When I turned 8 my Dad handed me a pedigree chart and challenged me to fill it. He would let me tag along with him while he did his research and I would sit at a microfilm reader not knowing how to find anything on it. Thank goodness for the internet! It took me almost 40 years to fill in all six generations, but I finally did it and I am hooked. I have most of my lines complete to the 1600s and I am working forward now.

In the 1990s my Dad gave me a book on our Burford line. The book was full of pictures and stories about the individuals. It was not just a list of meaningless names. It started me on a new hobby of collecting pictures of each person on my list. This will be a life long challenge, but the internet is making it easier to collect and share.

One other event lead me to begin collecting gravestone markers. I had a date take me to a very old cemetery that had been surrounded by office buildings and suburbia. He prepared a nice picnic and we sat on a blanket in the middle of all those families imagining what their lives must have been like. There was a time period in the 1990s when people would sneak into the old cemeteries and either steal or destroy the old markers. It broke my heart to see all of those memorials destroyed. I wish I had thought of Find a Grave back then, but it is here now and I am thrilled to be a part of it.

I am in Ventura County, California, but travel to the Sacramento and Santa Cruz areas to visit family and enjoy doing research when I am there. If you need a photo in my area I would be more than happy to do what I can to help you get it. I will take a look for any requests in the areas where I may be travelling as well. Feel free to ask.

Family Names (short list): Turner, Tindall, May, Demers, Burford, Stevens, Rowlee, Newman, Carter, Mathis, Sterling, McCashland, Phillips, Butler, Carufel (Sicard de Carufel), Stahl

When I turned 8 my Dad handed me a pedigree chart and challenged me to fill it. He would let me tag along with him while he did his research and I would sit at a microfilm reader not knowing how to find anything on it. Thank goodness for the internet! It took me almost 40 years to fill in all six generations, but I finally did it and I am hooked. I have most of my lines complete to the 1600s and I am working forward now.

In the 1990s my Dad gave me a book on our Burford line. The book was full of pictures and stories about the individuals. It was not just a list of meaningless names. It started me on a new hobby of collecting pictures of each person on my list. This will be a life long challenge, but the internet is making it easier to collect and share.

One other event lead me to begin collecting gravestone markers. I had a date take me to a very old cemetery that had been surrounded by office buildings and suburbia. He prepared a nice picnic and we sat on a blanket in the middle of all those families imagining what their lives must have been like. There was a time period in the 1990s when people would sneak into the old cemeteries and either steal or destroy the old markers. It broke my heart to see all of those memorials destroyed. I wish I had thought of Find a Grave back then, but it is here now and I am thrilled to be a part of it.

I am in Ventura County, California, but travel to the Sacramento and Santa Cruz areas to visit family and enjoy doing research when I am there. If you need a photo in my area I would be more than happy to do what I can to help you get it. I will take a look for any requests in the areas where I may be travelling as well. Feel free to ask.

Family Names (short list): Turner, Tindall, May, Demers, Burford, Stevens, Rowlee, Newman, Carter, Mathis, Sterling, McCashland, Phillips, Butler, Carufel (Sicard de Carufel), Stahl