Sadly, sometimes the internet tells you more than you need to know...

[Phentex]

My son was working on an ancestry thing for school and asked me to name the city where my father was born. I haven't given it much thought because my father died when I was young and I don't know all that much about him. I texted the one sister I keep in touch with and she has no idea. I am pretty sure he was born in a house on the farm where he lived. It's not really IN a city but the postal code is for a nearby town so that's what I guessed. I decided to look up his obituary to see if it named a birth place.

I haven't found the obituary but I found a couple of surprising links. There's a group that takes pictures of headstones in little rural cemeteries and my father's family cemetery is there. I saw the names of some cousins I did not realize had passed. Obviously I have not kept in touch with too many people (on either side of the family). That part was sad but it was kinda cool to see the other family names with exact names of my grandparents and aunts and uncles.

I found a link to a listing of "fallen" military heroes and he is listed there. I knew he served in Korea and Vietnam but he died from leukemia after that so is he really considered "fallen"?

And then there was a link for my brother of the same name...and he's in jail. Just since June and as far as I know, nobody in the family knows about it. I don't know much about him either but it was shocking to see a mugshot. I saw the family resemblance immediately! I have no idea what his circumstances are but it made me sad.

My friend and I are constantly talking about joining ancestry.com but I wonder if not knowing anything would be better in my case.

[In_The_Wind]

1. Oh. I'm really sorry.

[Phentex]

2. Thanks, ITW...

means a lot.

[In_The_Wind]

3. I wish I knew what happened to my mother but I didn't find her when I looked.

Who knows how many 1/2 siblings I have.

[Phentex]

4. I have a niece out there who knows nothing about our family...

and I have always felt it was for the best. My sister gave her up for adoption and I really hope she has had a great life, unlike the one she could have had.

[GentryDixon]

5. I have been working on my ancestry since about 2008.

I must say it has opened so many doors to me. Unfortunately I started this quest after both of my parents were gone, so have not had the benefit of their input, which sounds like your situation.

I have found wonderful stories, and some pretty gruesome information. It is all part of being a "family unit", and is worth it in the long run.

I just published a book on my side of the family and provided copies to my twin, my niece & my son. I got a call from my niece yesterday. The joy she has found in learning of her family has made every second I have spent looking through dusty files and online resources worth it. I love doing the research, and to have someone become enlightened makes my heart swell.

I have made three trips to Missouri going through the genealogy records in the libraries to find information. I found the obits for both of my great grandparents in the files. I have also made three trips to the State Archives of North Carolina in Raleigh. After going through many microfiche I found the estate settlement of my ggg grandfather dated in 1840 . It has now been transcribed and is online at https://familysearch.org/search.

I have made contact with cousins I never know I had; some in Canada, in Wales, in Southampton, England, in Australia, and many in the US.

I say go for it. There are many resources to find information. If you are interested I will pm a list of the resources I use.

[Phentex]

6. I recently started down the path of...

writing things down for my kids. Okay, I should say renewing my interest in this because I started a couple of years ago but got sidetracked by work. And I kinda felt strange about it when I realized how many holes there are in the story of my life, lol.

Being older teens now, they seem to be more interested in my past. And sometimes things come up purely based on how my parenting style differs from my husband's. I don't think we can help it. I'll tell them something from the time when I was in high school and they'll look at me as if I am speaking about someone from another planet. I realize I have sheltered them from the not so nice stuff as well as the cool and interesting stuff. So I'd like to get some of it on paper.

Another brother who has since passed did a little family research many years ago. I'll have to contact one of his children to see if they have it somewhere. I also had a cousin who was really into this so he may have put information online already.

[GentryDixon]

7. It is very important to share what you know with your

children. Mom & Dad shared much with me, but there are always unanswered questions. Put it down in writing. In my Mom's last years she made notes as she could about her life. After she passed my sister took all the pages of notes and transcribed what she had written verbatim. It is probably the most favorite of all the information that is in my family book.

I also have 10 tapes made in 1983 from my grandfather where he was talking about his life. The information he provided in these tapes made all the difference in finding the info on my Mom's side of the family.