21 August 2013

Family History... I'm doing it!

I was out of Primary before that song became a part of the repertoire, but I had a companion who would always sing it. Of course, that's the only line I remember... but at least it's the most important one!

While I was working on some family history research a couple weeks ago, I felt impressed to google the town where this particular family was from (Wirksworth, Derbyshire, England) and learn more about the area. When I did so, a website came up that mentioned parish records, so I clicked on it. And lo and BEHOLD! Parish records manna from heaven!

I learned that the Wirksworth Parish records were so complete that a particular project had been undertaken to make them ALL available online, organized in various ways, from the 17th-20th centuries. It was the Genealogy Jackpot! With help from these records, I've been able to add about 3-4 complete generations on multiple family lines, adding more than 150 names to my family tree, and finding more than 100 names for the Temple!

I was so engrossed, enthralled, elated, exhilarated that I almost pulled an all-nighter that first night I found this website. My eyes started to blur as I'd been staring at the screen for HOURS, so I looked at the clock to determine if I should go to bed... it read 4:30AM. Yep. I should DEFINITELY go to bed! haha So I reluctantly finished up the name I was working on and called it quits. But I've now been back to the website several times to continue the work and it's incredible how much information I'm still finding! Of course there are still some temporary dead-ends with missing information, as there will always be. But I have found SO MANY ancestors in such a short amount of time! And with relatively little effort. I can't even describe the high I get from finding my ancestors. I wrote once before that I'd been swallowed whole by the Spirit of Elijah, and that same feeling has returned. What is even more exciting is that Wirksworth is only about 60 miles from where I'll be living for the next year... plenty close for me to visit and do some more in-depth research! What great fortune!!!

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