For the love of a story.

Those who know me, know that I spend quite a bit of time researching my family history. What most people do not know however, is that I do it for the love of the story. It is a great passion of mine to know the story of my family, and not just that- but to go deeper and know the story of as many individual people in my family as possible. I also really love the "chase", finding and uncovering new facts and being able to put those facts together to form who the people were and what their lives were like.
I have written an extensive book on one branch of my family history, and hope that my children or at least someone appreciates it as much as I do. My Great-Great Grandfather had a total of 9 biological siblings, a father, mother, a stepmother, grandparents, and an uncle who I know of and have written a page or so on each of their lives.
Here is an excerpt from the book that I thought was pretty funny...

"When speaking with Mike (last name protected), he told me that when he was young, he went with the family to Communion Mass. His Auntie, Mary Petranton was with them and she asked him if he was hungry. He replied, “No, I already ate breakfast”. Following this statement, she hit him “on the back of the head, harder than he has ever been hit in his life”. This was because you were not supposed to eat before Communion Mass. Mike thought this story was funny when he told me, and he told it with a smirk and a twinkle in his eye for the memory of life on the Levee."

I have had the wonderful opportunity to learn a great deal of happy, warm details about my family history, as well as some difficult and painful facts and memories. I was very blessed to be able to meet and speak with so many different family members with wonderful stories and memories from their lives to share with me. I hope that the family story that is recorded will pass to future generations and they will long to know the history of their "immediate" past.