My young daughter was frustrated with spending Saturdays with her grandma—not because she didn’t like spending time with her grandma, but because grandma was on a mission to do family research at The National Archives at Kew. “Every Week!” she exclaimed, rolling her eyes. Imagine spending two hours on a tube and four hours sitting in a dusty research library. Although, she did enjoy all the photocopying. Who doesn’t love a good photocopy, right?
One day, she came back from Kew and said, “Dad, I’m bored with going to the same place every time I see grandma. You’re in computers, can’t you help grandma with her family tree so I don’t have to go to Kew?” I could see the desperation in her eyes, and I knew it was time to step in.
So, early in 2002, I started building a family tree of all my mum’s known relatives—around 134, if I remember correctly. We knew all of them, and when I showed it to my mum, she was shocked by the amount of detail it contained. Dates and places of birth, marriage, and death, newspaper clippings, cemetery photos, translations of foreign texts—you name it, it was there.
Funny thing is, she may not have liked visiting the National Archives every week, but she spent hours helping me find resources to add to our family tree. It was like a treasure hunt, but instead of gold, we found great-great-grandma’s birth certificate. And let me tell you, nothing says “family bonding” like deciphering 19th-century handwriting together.
My daughter was thrilled. “Thanks, Dad! Now I don’t have to spend my Saturdays in a dusty library. I can spend them doing something fun, like… more photocopying!” Ah, kids. They always know how to keep things interesting.
And that’s how I became the family tree hero. Who knew that a little bit of computer magic could save the day and make Saturdays fun again? So, if you’re ever in a similar situation, just remember: when life gives you lemons, make a family tree. Or, you know, just do some more photocopying.
Now back to the story