Printer-friendly versionMy grandmother had a stack of obituaries in her bible and I had no idea who a lot of those people were. When I asked, she labeled most of them as cousin, aunt or uncle so and so. Quite a few of them lived within 15 - 30 minutes of me and had died within my lifetime. I wanted to know why I didn't know about or had never met any of them.
I was also motivated by the fact that there were very few people with my surname in the state of Michigan. I wanted to know who the Charity's were and where they came from.
History has always fascinated me, but I have a secretive family.
Since I'm in Utah I decided to take advantage of the Mormon's resources. Within a few hours I was able to trace my Great-Great Grandmother and Great-Great Grandfather on my mother's side. They were born in VA in 1863 and 1864 respectively. I now have to find slave records to see if I can trace back farther.
It's easier to find the males since my great-grandfathers had to sign draft registration cards for WWI. These cards listed the counties and states they were born in.
Nomadic Lady
I knew that we had a large family, but I did not know how to contact most of them. I began researching shortly before my father passed away. His large extended family migrated from Lowndes County, Alabama and has spread all over the country.
I wanted to who my people were and who I came from.
JeaniA