The genealogy bug bit me in 1997 when my father asked me to give him some birth, marriage, and death information for my husband's ancestors. I walked into the local Family History Center in April 1997 and have been enthralled with the search for our roots ever since.
Since Dad was climbing his and Mom's family tree, I concentrated on my husband's paternal ancestors for the first two years. His roots proved to be very elusive and I found many family legends (such as which country they emigrated from) to be inaccurate. Every success brought the wish that my father-in-law, LeRoy Hessick, were still alive because "he would have really loved this." You see, Poppa was very interested in his heritage, but didn't know how to begin researching it. Unfortunately, no one else in the family was interested enough to help him search, so he never experienced the pleasure of the hunt himself.
Dad and I spent many joyful hours sharing our successes and discussing our failures in our separate quests. We even took a trip together to Kentucky to visit his ancestral home and one to Salt Lake City for a genealogical research marathon. He died shortly after the trip to Salt Lake and bequeathed the role of Family Historian to me.
This blog is dedicated to the memories of Dad and Poppa, who have probably solved all the mysteries of their heritages by talking to those elusive ancestors in person (or in spirit) in the afterlife. It is also dedicated to my daughter who I hope will one day come to appreciate her legacy as much as I do.