Genealogy comes alive: How many of your ancestors have you met?

040316 ROSWELL, GA: Names and dates line the voluminous records at the Church of Latter Day Saints Family History Center, where people come to research their family's genealogy. Family History Center at 500 Norcross Street in Roswell. For Helen Cauley feature on Geneaology - Family Trees. (Parker C. Smith/Special)

Credit: Special

Credit: Special

040316 ROSWELL, GA: Names and dates line the voluminous records at the Church of Latter Day Saints Family History Center, where people come to research their family's genealogy. Family History Center at 500 Norcross Street in Roswell. For Helen Cauley feature on Geneaology - Family Trees. (Parker C. Smith/Special)

Genealogy is the study of our family back through time. But how many of your ancestors did you meet or actually know?

The recent passing of my mother, Louise Brooks Thomas, leaves me with no living ancestors. At birth, I had three grandparents, one great-grandmother, one great-grandfather and a step great-grandmother living. My great-grandfather died within three weeks of my birth, so I never met him. I got to know my great-grandmother although I don’t recall any one-on-one chat with her. My earliest genealogy activities were going with my mother to gather information for her to join a lineage society. We went to several cemeteries copying tombstones. This information, when added to the already approved application of a cousin, allowed my mother to become a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1961.

My own genealogy work didn’t start then, but my earliest notes are from early 1962, and the sign-in ledger book at the Georgia Archives shows that my first visit there was in July 1963. My mother’s ancestry leads back to my earliest Georgia ancestor, Hall Hudson Sr., who arrived in 1766. On another branch, I am using our ancestor James Knott to prove my links to the Jamestown Colony, as he died there in 1653.

Honoring our ancestors.

There are several ways to honor or memorialize our ancestors. In my view, making sure they have tombstones is one. I set a goal to be sure any direct ancestor who died in the 20th century had a tombstone. Not always an easy task, but if you know where they were buried or close enough, you can at least put up a memorial marker to them.

DNA links you to your ancestors

DNA is one of the greatest tools for genealogists to ever come along. Luckily, I have my mother’s DNA in two DNA programs, FamilyTreeDNA.com and Ancestry.com, with the data copied over to others. Every time I open either one of those DNA sites, my mother will be there as my closest match, at the top of the page. To me, that is a great way to honor her, remember her and know her DNA is there helping make genealogy connections.

Contact Kenneth H. Thomas Jr., P.O. Box 901, Decatur, Ga., 30031 or www.kenthomasongenealogy.com.