Growing up I always cringed when my teachers assigned a "Family Tree" in school. My past was such a huge mystery. My maternal grandmother refused to talk about her parents, apparently angry that her mother had died when she was only six. My dad was adopted when he was seven and knew very little about his biological family, only that his mother had died of cancer when he was three and that he and his four other siblings had been juggled around after her death on the account that his father had been married to a different woman!
In 1998 when my first son was born I vowed that he should not grow up wondering the way I had and so my search began. Before long we got a phone call from a cousin on my father's mother's side. Since then my father has been reunited with his two living siblings! For many years I was satisfied with just that accomplishment alone, and to have had so many questions answered from the Ryan side of the family (although of course there are still so many unanswered).
Two years ago I decided to try a free trial on ancestry, and through that website found Find a Grave. I was so wrapped up in my research I did not get into starting an account on Find a Grave but used it as a supplement for information. Part of me feels so much more complete to be finding answers to things I have wondered about for so many years, yet the other part of me knows that each answer seems to lead to another question...so my searches will continue.
I am always intrigued by old photos and life of the olden days, and eager to exchange any information!