Week 30 of Abundant Genealogy

Week 30: Genealogy Serendipity. Every genealogist has tales of surprise findings or coincidences when climbing the family tree. What is your most memorable serendipitous discovery? Did it involve ancestors in your tree, living folks or both? How did this surprise affect your research and does it still impact you today?

I have been the recipient of amazing strokes of luck in my short life as a budding genealogist.  Many of which you have read in this blog, as well as on the Family Tree Firsts blog.  I am hard pressed to pick one that has had the biggest impact on my research to date.  Each one was special and each one led me to new awareness of my family trees. 

If I had to think of a way that these findings affected me it would be this:  never take anything for granted and always look for the silver lining.  My most emotional, and not necessarily the largest factual, finds came when I was certain there was no where else to go in my research.  I would turn one more page, look at one last website, or flip one more picture and there it would be.  A gem to make it all worth while.

So here's to you and your future serendipitous findings... I hope you enjoy the ones I will find in the future as well!

photo credit: Klara Kim via photo pin cc