@jrkbird : That is awesome. My son and daughter have been doing our family.

@Lyn0811 : Not me, I'm afraid of what I might find !! 😳😲

@jrkbird : If you are interested in your family history and interested in joining a great group of women, you might consider joining us at the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution). Go to the DAR website and it will direct you on how to join. We meet monthly. Our genealogists can help you. You might also go to the Clayton Genealogical Library down near the zoo.

@CKB48 : I'm very familiar with Clayton! I actually belong to both groups I mentioned in my original post, and attend meetings as I can.As far as DAR, I have some family that joined DAR based off my maternal line, however recent reviews of their DAR applications shows that their paperwork does not pass current muster, and further data has to be provided for any new members on that line. I've never been hugely interested in joining DAR, but I may in the future.I've been on the Legacy Family Tree Genealogy cruises, attended many classes & such, and have taken classes at NGIS.

@jrkbird : From TJButter: I am very interested in being part of a Genealogy group. I have been researching my family for a few years now and would really like to learn more about researching. Do you have a timeline for starting a group?

@Gatordadb : Not really, no. I just really, really love genealogy and researching. I know there is so much more I can do, and learn, etc. if I set aside the time.I've gone to meetings and classes held all over Houston, and I'm not opposed to it at all, I just think it would be great to have a group that meets local once a month instead of traveling. It really surprises me that as big as Houston metro is, I could only find two genealogy groups that meet regularly.The Pearland Historical Society may be a place to start, or talking to the library about a meeting room. I'm just not native to the area, so almost 100% of my research is outside the area.Clayton is a great resource, and has awesome facilities, but I don't always want or need to go there and vie for space/info with other genealogists. It is a very popular place!I am an O&G Analyst by trade, so the data side of genealogy intrigues me. I host two family reunions a year for different sides of my family, and provide family history and info. I organize and maintain DNA kit samples from various family members to further my research, etc.I just need to get more organized (Don't we all!!) and dedicate consistent time to it again. -- Post Harvey my house is still a mess and I haven't touched my research in months.it truly is a huge passion of mine. And my husband helps!

If I could find 10-15 people interested in meeting monthly, I'm all for putting together a group and working up a basic calendar of events for a few months, etc. to see how it goes.

@jrkbird : I commend you for what you do. My sister used to catch me up on our family stuff and I remember it being so interesting. She passed away many years ago. Her husband left this area and moved to Kansas without even offering me the information that she had researched about the family. I guess he threw it away. My brother passed not long after and my parents way before.
So, being "the last of the Mohicans", sometimes I'm curious as to our beginnings. I remember my mom saying her family had close ties with General Robert E. Lee. Not sure if it was family ties or as family friend ties. I was younger and interested in so many other things at the time.
I remember my sister really enjoyed searching the info in her last years. Just wish my ex brother-in-law had passed that on to me. He probably trashed it. He had some drinking issues and we didn't get along well.

@Tom57 : That's terrible on loosing all that info!!!!I do my best to collect, review, document, and SHARE the info I gather with family. Most everyone in my family knows I am the "go to" for family history. I collect documents, demographics, photos, stories, etc. I have thousands and thousands of family pictures alone. Of course I have a HUGE family.I think the worst part of the genealogy work so far is actually disproving a lot of information in a book a distant relative of mine published in the 1980s and distributed to a lot of our family on one particular line. I got my hands on one of those books when I was about 17 years old, and studied it for years. Then when I started doing research and using a genealogy program about 15 years ago, well, my heart was broken at the inconsistencies in the book. -- It was literally typed on a typewriter and the pages manually collated, and unfortunately, that caused several of the lines to be mis-printed. I've spent years unravelling it and trying to put it right.The fun part is when you have an ancestor named Henry, who named his son John, who named his kid Henry, who named his kid Henry, who named his kid John, who named his kid Henry....... all with the same surname!

@jrkbird : Oh wow ! That would be very confusing. 😳

I went a time or two to the Morman Church in Friendswood. As they now have a building on Southfork/magnolia perhaps they have the geneology dept here too. They are the greatest in geneology. They will give you the information stored in Salt Lake City. They research everyone - NOT just Mormans.

@Missyern : Be very careful of their online stuff - anyone can add to FamilySearch, and it does not have to be accurate!

@jrkbird : Have you had your DNA mapped yet? I figured geneology people would be in to that, or maybe not -- I'm not sure how accurate it is, do you know?

@PearlandDotCom : YES I have my DNA done, as well as roughly 20 members of my immediate and distant family, all branches.
For as new as most genealogy based DNA tools are, it is quite accurate.There are three main testing companies, Ancestry.com, ftDNA, and 23andme.com. - I have family DNA at all three.Depending on your need or desired purpose - they each hold benefits over the other.
ftDNA is the only company that offers mtDNA testing (maternal line) and Y testing (paternal line only).
23andme offers health reports and other health related info working in conjunction with the FDA.
Ancestry is autosomal - it tracks all branches of your family, has the largest "pool" from which to connect, but it does not help you determine maternal or paternal.Then there are third party applications such as GEDMATCh, DNALand, etc. that allow you to upload your DNA results to an even broader range of samples to analyze and connect with relatives.At the end of the day, though, they all require additional research and paper trails to determine HOW you are related.

@jrkbird : Interesting, I might have to do that...I know some of my relatives have done Ancestry.com. --J