgable and friendly people who are willing to share their work with me. You can find transcripts of their work in these pages, as well as my own research and other links and contacts that have served me well. I hope to expand this site indefinitely - or at least until my web space runs out.
As with most genealogists our searching has led to a few surnames that we've seemed to persue with more vigor than others. Because of this you'll notice that our own personal focus has been on Lancashire, England and the surnames of Gorner, Yates and Beard/Baird. Do not let this apparently narrow search deter you, however, as I plan to add new content relating to surnames and places around the globe as time permits.
I sincerely hope you enjoy these pages, break through those brick walls and find the elusive. Most of all, have fun!
Happy Hunting,
Minneapolis, Minnesota