Welcome to Finding Our Ancestors!
This website focuses on the genealogy research for my ancestors who immigrated from Ireland, France, and England. Please feel free to look through my website, if you find any names that are common in your family tree, Please share it with me!
In 1999 I found a new hobby, genealogy. Little did I know back then that this would become more of an obsession, rather than a hobby. Since then, I have spent many of those years trying to break down my brick wall. The one thing I wanted to know more than anything was: where in Ireland did my O’Connell family come from?
In 2010, thanks to Dawn, a subscriber to the Finding Our Ancestors blog, I was able to find out that my paternal Irish ancestors came from County Cork, Ireland. With DNA testing I was able to also make a connection to County Kerry, Ireland (another paternal family). I also have a family that came to the USA early that immigrated from what is now Northern Ireland.
The one thing that I have learned in all these years is that patience is a virtue, and since it took over 10 years to find this bit of information, I can say that I have been patient. Once I gather more information on my family from Ireland, my goal is to plan a trip to see the land where my family is from.
As a professional genealogist, I believe that education is one of the most important things that we cannot overlook. The more we educate ourselves, the more we learn, the more knowledgeable we become in what we do. I have taken classes through the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. I loved all the classes I have taken with them. In August 2013, I completed ProGen15, which was an 18 month on-line class to aid genealogists in becoming professional genealogists. I highly recommend this class to anyone who is thinking about moving towards taking clients.
I love to help others who are just learning how to trace their ancestry, or those who have been out of the loop for a while and are just getting back into it. I volunteer my time with the Chicago Genealogical Society and the Irish American Heritage Center. The genealogy community is a giving community and we all need to continue to give back so that there will be more available for the next generation of genealogists.
Happy researching!
Terri