Where has the time gone?
Ten years ago, in June 2013, I started the Family Sleuther blog to uncover my family's forgotten history. Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors initiative prompted me to make blogging a habit. Soon, I was routinely researching and publishing.
Propelled by a desire to rediscover my kin, I sought out ancestors whom the world had long forgotten. As the poet Marie Howe wrote, “I am living. I remember you.”
And remember I have done. Across 284 blog posts (this is #285!), I’ve racked up over 524,000 total views and nearly 1,400 comments.
I’ve learned a lot about the science and art of genealogy while making some dramatic discoveries. For example:
- I learned that my third great-grandfather John Flynn was murdered in a trifling quarrel in 1881.
- I uncovered and then solved a Misattributed Paternity Event, identifying my Kirk lineage and likely Irish roots and even self-published a biography of my fifth great-grandfather Thomas Kirk.
- I discovered my Cornish heritage and learned about the tragic and grisly death of my third great-grandfather Thomas K. Stephens who was killed in a Colorado mining accident.
- I learned that my third great-grandfather Francis Stephen Lamb shot and nearly killed a man in a jealous fit of rage, making his family fodder for Denver's early 20th century tabloids.
- I learned about my second great-grandfather William Kirk's drowning in a Denver water reservoir.
- I discovered the role Mahlon Haworth, my fifth great-grandfather, played as a station agent on the Underground Railroad.
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| The author during a family history road trip to Licking County, Ohio. |
I often return to past blog posts and am reminded of discoveries that have already escaped my memory. Writing my family history has helped me process my way through the information that I'm uncovering and preserving for posterity. It's made me a better genealogist.
As I celebrate this milestone and look forward to the decade ahead, I invite you to blog your family's history. I suspect that a year from now (or ten) you'll be grateful you took steps to help safeguard your ancestors' stories for the future. As I walk down memory lane, I know I sure am!
