My in-law is really good at this stuff. He gets on the Internet and finds census records that I did not even realized existed. In no time at all, he found my great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Adams and her parents, Calvin and Harriet. Wow! I was impressed.

Soon he was writing to other people doing Adams research and they were writing back. It’s amazing. People that do genealogy are really into it. I’m starting to get a little excited myself!

People back in other times had a lot of children – Calvin and Harriet must have been really busy. We’ve unearthed brothers and sisters for my great grandmother that I’ve never heard of.

It’s a strange feeling. What does it matter really where you came from or who your ancestors where? Yet, there is a tremendous amount of satisfaction that comes in finding continuity with the past. Who are these people that lived so long ago? Do I look or act like them? Would they want me to know about them?

I want my descendants to know about me. Maybe that’s one reason why I write, to leave behind something of myself and who I am. These are not just names, they are people who worked, laughed, cried, and lived an entire life. Where did they come from, these ghost people that preceded me?

In my heart, I believe that it is not what is in the past that really matters. It is what we make of the present. Yet, there is still some need to find roots and be in touch with what came before us.

The search continues. Now that I’ve found great great grandparents, we are looking even further back. I want to know where my great, great grandparents are buried. I remember a family cemetery. What it is that sends us to cemeteries, record centers, archives and history? Truly it must be something inert. We risk discovering things we might wish not to know.

Perhaps it is as simple as human curiosity, or perhaps it is the basic human need to understand ourselves. When one door is open, I become curious about what is behind the next. A part of me says, "Forget about it." Another part says, "If you stop now, you will never know."

Next:  Unlikely Ancestors