My interest in genealogy began in my grade school days (born and raised in northeastern Illinois), with an Aunt and other relatives who had documented extensive research and recorded thousands of relatives back several hundred years. I always looked forward to my relatives visits and what they taught me. After my high school, college, and graduate study years, I came across and revisited some of the old pre-Internet notes that my Aunt had left me and became fascinated yet again. Almost all of the research she had performed was (understandably) on my maternal family (starting from herself in Iowa and working back), and I realized I knew very little of my father's side of the ancestry tree. So I began with enthusiasm, investigating and carefully documenting whenever I could, and subsequently researching my wife's family also (starting with her in Pennsylvania and working back). This was all started in pre-Internet days before personal computers were invented.

While I had taken a break for many years, to have and raise my own family, one day my daughter grew interested in the notes I had made. She was interested in pursuing the research I had started, plus that of her husband's family. Since personal computers and the internet had been invented in the meantime, I discovered much new research and help was available. So my daughter and I resumed our research with new interest. I am so grateful for what I have learned about the lost relatives in the missing branches of my family tree, and I treasure each and every one of them (who they were, how they lived, and what they tell me about life).

Supplemental note: Although I find genealogical research methods and grave memorials intriguing, I should point out that the majority of my time is consumed with my family, day job, and my other unusual intellectual pursuits: Paleoanthropology (mostly reading not field work), Philately (Stamp collecting), and reading all sorts of novels (mysteries, science fiction, historical, general, etc.), development of my own reading db using MS Access, and often binging on Netflix. If you feel you have an intriguing issue that you would like to talk about, please feel free to ask me for my e-mail or phone number.

P.S. If you have any international or foreign stamp collections you would like to find good home for (as donations only) - I'd be more than happy to accept them and consolidate them in with my integrated collection. I'm not looking to buy or sell anything!

+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+

"The lives whose journeys intersect with our own, however briefly, color, sharpen, and refine the epistemological perspective with which we perceive reality and cannot be quantified by any known mathematics. And we are vastly better off, for having known them." Source: Russell Thompson, 221B_Baker_Street.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Source: George Santayana (1863–1952), was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist.

My family surnames include:
PATERNAL: Thompson, Hansen, Sorenson, Soderlund, Nelson, Jensen, and more Jensen.
MATERNAL: Shoemaker, Lorenz, Young, Rinely, Bowen, Sibley, Grosland, Boal.

GoodReads:
https://www.goodreads.com/NIU_Book_Man

OCLC WorldCat:
https://www.worldcat.org/profiles/NIU_Book_Man

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/russell.thompson.505

Russell Thompson
Grand Prairie, TX (December 2021 - present)
Williamsburg, VA (October, 2020 - December 2021)
Inverness, IL (May, 2017 - September, 2020)
Schaumburg, IL (January, 1999 - April, 2017)
before that in other places...

My interest in genealogy began in my grade school days (born and raised in northeastern Illinois), with an Aunt and other relatives who had documented extensive research and recorded thousands of relatives back several hundred years. I always looked forward to my relatives visits and what they taught me. After my high school, college, and graduate study years, I came across and revisited some of the old pre-Internet notes that my Aunt had left me and became fascinated yet again. Almost all of the research she had performed was (understandably) on my maternal family (starting from herself in Iowa and working back), and I realized I knew very little of my father's side of the ancestry tree. So I began with enthusiasm, investigating and carefully documenting whenever I could, and subsequently researching my wife's family also (starting with her in Pennsylvania and working back). This was all started in pre-Internet days before personal computers were invented.

While I had taken a break for many years, to have and raise my own family, one day my daughter grew interested in the notes I had made. She was interested in pursuing the research I had started, plus that of her husband's family. Since personal computers and the internet had been invented in the meantime, I discovered much new research and help was available. So my daughter and I resumed our research with new interest. I am so grateful for what I have learned about the lost relatives in the missing branches of my family tree, and I treasure each and every one of them (who they were, how they lived, and what they tell me about life).

Supplemental note: Although I find genealogical research methods and grave memorials intriguing, I should point out that the majority of my time is consumed with my family, day job, and my other unusual intellectual pursuits: Paleoanthropology (mostly reading not field work), Philately (Stamp collecting), and reading all sorts of novels (mysteries, science fiction, historical, general, etc.), development of my own reading db using MS Access, and often binging on Netflix. If you feel you have an intriguing issue that you would like to talk about, please feel free to ask me for my e-mail or phone number.

P.S. If you have any international or foreign stamp collections you would like to find good home for (as donations only) - I'd be more than happy to accept them and consolidate them in with my integrated collection. I'm not looking to buy or sell anything!

+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+

"The lives whose journeys intersect with our own, however briefly, color, sharpen, and refine the epistemological perspective with which we perceive reality and cannot be quantified by any known mathematics. And we are vastly better off, for having known them." Source: Russell Thompson, 221B_Baker_Street.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Source: George Santayana (1863–1952), was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist.

My family surnames include:
PATERNAL: Thompson, Hansen, Sorenson, Soderlund, Nelson, Jensen, and more Jensen.
MATERNAL: Shoemaker, Lorenz, Young, Rinely, Bowen, Sibley, Grosland, Boal.

GoodReads:
https://www.goodreads.com/NIU_Book_Man

OCLC WorldCat:
https://www.worldcat.org/profiles/NIU_Book_Man

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/russell.thompson.505

Russell Thompson
Grand Prairie, TX (December 2021 - present)
Williamsburg, VA (October, 2020 - December 2021)
Inverness, IL (May, 2017 - September, 2020)
Schaumburg, IL (January, 1999 - April, 2017)
before that in other places...