brick wall (Photo credit: Muffet)
Most days, I stay motivated by working with other family researchers, who just so happen to be my own family! Family I never knew I had until recently. They have become my rock so to speak. They know what hard work it can be to try and track down our ancestors. The thirst for knowledge we have about our family’s past. The ache of not knowing where one family members’ life may take us. It could be down an old, beaten path or it could be down a road less traveled. So much so that we have to cut our way through and make the path passable. At the end of the day, a genealogist or family historian still has names, dates, agendas, to-do lists, research plans and logs, documents to find, dusty attics to search through– all this and much more goes running through our minds at any given time. Most of the time I suffer from insomnia and find myself wide awake at different hours of the night, or should I say early morning? It seems like my best writing ideas comes to me at 3 a.m.! I guess it’s my quiet time with no interruptions or anything else that would distract my thought process. It’s just me, my cup of coffee which is flavored with my favorite hazelnut creamer, my laptop, and my thoughts!
I have even found myself dreaming of what I needed to do regarding my genealogy research. I recently had a dream of ancestors and antique shops, where I found something from the 1700’s that had their name and date of birth written on it. It was a simple Christmas ornament, but the shop keeper wanted an arm and a leg for it and it was way out of my price range. ($7500 to be exact) What do you think triggered this dream? It had to be the email I sent to this antique shop in Virginia just a few days ago! If I were to interpret the dream, I would say that I am feeling out of touch, feeling that my ancestors are just out of my reach. So close but yet so far! I can dream up some really strange dreams, but this one I actually remembered in vivid detail for some odd reason.
Today, I feel like I need more motivation to keep up with all the block walls that I seem to be running into blindly. If you can just picture this: a woman running along a winding road, the wind blowing through her hair and the sun shining down on her. All of a sudden she collides into a brick and mortar wall, her face slamming right into it, as it just appeared out of nowhere. She’s stunned. She looks around to see if anyone saw her. Oh, how embarrassed she would be! Mortified to say the least 🙂
In my most recent search for my fathers documents, I didn’t know the city or county he was born in until Sunday afternoon. I received an email from my aunt, telling me that my father was born in Wythe County, Crockett, Virginia. He wasn’t born in a hospital, but born at home. Even though all that is good to know, I need concrete evidence so I am able to move further back into my family tree, nourishing those roots with some good old TLC and begin my thorough research on my grandfather. One of my goals is to become a member of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) through one of my patriot family members. But to do this, I need all the documents that I can get my hands on. With any luck, I will accomplish this goal! For those of you who don’t know me personally, I am determined, strong willed and stubborn like my father. I admit I am sometimes too patient but at the same time, I can also have a mean temper. Just ask my husband he’ll tell you what it’s like! 🙂
Ancestral Roots & History 