Family history research is becoming one of the biggest and most popular "hobbies" in this country. Unfortunately, it is very time consuming and very addictive. Therefore, the "Genealogy Bug" seems to be one of those "ole-timer" diseases that especially afflict the elderly.

And what a disease it is! It makes us socialize, it makes us get out of the house, it makes us read, it makes us write, it makes us think, it makes us study history (I hated it in school). Now we can talk about the Revolutionary War and the Civil War like pros. And, can we ever converse! We can get in any conversation and turn in around to "Family History" in two seconds flat! We keep quiet about the telephone bill -- we don't want anyone to know about all those long distance calls. To sum it all up, we are a nuisance, always asking questions and writing in a note book.

I would like to play "politician" here for just a second -- "We are doing it for the children". Have you heard that before? Of course we're doing it for the children. We're spending their inheritance on society dues, postage stamps, phone bills, travel, books, forms, brief cases, computers, viewers, all the tools of the trade, and copies, copies, copies. "Kinko's" has to be making a living off me alone!

But won't that be a glorious day when the will is read and the children will inherit all these mounds of notes, scraps of paper with names they have never heard of, pages numbers (page numbers from where?) Birth and death dates with a question mark (was he born and did he die or what?). " Was the ole gal worse off than we realized?", they'll ask.

On a more serious note, we have decided to have a Genealogy Page. If you are working on family history, and have a missing link or if you have anything you would like to share, please send it in to the newsletter. We will print as much as space permits.

In the meantime, I am busy working on a genealogy display for the Family Reunion on September 12th at the North Vernon City Park.

Hope to see you there!