THE MISSING LINK: How to Find Your Roots

My journey to find my roots came as a surprise to me. History class was not my favorite. In school I found the text books dull, and the assignments overwhelming. My dad, thankfully, could sit down with me and describe a

Changing of the Guard: London

historical event as if he had been there and participated himself. I came away with a clearer understanding of the motivation, conflict and impact of circumstances that shaped our world.

But what took my discovery of history to a level of passion was making it personal – digging up the roots of my own family tree. My brother was the first in our immediate family to trace our family history. He found some of the links that connected our mother’s heritage to the stories we had all grown up with of the Horton family and how our 9th great-grandfather, Barnabas, brought his little family over the pond on a ship called The Swallow.

When I found a tiny spot on a map of Long Island called Horton Point, I asked my mother if she would like to fly there to see our roots. We flew into Boston first, to visit with her sister. Then we rented a car and drove down through Rhode Island and Connecticut before taking a ferry across Long Island Sound to Orient Point and Southold. We didn’t know it then, but it was similar to the journey Barnabas and Mary made almost 400 years before.

With no plans other than seeing the lighthouse named for our 9th GGF, we were delighted to discover the Southold Historical Society and the wealth of information about Barnabas and the early history of eastern Long Island. I’ve

Horton Point Lighthouse

made the journey from my home on the west coast to Southold many times since then with my dad, my husband and my sisters.

On the trip with my sisters, we dug into the archives with Geoffrey Fleming, the director of The Southold Historical Society. One of my sisters surprised me when she commented that she could not get too excited about her family roots. She couldn’t relate much to events so far removed. Mr. Fleming took the remark in stride. He admitted there was a time he might have thought the same way, until he found a link in his family a tree – an incident that so easily might not have happened and had it not, he wouldn’t exist.

He suggested everyone has at least one little quirk, one small accident of happenstance, that links us to our past and

The Southold Historical Society and Treasure Exchange

had it not occurred we might not have been born. I love that concept. And I love the stories of the past. And writing down those stories gives a purpose to my passion. And along the way I’ve been learning about genealogy.

My blog is taking a new turn and I hope to share with you what I’ve learned about discovering my roots, and some of the fun things I’ve learned about the history of New England and the colonies. And I would love to know about you! Have you found the link in history that is unique to your family tree? The point that so easily could have taken a different direction?

Here are five ways to get you started to find your missing link:

• Ignite your passion: begin with you! Start a chart with yourself, add your parents and siblings, then your maternal and paternal grandparents. Add aunts and uncles – they may be sources of info (see next point)
• Reach out to living relatives. There might be someone out there who has already done some groundwork on discovering the family roots
• Peruse the websites out there dedicated to genealogy. There are many such as www.ancestry.comand www.geni.com (a favorite of mine). Find the one that clicks with you, or better yet use a couple.
• Connect through blogs. Once again there are many. I really like Randy Seaver’s www.geneamusings.com. To find more check out www.cyndislist.com.

Also along the way, I’ll share some of my passions and how they link to the past: writing, reading, traveling, gardening and baking. And I’d love to learn about you! Can you trace some of your passions to someone in your family tree? Do you come from a long line of seekers? Doers? Do you make your own traditions or treasure those handed down from generations past? Is faith a part of your family fabric? Or are you forging your own way to find God?

Plimoth Plantation across the pond from Old England

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of mine heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord my strength and my redeemer.  Psalm 19:14, Geneva Bible 1599.