[Genealib] I started my genealogy 43 years ago

[Joanne McCarthy]

It was the week long epic tv series Roots by Alex Haley way back in the 1970's that  got my mother and father started. They went out and bought a family history kit and I remember it being laid out on the ping pong table for months on end. After that, their interest was diverted to other daily issues and it was packed up and stored away.  

When I moved to Nova Scotia, Canada, my Aunt whispered in my ear that my grandfather arrived in Canada from Liverpool, England via Halifax and asked if I could find anything about that day. So off I toddled to the Archives and found the passenger lists (we had the date of arrival from a sticker on his truck that we inherited) and there he was, with $68 in his pocket! I thought, this is easy. This is fun!

Normally, you don't start with such ease with passenger lists, but with my librarian research skills and determination, I requested the family history kit stored away and just dove right in.  That was 15 years ago, and I've been very fortunate to tailor my position in the public library to specialize in local history and genealogy. How often does one get to turn their hobby into a full time career?

I borrowed a copy of Haley's Roots series recently and remember so well that epic week...and offered him a quiet thank you for pursuing his own dreams and inspiring my own family to seek the same.

Joanne McCarthy
Halifax Public Libraries
Local History and Genealogy Librarian



  ---- Original message ----

    Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:33:12 -0400
    From: "Tom Kemp" <thomas.j.kemp at gmail.com>
    Subject: [Genealib] I started my genealogy 43 years ago
    To: "Librarians Serving Genealogists"
    <genealib at mailman.acomp.usf.edu>
    >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
    >_______________________________________________
    >genealib mailing list
    >genealib at mailman.acomp.usf.edu 
    >http://mailman.acomp.usf.edu/mailman/listinfo/genealib