Where would we be without our wonderful volunteers?

Family Historians by sheer nature, are a driven group.  We search the net time and time again for our ancestors, sifting through the information presented out there in hopes of finding just one small shard of genealogical information which will shed light on our ancestors.

We spend countless hours in cemeteries, libraries, history societies, archives and any other place which might have so much as a scrap or tidbit to offer our hungry souls.

What is it that drives us so?  Some say it is curiosity.....some say our ancestors want us to know about them.... some say we are by divine intervention, given this role as the family historian.... whatever the reason, we dig and dig until we uncover all of the genealogy treasures we can find.

In this new age of communications technology, we have vast genealogy resources at our fingertips, but stop to consider where that information is coming from.  There are thousands and thousands of volunteers who spend their time staring at old records until they are cross-eyed, just trying to decipher whether that last name is Wilson or Wilkins, whether that person is age 15 or 16 etc....  The handwriting in those old records is exceedingly hard to read.  Yes folks, they are the volunteers who put all these records online for you and me.  Real human people who donate their valuable time. 

Next time you find that elusive bit of information that helps you along your way, please stop and find the e-mail address of that volunteer and thank them.  Believe me, they don't really get enough thanks for all of the hard work they do!

Census Finder gives a big heart-felt THANK YOU to all the volunteers who make our genealogy quest on the internet so rewarding!

Author: Brenda Hay

© 2002- 2008 Brenda Hay