My curiosity about my family tree was ignited as I stood amidst unknown ancestors in a windswept little community cemetery a thousand miles from my home. As snow started to fall, they seemed to thank me for taking the trouble to visit their desolate resting place. I needed to know more about them. Why had they chosen this spot to pour out their life's work and love? Why had they made the pioneering trek from Canada in the mid-1800s? What prompted their ancestors to similarly trek from Ireland to pioneer Canada? My list of questions grew as I made my return trip. Amazingly, it turned out that the answers had been awaiting me all the time: I lived literally across the street from a National Archives branch! I spent all my spare time poring over microfilmed Census indexes and records and my little acorns gradually flourished into a family tree until there was no more detail I could add. Decades later, I just discovered the treasure trove that is Find A Grave. I'm so grateful to the generous volunteers who have given me so many new details to bring my tree to a new spring of growth.

My curiosity about my family tree was ignited as I stood amidst unknown ancestors in a windswept little community cemetery a thousand miles from my home. As snow started to fall, they seemed to thank me for taking the trouble to visit their desolate resting place. I needed to know more about them. Why had they chosen this spot to pour out their life's work and love? Why had they made the pioneering trek from Canada in the mid-1800s? What prompted their ancestors to similarly trek from Ireland to pioneer Canada? My list of questions grew as I made my return trip. Amazingly, it turned out that the answers had been awaiting me all the time: I lived literally across the street from a National Archives branch! I spent all my spare time poring over microfilmed Census indexes and records and my little acorns gradually flourished into a family tree until there was no more detail I could add. Decades later, I just discovered the treasure trove that is Find A Grave. I'm so grateful to the generous volunteers who have given me so many new details to bring my tree to a new spring of growth.