Up A Tree

Thelma Jean Tutt, Tina Marie Nolan, William Earnest Nolan

I am a genealogist, an historian, a mother, a lover of language, music, knowledge.

ge·ne·al·o·gy
noun
plural ge·ne·al·o·gies
Etymology: Middle English genealogie, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin genealogia, from Greek, from genea race, family + -logia -logy; akin to Greek genos race
Date: 14th century
1 : an account of the descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or from older forms

2 : regular descent of a person, family, or group of organisms from a progenitor or older form : pedigree

3 : the study of family pedigrees4 : an account of the origin and historical development of something
— ge·ne·a·log·i·cal \ˌjē-nē-ə-ˈlä-ji-kəl, ˌje-nē-\ adjective
— ge·ne·a·log·i·cal·ly \-k(ə-)lē\ adverb
[genealogy. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
Retrieved January 21, 2010, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genealogy]

I began my genealogical journey when I was young, a freshman in college. I did some epitaph and cemetery studies for a folklore class, which piqued my curiosity and later that year, after "Roots" aired, I found myself asking the family some questions and jotting down some notes (unfortunately, no sources included...I know better now).

As the years have passed, I have studied genealogical methods and history and learned to keep track of my searches, results, and sources and I have found that a good genealogy is not a simple listing of the names of our progenitors, but a comprehensive, analytical compilation that explores our families and the times in which they lived. I love the history, I love the analysis, the puzzle, the discoveries.

As my children were leaving the nest and I considered my options, I began the quest to develop my enjoyment of genealogy into my career, at the suggestion of my daughter, I might add, as she tossed my own advice back to me..."maybe you should try to make a living at doing what you like to do all the time for fun." So many of my other interests (history, writing, women's studies, folk studies,language) have been incorporated into my research and made the results richer.

There is always more to do, more to learn, more to discover and today I begin another dimension, as I share parts of my journey with my family, friends and perhaps others of you who share some of my interests. Occasionally we may get caught "up a tree", but I expect we'll find many of the answers we seek, scramble down and move on to the next question.

--Tina Marie