Lynn Palermo over at The Armchair Genealogist blog wrote an wonderful post about the moment she was hooked on genealogy, you can read it here.   At the end she asked her readers when did they know when they were hooked on genealogy.  Here I will try to tell my story of when I knew.

Back in the late 1980’s, my dad’s side of the family was having their annual family reunion.  My dad is one of 13 kids so the number of family members that attend the family reunion is rather large.  My father was walking me around the backyards of my two uncle’s homes which were right next to each other.  It was pretty handy for the reunion! 

While my dad was walking me around the backyards, he was re-introducing me to relatives.  Because my parents divorced when I was very young and I was raised by my mother, I only saw my dad’s side of the family at the annual reunion which is why my sisters, brother and I were always re-introduced each year.  After meeting a few of my aunts my dad asked me, as we were walking away, if I remember them.  Sadly I answered no, I didn’t remember my aunts. 

It wasn’t till a few days later when I was remembering that moment, I realized how little I knew of my father or of his family!  It was then that I decided to first learn more about my dad, what his favorite color was, what his favorite subject in high school was, did he go to college, ect.  After answering those questions, I then turned to the ones about his family.  Where was grandpa from?  What was grandma like?  What was it like losing your mother at such a young age (seven years old) and if he even remembered it?  What was it like growing up in the 40’s and 50’s?  What it was like being a part of a migrant farm working family?

The moment that solidified my interest in genealogy was when my uncle showed me a portrait of my grandparents shortly after they were married and I realized that I looked a lot like my grandmother.  I was so happy to find an ancestor that I looked liked!  My other sisters all look like an ancestor or two on my mom’s side of the family but I finally found the one I looked like!

So yeah, I got bit by the genealogy bug hard. 

I must also ask like Lynn did…when did you know???