You could say that there were several moments that lead to my fascination with genealogy. The most notable one, came 2 years before I ever picked up a piece of research, before I ever really had an understanding of what learning about my family’s history would mean for me.

My Dad’s first cousin had reached out to him after her Mother’s passing to let him know that she had found some papers from their Grandmother that explained our relationship to the Patriot Soldier “Zeally Moss”. With this information, I could join the Daughters of the American Revolution, and she wanted to know if I would be interested in copies of the documents. I gleefully said that I would! Although I hadn’t been bitten by the genealogy bug quite yet, I had always had a fascination with history and a nostalgic heart for my family. In addition, I had always had a “back of my head” interest in the D.A.R. but never really thought about the chance that I could join because I had assumed my family immigrated to the United States long after the Revolutionary War.

So I received the documents, typed out and hand written pages explaining our families past. There were several emails, with several documents from different branches of our family. I sat for hours reading through them. Trying to grasp who was who and what was what…. and trying to read my Great-Grandmother’s incredibly beautiful script. It was incredible!

…. and then life happened.

My 2nd son was born shortly after, and about a year later, I found out I was having twins. I started my maternity leave a month before they were born and all the sudden found myself with a lot of extra time on my hands that I didn’t have before. I immediately signed up for an ancestry subscription.

I started little by little, pulling up one family member after another, finding hints, and finding my way through a maze of family history gold! And then….. I came to my Great-Grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Matthews. I plugged in her Parents, her Grandparents, Great-Grandparents and so on. I learned they settled in Indiana from Maryland, found photos and newspapers articles…..And remembered, buried deep in my inbox were emails from my my cousin with all the family history information that I could hope for.

Only I had already found everything on my own. Let me tell you, finding written documentation about your family history from a great-grandparent that confirms your research is about as amazing as Christmas morning.

But the best part is being able pick up where she left off.

The Personal Sketch of John Hammond ( My 4th Great-Grandfather)