For anyone with an interest in family history and genealogy. Beginners, experts, and everything in between are invited
What sparks your interest most?
Some people are driven by learning stories about their ancestors while others love simply collecting facts or trying to extend their tree as far as possible. Our community is small at the moment but I'd love to get a feel for what has brought each of you here. Please comment and tell us a little about what aspect of family history/genealogy is most fascinating and fun for you!




I enjoy learning about challenges and unique situations my ancestors have been through. Their faith and courage inspires me.
I like to visualize their lives and adventures based on what they went through. I also wonder what I've inherited from them.
I've always wanted to send my DNA to one of those places which can trace your ancestors. I would be interested to discover a common ancestor somewhere, say central Asia, and find out that he/she had thousands of descendent's etc.
I have a friend who is from a local family considered royalty. His family tree has been studied so well and he's related to so many interesting people. Mine seems boring from what I know of it.
I'm sure the deeper you delve into your history the more interesting things you'll discover. Those famous people do have that extra advantage that more has been recorded though.
I love piecing together sources to figure out how individuals with the same name are connected. For instance, one of my favorite projects happened while researching an ancestor named John Smith. I loved digging through all available information to figure out which of the many Smith families in Essex County, Massachusetts in the 1600s were connected to my ancestor. To make sure my information was as accurate as possible, I compiled information about each John Smith who lived in the area at the time and worked to figure out how many of them were related. It was a beautiful and fun puzzle to solve.
My favourite parts are: 1) fitting "missing" relatives into my tree when I find distant cousins who've also researched their own lines and being able to prove that their ancestor who they don't know the parents of is a child of one of my ancestors; 2) ensuring i have the best documentation i can find -- and making sure to note all guesses and hypotheses so that others won't assume it's all proved; 3) making contacts via dna matches, including proving other lines are really connected to mine (hint if you do this: i've had far more luck by looking for people who have my people in their own tree and then asking if they'd like to compare dna than i've had finding dna matches and then trying to figure out where our trees intersect) 4) comparing autosomal dominant genetic health issues with distant cousins