Our family history was stories told by my grandmother. My parents had died before my interest in genealogy had surfaced. I realized that I had a limited time to research family history from relatives and pass the family stories to my grown children.

As my Gran's funeral service closed, I determined to use this family gathering to begin my maternal family history research. Not having read anything about researching family history I was unaware how many fruitless, meaningless time consuming journeys I would take, resulting in the accumulation of masses of irrelevant information.

A gentleman in his nineties had lived alongside my grandmother for more than 50 years. Both families had frequently played cards together. Many stories had been told, many events replayed, the significant family events of both families shared. Starting the process of building a family tree could easily start with him.

To start building up a list of family history resources, I talked with many people. It was relatively easy to gather anecdotal information as we had lived in the district for four generations. The records of births, deaths and marriages seemed a great starting point for documentation.

To create a family tree I needed a research system that was well organized. It had to keep explicit details of the source. It had to accommodate information in many forms. Copies of family documents had to be sourced out of state.

Family history is a rewarding pastime. Each story about the genealogy journey takes a different path. There is no doubt that a strong sense of belonging results. Despite many frustrations it is a worthwhile pursuit. Many friends are made along the way and connections with people of similar interests is inevitable when one traces their family tree.