I am often asked "how I got started in genealogy" and "how I learned to be a genealogist." Some of the answers are simple and some are not. There's no short path to becoming a genealogist.

It has been a long time since I started my foray into family history research. I got hooked when my brother had to complete a four- generation family tree. I was in the fifth grade. Being on a child's budget, I hand-wrote family group charts and my mother made copies using some type of duplicating machine (all I remember is that everything came out in purple ink). It was several years before I migrated to pre-printed forms. It was before the Internet and largely before the computer, especially for use in genealogy. The letters I sent out were typed on my mother's 1960 vintage typewriter. I even used carbon paper. And I still "beat" on the keyboard as if hitting the keys harder will make the image on the screen darker.