what is genealogy and what do genealogist do?

The saying below is exactly what a genealogist does. It all begins with a question. Maybe you want to discover a long lost relative. Maybe you want to discover if you are of Native American ancestry. After all Aunt May told you that her Great Grandfather was a full-blooded Cherokee but nobody can confirm it. Or maybe you have a desire to join the Mayflower Society. Whatever it is, the way you find your story can make all the difference.

Being a Genealogist is being an expert in many disciplines. Most of all it is about being a detective and the rule of being a good investigator holds for all investigations. Be they genealogy or some other crime. This is where I think my love for finding answers comes from. As a pilot I was always inquisitive about what caused any aircraft accident. You would always have to track down the one event that, if removed, would have prevented the accident from happening. Many disciplines are involved in the chase. Human factors, mechanical factors, weather factors and supervisory factors are all reviewed during the course of the investigation. In genealogy we chase down history, birth records, marriage records, death records, military records, church records, wills and probate, taxes, migration routes, land boundaries and many other factors in order to find that clue that we need to be confident that we know the real story.

So, join me in the chase as I go down the line of learning and doing all things genealogy. Hopefully, I will make this journey one that you will want to follow. One that can help us all mature to be expert genealogist.