Family history has always been important to me. I remember sitting and listening to my grandmothers talk with their friends, going to my grandmother’s OES and church meetings, and going through old photos and school yearbooks when I was young. I remember my parents and their friends talking about their high school W.F. Branch and going down memory lane when I was in high school.

I started this genealogy journey because my son asked me about some family pictures He wanted to know who they were and how we were related. I decided then that I would learn as much about our family as I could to be able to answer his questions. That was just over ten years ago. Fast forward to the present, my son isn’t interested in my genealogy journey now that he is a teenager. But I continue to share our family stories and photos with him despite the glazed look he gives me sometimes. I am able to weave our family history into the conversations when me and my siblings get together or when I’m hanging out with my nephews. I try not to force the information on them, so I use family photos a lot of the times to get conversations started.

Social media has been a great gateway to getting my family stories and photos to not only my family but my friends as well. It’s a pretty well known fact that I’m a family historian among my family and friends. Now my friends on FaceBook tag me in family history stories they post, let me know about genetic DNA sales, and are really engaging when I post my blogs. This journey has taken me to places I never imagined. I’ve been able to meet nationally recognized genealogists. I’ve been able to honor my ancestor in a lineage society. I’ve been able to get to know my ancestors in a way that I never thought was possible. This journey has given me a voice and for that I will be forever grateful.

I celebrate family history all year long not just in the month of October by sharing my family stories and my research. But this month I plan to go back through some records that I obtained earlier in my research, especially my collection of funeral programs. I want to reexamine them with a fresh and more knowledgeable eye. I also plan to share more of my older blog post on social media this month. Let me know in the comments how you will be celebrating Family History Month?