Ancestry Fans on Facebook

May 1, 2015 — 9 Comments

During the exciting and educational April #NaPoWriMo I managed to kick out 30 poems in 30 days.   I will follow the poets I met because they make my days richer with only short bursts of time invested. I can read a poem for a minute or two and ponder it forever.  I love the community that develops around the special poetry writing month and plan to keep my connection to it.  I have learned that the process of writing poems is therapeutic .  While engaged in poetic efforts I happened to digitally meet new people who are as interesting to me as the poets.  Much to my surprise, my niche geek group, family history freaks, is alive and meeting regularly to share data and support.

This new group found me, or I found it on Facebook. New England Family Genealogy and History is a special interest group for those of us who study these subjects. I am delighted to find people as obsessed with history as I am.  Some of them still carry the Mayflower pilgrim family names.  There have been wonderful pictures and stories posted in which I have identified members as having common ancestors.  This is a full time party of like minded genealogy freaks I can join on line any time.  Be still my heart!  People who have much more direct information and verification are there to help anyone with inquiries.  The first ancestor I found  I had in common with other members was my famous poet, Ann Dudley Bradstreet, who may be my favorite ancestor of all.  In a few weeks I have met others with whom I share different progenitors.  A recent discussion revealed that others share perhaps Native ancestry.  Like me, few can definitively prove a connection to a tribe.

Some of the active participants are professional genealogists or family archivists of large collections.  Plenty are DAR and Mayflower Society members.  Many live in New England now and are connected to local societies for the preservation of everything under the sun.  I enjoy learning about some of the old buildings that have stayed in family hands for hundreds of years.  I feel a tinge of jealousy when they go off to Providence to a genealogy convention for the weekend.  Then I remember that to live in New England one must endure snow and other unpleasantries.  I may return to Cape Cod and Rhode Island on a history hunt one day.  For now I am very pleased to be in touch with history fans who share interest, passion, and loads of information about New England and the people who have lived there.  I can digitally visit every day.  You can too if New England History is an interest of yours.