Glad to find this group! [View all]

I've always been interested in genealogy, but never had the time to put into it until this past year. Now that I'm retired, I'm jumping in! So I decided to sign up at ancestry.com after years of frustration at what information I could get for free. I've been doing my tree (what fun!) and have decided that the price of the membership is worth it.

I've been working on the tree for almost two weeks now and have made some astounding finds. My mother's side has been fairly easy to find so far, and has been delved into by many cousins already, but I haven't touched any info from the Piedmont region in Italy (they were ethnically French Waldensians) yet. How well were records kept in Europe? I'm finding that their naming protocols are confusing as often if a child died, they would name the next one after it.

As far as my father's side, they were all English, except for one line that was Dutch. THAT line is so interesting that I feel like I've hit the jackpot! One of them, Abraham Pietersen Van Deursen, was the original immigrant to America in 1631. No dead ends here! So far, I've traced his line all the way back to lots of royalty in France, Spain, England, and Holland at the time of the Crusades. Dad always told me that we had Templar Knights in the family, and I found one of them! Baudoin IX of Flanders was killed in a siege near Constantinople in 1206. I'm not even at the end of the line yet. This is so exciting! I just wish Dad was still alive to hear of it, but he passed three years ago.

I'm thinking of signing up to be a volunteer archivist at Ancestry. Actually, it's a perfect fit for me, as my former career was as an adoption consultant, and part of my job was researching background. So research is in my blood.

So glad DU has an area such as this!