About the Book
In this book, I hope to tell how this 83-year-old computer illiterate—who knew so little about his ancestors— was able to trace three of his main branches back to the 1700s and beyond. I traced the fourth back to the early 1800s and possibly beyond. And I did it all by using the Internet. And nothing else.
Maybe my surnames were easy to trace, but I can tell you there is a wealth of genealogy information on the Internet and it’s all there for you to discover. My intent is to offer suggestions as I take you through my searches, something that would have made my work so much easier. Hopefully, you will trust an 83-year-old to help you travel back in time.
This book is not intended for experts in genealogy, for they know far, far more about the subject than I would ever hope to grasp. This is for beginners like myself with time on their hands.
I think what I have discovered about my “family tree” is truly extraordinary and I want to share my experience with others in a simple way.
Chapters will tell how I searched those four surnames, explaining where I went to find unknown family members and how I proceeded, so that others can use similar methods in their searches.
Other chapters will tell how I became interested in genealogy, how little I knew about my family and will also include a listing of Internet genealogy search sites that I used. I will list other available genealogy places that could also be helpful. In other words, this is a simple “how-to” book.
