Welcome to the Family Hunter

I should have posted this ages ago.

Almost a year ago I purchased a domain, customised a Wordpress theme and created the graphics for this blog. But until today I haven’t posted a single entry.

It isn’t because I don’t have anything to write about. I’ve been researching my family’s history for well over a decade. More than five hundred names fill the branches of the family tree that I’ve pieced together. There is a lot of content I want to share.

That’s probably why it’s so hard to decide where to start.

Sharing a family history is difficult for other reasons too. A family tree is just a large collection of facts: names, dates and places. To make it a family history involves placing those facts in some sort of context – a context I can never fully understand since so many of them occurred in vastly different cultures, places and times.

By sharing what I’ve learnt I hope to make connections with people who can provide more of that context. Other family members who can share stories that shed more light on the people in my family tree. Historians who might know more about the events my family lived through that could explain the choices they made. Or simply fellow genealogists and researchers that can help fill in some of the blanks. I want this site to become a collaborative experience.

If you’re a family member reading this blog I hope the story I’ve discovered is just as fascinating to  you. I hope some of my posts bring back treasured memories (please share them with me) or provide answers to things you’ve often wondered about. And I hope that you share all of this with other members of the family.

For anyone else who is simply interested in family research or genealogy I hope the knowledge and experiences I’ve gained in creating this family history will help you in your own process of discovery. And I hope to learn from you as well.

Thank you for reading, and please get in touch.