Genealogy Geek

If you had asked me five years ago if I was interested in finding out about my ancestors, or my husband's ancestors, and if I might be willing to spend between 2 and 6 hours every day on my computer trying to find those ancestors, I would have looked at you cross-eyed.  At that time, my dad was still searching for our Brennan ancestors, and I let him be the family genealogist.  I had more important things to do, or so I thought. 

Now I'm eagerly anticipating April 2, when the 1940 census will be released to the public.  Actually, it will be released to places like ancestry.com which will have to digitize the records and catalog them.  I have no idea how long it will take to actually be able to access the records, but I am so excited about it, just like all the other amateur and professional genealogists out there. 

I guess this makes me an official nerd - a genealogy geek, if you will.  The best way to describe it is like this:  You like to put jigsaw puzzles together and you've been missing several pieces for months.  You've left the puzzle out on the table, hoping that someday those pieces will turn up.  And suddenly you find them and can put that puzzle together. 

Or you're a detective, working on a murder case.  If you only had access to some restricted DNA or arrest records, or a piece of evidence that has gone missing, you might be able to solve it.  Then, you finally gain access to that one missing piece and you know you will be able to figure out whodunnit.

These 1940 records will answer a lot of questions for me, not so much for my husband's family, as I have interviewed so many of his relatives, most of whom live near us, that I don't really need the census. 

But my relatives in Ohio - the Brennans, Shaws, Muellers and Schuliens - relatives that I don't even know, from families I lost track of when I was 10 years old and moved to California -  are hiding in the 1940 census and I'm looking forward to finding them.