My genealogy gratitude list

The grave marker for my great great great grandparents

It’s Thanksgiving here in the U.S., my favorite holiday. I love it because it’s an occasion where family and friends gather to eat good food and express thanks for all they are grateful for.

It seems appropriate therefore, for me to make a list of the genealogy-related things that I’m grateful for. (I published a more general gratitude list today on my organizing business’s blog.)

This year, I am grateful for:

• The ease of online genealogy research. The instant gratification of finding a record via ancestry.com or Fold3 or elsewhere is such a rush.
• The thrill of in-person research. I was delighted to find three generations of Jeffries buried in a single cemetery in western Missouri this year. I also visited my the graves of my great grandmother and great grandfather Brown (a different side of my mother’s family) on the same visit. Seeing the actual gravestones (rather than pictures of them online) was unbeatable.
• Getting the chance to learn about preservation of family papers. I’m devouring the great information provided by Sally Jacobs, The Practical Archivist.
• The prospect of going to my first large genealogy conference. Can’t wait for RootsTech 2014 in February!
• The family members that I have met thanks to this blog. I am so grateful that it has connected me with my mother’s cousins. I can’t wait for the Brown Family Reunion in June!
• This blog’s readers and commenters. I so appreciate the support this blog has received this year!

How about you? I hope you have much to be thankful for (genealogy-wise or otherwise) this year!