I have had an interest in genealogy for many years. Only in my retirement have I had the time to pursue our family's history. I have put together a 'book' on my Richardson, Gregg, Thorpe, Sherrard and Moore heritage. The Richardson side was a little easier due to a book that was written in 1876 by John A Vinton, "The Richardson Memorial" that followed three Richardson brothers, Ezekiel, Samuel and Thomas, who left England in the 1630s, establishing their new homes in the area of Woburn, Massachusetts. Samuel is the brother who is my ancestor. Vinton's research took me from the immigration of Samuel, to my Grandfather's oldest brother Earl, who was born in 1873. My task was to research from that point in time to the present. My Grandparents' ancestry also included the Thorpe Family, coming from England some 200 years after the Richardsons, in 1828, and the Gregg, Moore and Sherrard Families who came from Northern Ireland.
I have researched my Dad's family, Okesson or Åkesson as it was in Sweden. Dad's Mother and Dad arrived in Jamestown, NY in 1903.
I am now researching my husband's family and finding their history quite interesting, too. They were German immigrants from Bavaria, Hessen, Prussia, Alsace Lorraine and Switzerland in 1830s and 40s, settling in and north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their names are Eichenlaub, Winter, Gebhart, Huttinger and Walter.
I belong to two genealogical societies here in Southwest Florida. The members are great in helping each other to do research and in promoting the preservation of our ancestors' histories. I found the following on a post card in Amana, Iowa on one of our trips which, to me, sums it all up:
"Behold the work of the old…
Let your heritage not be lost,
But bequeath it as a memory, treasure and blessing…
Gather the lost and the hidden,
And preserve it for thy children" - Christian Metz 1846.