Genealogy revisited

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time on my family history project lately. A recent conversation with a second cousin helped me bring this little simmering project of mine off of the back burner. She well researched her father’s family history, including a trip to Eastern Europe to visit not so distant relatives and walk in empty homes and property that technically still belongs to her family.

I’ve been spending time designing and refining the concept of the site and the database of 150+ names and information gathered thus far. The Wiki is a wonderful thing. I’m starting to wish I had a scanner to capture images of older photos and records (birth and death certificates, obituaries…).

There is still quite a bit of work to do to reach my intended goal: a site for a family history, not just a family tree, where any family member granted permission to access the site can add information, images and stories they know or remember, to access the information database, to generate graphic representations of trees of family groups.

I need to start into some more intense research too, I’m getting into family territory that is several generations or far removed from myself. Although, there are still gaps in basic information about living relatives that need filling in as well. So much more to do. I’m considering a friendly questionnaire in this year’s holiday cards explaining what I’m doing and the sort of information I’m looking for. It will be an excellent supplement to the start I already have.