Sunday, August 26, 2012

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy - Week 35

Week 35: Genealogy Friends.
Genealogy friends are wonderful people. Don’t you agree? Tell us about a genealogy friend in your life. How did you meet? Do you share any common ancestors or research interests?

I do agree. I'd say I have Abundant genealogy friends.  I have met them in many ways - at conferences, on message boards, from my blog and website, researching at libraries.  One of my genealogy friends was a volunteer at the local Family History Center - we saw each other weekly and realized we were working on family at some of the same places in the same time period.  I found one of her ancestors while researching my own - at a time and place she had "lost" him. That find helped her to prove his Revolutionary service. We always thought we might find a kinship, or that she might be related to my husband, but no connection was ever revealed. We are positive our ancestors were acquainted.

The most fun we had, were the days we'd travel to a nearby city where there was a large genealogy library.  We would meet and leave early enough to be at the door when the library opened.  We packed a lunch so we could run to the car and eat instead of wasting our research time at a restaurant. Took all of 20 minutes.  She still had a teen-ager in school, so usually she had a time to be back home.  We had the drive timed perfectly so we could research until the last possible moment.  The drive was about an hour and a half so we  discussed our findings of the day, all the way home.

We also attended IGHR at Samford University in Birmingham and roomed together several times.  We shared every night and it was almost like being able to take two simultaneous courses!

Unfortunately life got in the way and I had to move and our research frenzies came to an end.  If we were together today, I'm sure we'd take up exactly where we left off - describing the latest finds and picking each other's brains for ideas!