[Genealib] I started my genealogy 43 years ago

[Mark Wentling]

I got started when I was 10 years old.

Before that age, I remember my Mom always telling me how I was her grandfather's "namesake" by virtue that she had given me my middle name of "Avery" after his middle name.

When I was 10 I remember we were out to my grandparents house and she sat me down at a picnic table on the porch to show me a stack of notes she had just found that her grandmother had made during the 1920's in preparation for applying for membership to the DAR.

I remember going home that night and drawing my first pedigree chart (though I didn't even know that's what it was!).

Not only did that experience get me started in genealogy, but it also solidified for me what was already an affection for libraries.  I spent lots of spare time as a teenager in local libraries and historical societies trying to expand the family tree, and things really took off when I moved to DC after college and had access to the DAR library and the National Archives.  By the time the internet reached it's heyday I was ready to start putting what I found online.  Today I have several websites for my own genealogy and to help others with their research:

LEGENDS: Mark's Complete Ancestry on the Web -- http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~legends/welcome.html
HounsfieldHistory.net
(history of the Town of Hounsfield, Jefferson County) --
http://http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/jefferson/hounsfield/
Jefferson County, NY, Local History Network -- http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/jefferson/
Jefferson County, NY, Pioneer Portraits Project -- http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/jefferson/ppp/
Rock Island Lighthouse Historical & Memorial Association -- http://rockislandlighthouse.org

If it hadn't been for my Mom's stories and attention when I was a little boy, I'm sure I wouldn't have enjoyed this life-long genealogy hobby, nor be in the library career I am in today.

- Mark Wentling



> Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:33:12 -0400
> From: thomas.j.kemp at gmail.com
> To: genealib at mailman.acomp.usf.edu
> Subject: [Genealib] I started my genealogy 43 years ago
> 
> I started working on my genealogy 43 years ago.
> I wrote about what got me started at:
> http://blog.genealogybank.com/2008/07/its-great-day-for-genealogy.html
> 
> What got you started?
> 
> Tom
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