Only a genealogist regards a step backwards as progress.

The search for my relatives started in a most unusual way. I was home alone during the blizzard of 1992, the power never went off but there sure wasn't anything worth watching on television. I was searching my house for a book when I found some genealogy work that a relative had done on my mother's side of the family. This got me thinking about my father's side of the family. I decided to write down everything I could about my father's side of the family, in the end it turned out I didn't know anything about my grandparents. My grandfather had died when I was 1 years old and my grandmother was someone we seldom saw since she lived in another state.

The next time I spoke to my father I asked about his parents. That simple question has consumed hours of my time, brought me great joy and some sadness. I've met relatives I never knew existed and made friends with people that share the "genealogical bug." I learned that my grandfather was a lighthouse keeper and researching the Lighthouse Service took me down a path that I would never pursued had I not gotten interested in genealogy. I visited the Dunkirk Lighthouse after learning my grandfather was the last official keeper and the lighthouse had been converted into a museum.

So how did I get started? When I asked my dad about his father, It took dad all day to recollect all the names but it turned out William Raymond Gannon had four brothers and two sisters. My dad also recalled a cemetery in New York State where the Gannon's were buried. Since this was pre-Internet I had to visit the library and find a phone book for New York. I found the cemetery and after making a small donation to the cemetery I had copies of all the internment cards for the Gannon's. Now I had the date of death and I was able to write to the County Clerk and request the death certificate.

The key to good genealogical work is to get supporting evidence for all your relatives. Death certificates will verify the death date and usually the certificate will provide other information that helps you continue the search. I like to find an obituary for the deceased since these usually tell a story, mention the children by name and sometimes mention where the deceased was born. That will help you find a birth certificate. The birth certificate will have information about the parents, their ages and nationality. It will take a long time to request information, digest the information and then restart the search based on the new information.

On-line databases make your search much faster but are no substitute for good detailed work. Even today you need to get those supporting documents to verify your facts.

I have provided links to help you get started with your on-line search. Feel free to visit the Ancestry World Tree and see if someone else worked on your tree following another branch. This can be a great time saver but without supporting facts the information is useless.

There's no time like today to start working on your tree.

I started my tree based on the names my dad provided. I knew the name of my grandfather, his brothers and sisters and their mother. That left lots of blank spaces to fill in on my tree. Dad mentioned a cemetery in Hamburg, New York where the family members were buried. I went to the library to find a phone book for the cemetery. (This was before the invention of the internet.) I called the cemetery and they agreed to send me copies of the interment cards. The Gannon family had purchased 10 lots and the cards listed the following names and information.

I learned my great-grandfather was Thomas Gannon and he was married to Elizabeth Gannon. Howard J. Gannon was one of their sons, he joined the United States Navy during World War I and died in the service. The interment cards did not list the parents of the babies so I would have to do some research to resolve their lineage. Thomas Gannon and Clayton Gannon were sons of Thomas and Elizabeth. Clayton was married to Myrtle, she remarried after Clayton died, therefore the name Zimmerman. Gordon Gannon was the son of Clayton and Myrtle.

My next step was a trip to the cemetery to view the graves and take photographs of the tombstones. A local historical society let me view the census records. I found the family in the 1910 census but I could not find them in the 1900 census. The 1910 census told me that Thomas Gannon was born in Ohio and his father was born in Ireland. Elizabeth Gannon was born in New York and her father was born in Scotland. All the children were born in New York except William, he was born in Minnesota. I left the historical society and headed to the courthouse. At the courthouse I was lucky enough to get the death certificates for Thomas and Elizabeth. Next I stopped at the library to view their newspapers on microfilm and there I located the obituaries for Elizabeth and her son Thomas.

Before I left on my trip to New York I found an obituary for Clayton. The obituary listed his daughter by her married name so while I was in New York I looked the name up in the phone book. We spoke on the phone and Evelyn agreed to see me the next day. She said the words I would hear over and over during my genealogical research. "Mom died a couple of years ago and she could have answered all of your questions." You can substitute any name you want for Mom, it seemed everyone died two or three years before I started looking for them! The obituary for Elizabeth mentioned her brother John Scott and Evelyn confirmed the Scott family was from the Watkins Glen area of New York. I needed to go home but I had one more place to visit. The obituary for Thomas Gannon said the funeral would be from the family home, 11 Fourth Street, Woodlawn Beach, New York. It was easy to find the house since Woodlawn Beach is such a small town. I knocked on the door and asked the home owner if I could take a photograph of the house. The home owner told me they had just bought the house and they remembered seeing the name Gannon listed in the deed search. They were kind enough to copy the papers for me.

My search and my story continues ...