This is my very first blog, so please be patient with me. I have been working on my family history for about 45 years, being inspired by my maternal grandmother and her meticulous tracking of especially her husband’s family. I got the sense it was very important for her to keep track of the extended family. I suspect there were two significant reasons; the family had only been in America for one generation when they were born, and they had a wanderlust that had the family spread through multiple states. For me, it represented very special time spent with my favorite grandparent.
Now that I am retired from an exciting career in international banking telecommunications, I finally have the time to invest toward more extensive research. I like to think that I am paying myself to research my family history. Genealogy has changed incredibly much since I first started. There are so many research resources available online, so more can be done from home and out of the archive rooms, although finding specific records can stil be quite a challenge. Then along came DNA testing to revolutionize the way we think of genealogy in just a few short years.
So why start a blog? First, I think it is a good way to tell family stories and make them available to my relatives. Genealogy as dates, places, and even perhaps photos is rather boring if you don’t tell the stories. Secondly, as I learn about and start using resources I feel compelled to share them with others still trying to find their way. DNA testing is bringing a whole new wave of people trying to make sense of their ancestors and heritage/ethnicity, much the way that the book and mini-series “Roots” did 40 years ago. Finally, the most immediate trigger was becoming aware of a challenge for 2018 to write about 52 ancestors/relatives during the year; one per week. This first blog entry serves as my starting point with a little about myself and what drew me to learning more about my family.
My Norsk Roots 