GenealogyBlog

Years ago, I was on a short overnight vacation with my oldest daughter in a small town in Pennsylvania. We were there with my parents and one of my sisters. While we were there, we stopped by a small bookstore to see what they had to offer. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. I stumbled upon a book called “In Search of Our Ancestors”. It was written by Megan Smolenyak. I picked up the book and read the back cover. I had just started some genealogy research at the time and was interested in learning more.

The book is not like most genealogical books you pick up and read. Most genealogy books talk about how to locate records, citing your sources, breaking down brick walls or other subjects relating towards your own genealogical research. I don’t know about you, but I can only read how to books for so long before needing to put it down and do something else. As per the back cover of the book, this book is about “101 Inspirational True Stories of Rediscovering Family History”.

The book is arranged into six different parts, each with it’s own category of stories. Each story is very short, ranging in size from as liitle single page to as many as seven or eight pages. The stories are so inspiring that I finished the entire book during my overnight stay in Pennsylvania. When I’ve been having a tough time finding more inspiration to continue looking for ancestors, I will often pick up the book again and read some of my favorite stories. It is always a great genealogy pcik me up.

The book may no longer be in print today. However, I’m sure you can find the book for sale on-line somewhere. You can also check out your local library to see if they have a copy. If you are looking for some inspiration in genealogy, pick up the book and start reading today.

Megan Smolenyak, In Search of Our Ancestors, Holbrook, MA, Adams Media Corporation, 2000