Now or Never.

Now or never,

It took me a long time to become seriously interested in my family history. When I did
start, at an older age, several people that could have provided valuable information had passed on. On my paternal side, several family members were busy with data collection which resulted in a very nice family Genealogy chart. The chart was
handed to me. It goes back to the year 1665 in St. Paul-Trois-Chateaux (Dauphine,France)
Unfortunately we have not been able to go further back regardless the many hours spend by three family members who speak fluid French including the local dialect. (It is assumed records were destroyed during the Huguenots’ time.)
It is very unfortunately that I never took the effort to study the maternal side of my family. The only thing I know about their side is that my Grandfather was born in the town of Kampen in the country; The Netherlands.
Know even less about my Grandmothers on both sides. Do not let it happen to you. I was not much interested in family matters at a earlier age figuring there is plenty of time to find things out at a latter day. In my case I moved across the world to the USA limiting correspondence, in the earlier years, before computers, it was just too time consuming to correspond by mail. Furthermore people pass on, sometimes unexpected robbing you from the change to find out about issues that were never discussed before. I have to settle for the fact that many questions cannot be answered any longer. There are no persons left who could know the answer to those questions. In one case the person (Still alive) who could provide data refuses to cooperate. Start now asking questions from your parents, grandparents. Perhaps there may be a bit of resistance in some cases (Nobody wants to give away the fact that your Grandfather was a convicted burglar. Or your Aunt Molly ran a house of happiness when she was young) Well calculated persistence may give you answers. On the other hand many parents and grandparents might open up and willing in participating building a family history chart. Do not overlook family bibles in which many people recorded important events. If you do start do it a constructive manner with the aid of Genealogy programs. It’s easy to have your data mixed up when more data accumulates. Have fun with it see it at as legacy for your children who might want to know their family history a specially when you are a first generation American. It could be a further tool in the event you want to write you’re “Life’s Story” (Like I do for the Grand kids)
Do not wait any longer, start on the road of discovering your family history now! Have fun with it.