Why is it that family reunions can make a person really think about where their family came from? I think I know. I just returned home from Oklahoma where I attended my family reunion with 45 other crazy family members. I say crazy because most of us drove for quite a while for a one day event. (Fyi ~ there is talk that it will be a 2 day event in 2 years! ) As always everyone asks how we are all related and it gets a little confusing. I enjoy every bit of the confusion, but sometimes it is hard to keep track of everyone. We have a very big family, even if only a small portion comes to the reunion.
Because no one, not even me, can keep everyone straight I decided to start a family tree. Now mind you I have done a family directory every couple of years just to try to keep everyone current. Although the last one I did was apparently in 2008 and so it is VERY outdated. (Lots of new babies and marriages, etc.) I love doing it and will continue to do it as long as I am able to, but this year I came home and went to work on a family tree. I have only been home since Monday afternoon (I got home after 1 am Sunday night and I spent the night at my mother's house.) There are so many different ancestry websites on the internet that will help you find people and research connections. I have looked at lots of them and kind of got discouraged with the cost. However while I was in OK, my cousin's sister told my about a website that allows you to go up to 250 members of your family for free. Great! I can get started and see how I like the program. (Most sites I have looked at don't let you do much for free.)
Here became the problem: Our family is just too big. I got one branch of our Stinebaugh family into the system and was already almost out of room. When I added the two other branches I had already written out I ran out of room. Mind you, my great grandmother's parents had NINE kids. I had only put in 3! Well, the site allows you to invite family members to look at your tree and add to it, comment on it, add pictures, etc. Now here is why my family is so terrific ~ one of my cousins asked if he could pay the fee because he thought the site was so cool and we would use it a lot. I love my family!
As of right now we have 400 people on our tree and that is just the start. I have been working on it a little every day and keep finding new members of our family. So much fun! I have a feeling that when the next reunion rolls around our tree will be gigantic!! I cannot wait to see.
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