First – I apologize for the fact that this entry is ALL personal. Maybe too personal. But I am sure that a least of few of my readers, including relatives, might be interested in what I am about to write.
There’s an old saying that goes something like “the cobbler’s kid doesn’t have any shoes…” That’s true of many businesses where the business started off being a hobby – then grew… And grew some more and took over the lives of the folks who initially had this wonderful hobby that they enjoyed…
Let me digress a bit. I became very interested in genealogy about the time Patty and I moved with two little kids to our farm in Washington State during the mid to late 1970s. In 1981, at the age of 31, I went back to school, attending Green River Community College part time until my graduation in 1984. While there, a history teacher, by the name of John Hanscom, changed my life. He awakened a love of history within me, then tutored me for four quarters, allowing me to do independent study in family history. By the time I left GRCC I was totally hooked and wanted to do nothing other than genealogy. By graduation, my brother, Steve, and I were publishing (and printing) local history materials. We published the first issue of Heritage Quest Magazine in late 1985 – and as they say, the rest is history… I’ll bet some of my readers were right there with me when this all started for the Meitzler family.
Once the magazine took off, time to pursue my hobby dwindled. In the early 1990s, Patty and I sold Heritage Quest to our friend, Brad Stuart, at American Genealogical Lending Library in Bountiful, Utah. With Brad’s support, we were able to travel from July 1994 right up until January of 2000 – lecturing, selling product, researching and visiting cousins as we traveled the country. We put about 300,000 miles on our motor home and had the time of our lives. However, the intense genealogy research came to an end when we came off the road in 2000. Since then, I’ve worked for Heritage Quest (owned by Sierra Home, a division of Vivendi), Proquest, Everton’s, and my own companies (Heritage Creations and Family Roots Publishing). Family Roots Publishing is still going strong and takes most of the time that Patty and I have. Our genealogy research is done when we feel we can squeeze out the time. About two years ago, I decided that something had to change, and attempted to get back at the research… Then things got busier when we took on the publication of more German-oriented books. The publication of the German stuff has become a passion for us, for we know that we’re able to directly help thousands of folks by what we do. So… we continue to sign contracts to publish… with no end in sight.
On Monday, Patty and I took the day off, and drove up to Whidbey Island to celebrate 52 years since our engagement. For those that are interested, we made a commitment to each other March 11, 1967. This took place at Twin Creeks campground near Greenwater on the border of King & Pierce County. The campground no longer exists, having been wiped away by the White River many years ago. I located a Metzker’s map that shows Twin Creeks as they were about 1935, and included a picture with this entry. The campground was between the highway and the White River. While having slowed down long enough to ponder, Patty and I made a decision to get back to actively doing genealogy again. I’ve started the process by beginning the update of the family tree posted on the MyHeritage site. I love MyHeritage and felt it was a great place to dedicate a couple hours a day from now on. I will then copy any data added, found or updated to my online tree at Ancestry, as well as my desktop RootsMagic. And that can work both ways. What I find at Ancestry or through personal contact with cousins, I can add to MyHeritage and my RootsMagic database. A big part of the project will be adding (or updating format) of my sources, and the linking of imaged documents. I have many documents that aren’t found online that I am adding. Many are digitized, and more are in files waiting for the process. I also guarantee that not all the family connections currently posted at MyHeritage are correct, with some of the data having been compiled in the 1980s based upon people’s memories. So there will be some culling I am sure. I also plan to daily incorporate at least some of the clues I get from MyHeritage’s Supersearch, and Records Matches, as well as DNA matches. Their amazing book searches will also play a part. Of course, I won’t overlook the Record and DNA matches from Ancestry as well. Coordinating the data between databases will be a challenge I am sure. I will write more about this as it happens… We’re looking forward to a good time.
I began the process at MyHeritage a few minutes ago. I started by editing my contact information on my profile. My work history was compiled by MyHeritage from public sources and goes back to Meico Associates, a company Steve and I formed about 1982 to publish local history booklets in Washington State. I’d forgotten all about it! It was short lived, as we formed Heritage Quest in 1985, and ceased to use the name Meico Associates. My addresses at the site go back to 1985, and begin with the post office box we opened in Orting when we started Heritage Quest. I’ve added a couple earlier addresses just to make the list a bit more complete.
By the way, MyHeritage is running a $59 sale on autosomal DNA tests for St. Patrick’s Day. Buy two, and get free shipping. I took the test two years ago. and have currently 6.074 matches, starting with first cousins. Patty just took the test (while we were at RootsTech 2019), and got a note on March 1 saying that MyHeritage now has the sample, and to expect results soon… This is all very exciting!
Note that I have an affiliate relationship with MyHeritage and receive a small commission when anyone clicks on one of my links and buys product.
Leland,
My own experience is quite similar.
While I was a PhD candidate at Georgetown University in Russian Area Studies, due to the expense, and to avoid getting any further into debt from student loans, I decided to cut back my course load and get a job to help cover both my living and school expenses.
I was able to do that in large part because classes were offered only in the evening to accommodate the overwhelming majority of my classmates at Georgetown were either military intelligence or state department employees.
The job I wound up getting was as a clerk-genealogist at the Daughters of the American Revolution!
I had always loved history, but the job exposed me to genealogy, and I was quite fortunate that the Registrar-General of the Society at the time, Annis Richardson, encouraged her employees to hone their skills.
When, due to the expense of completing my PhD, and the slim prospects at the time of finding a job in my field which would both cover living expenses and repay the student loans, I decided to leave school with only my MA, I was told time after time in job interviews either “You are over-qualified for this position” or “What guarantee can you give us that if a job in your degree field opened up, you would leave us and we will be stuck with the expense of having to train someone else?”
That pretty much meant becoming my own boss, with genealogy as the logical avenue. That is not to say the early years were not a struggle.
They were.
But at the time, the National Archives and Library of Congress (I had a stack pass at a result of being a student at Georgetown) were open in the evenings and on weekends, allowing me to work a second job during “business hours”.
I took advantage of that working such jobs as gas pipe-fitter and motor cycle courier. I particularly liked the courier job, as the company operated 24/7, meaning I often had packages I could pick up after coming out of National Archives when it closed at 10pm, which I could deliver on my way home and in the morning!
Over the years, I would likely not have had as much time to do research on my own family as I have but for the fact I have been hired on multiple occasion to do research if not on my own family, then in both an area and time period where I found information on my family in the course of the research I did for my client!
Michael,
Thanks for sharing your story. It’s fascinating. Genealogists all get started somehow and it’s often not planned. Today we have formal education where young folks can plan out a course of study and graduate with degrees allowing them to go to work for a genealogy research firm. There weren’t many of those around when we were young! Either degree programs or research firms.