I was born and raised on an Iowa farm handed down through five generations. Family history swirled in every nook and cranny. I was driven to genealogy by childhood stories just too good to be true. Surely my great-great-grandfather wasn't the legend he was purported to be. Surely he never met Frank and Jesse James. Surely he hadn't traveled coast to coast in horse-and-buggy days.

Turns out, he actually HAD, and WAS, pretty much what legend claimed.

Now living in the Pacific Northwest, I spend as much time as possible with genealogy... confusing the dead and irritating the living.

I was born and raised on an Iowa farm handed down through five generations. Family history swirled in every nook and cranny. I was driven to genealogy by childhood stories just too good to be true. Surely my great-great-grandfather wasn't the legend he was purported to be. Surely he never met Frank and Jesse James. Surely he hadn't traveled coast to coast in horse-and-buggy days.

Turns out, he actually HAD, and WAS, pretty much what legend claimed.

Now living in the Pacific Northwest, I spend as much time as possible with genealogy... confusing the dead and irritating the living.