Family. This is what life is all about for me!
I am an avid genealogist, combining my paternal grandmother’s love of family with my own passion for learning. I have been researching my own family for over 30 years, beginning with my son’s kindergarten project in 1988. Throughout my own journey, I have found surprising information that I truly believe explains who I am today. I believe that a connection to the past has the capability of influencing a person’s future. Knowledge is critical.
I've lived in the same five mile radius all of my life but, truth be told, my proximity to my ancestors in Upstate New York, western Massachusetts, and Vermont provides me with significant research repositories and available records. My family began arriving in the New World with the Mayflower in 1620, during the Dutch excursion into New Amsterdam in the 1630s, the Great Migration from England between the 1620s to 1640s, and the Palatine Expeditions into the Hudson River Valley in 1710-1711. My family has been here a while!
In tracing my own family, I've discovered records and related migration from eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut through to western New York and Michigan. I've recently been focusing on my German immigrants to South Carolina and eventually, Florida.
In addition to successful completion of the Certificate in Genealogy Research program at Boston University, I have successfully completed various lineage society applications, including the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Mayflower Society. I am currently preparing for my application for the Board for the Certification of Genealogists and strictly adhere to the Genealogy Standards issued by the Board.
