My love of history and my curiosity about my own ancestry led me to discover genealogy, the tracing of one's ancestors. This hobby is highly addictive and time consuming, and so is best left to people with lots of time. That's why it's so popular with many retired people.
Nonetheless, in the recent years I've managed to uncover many mysteries about my father's family -- mysteries that my father knew nothing about. Starting with only the vaguest information that my father's father was born in Kenora, Ontario, I traced town directories, land records, census data, vital statistics, newspaper archives, and other sources.
Eventually I managed to make contact with a number of living cousins and relatives throughout North America whom my father never knew about. I learned how my great grandfather had been killed in a railway accident in 1903, leaving his widow to take care of five children. And I even uncovered the story of my great great grandparents, who emigrated to Canada from Ireland after the potato famine struck, and I tracked down their graves in Montreal.
Genealogy helps us to learn about lives of past generations, and helps us realize that although we live in rapidly changing times, there is much that remains the same in the human experience.
© 1999 Richard McGuire
Last revised March 27, 2004