By Setarreh Massihzadegan
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Members of the genealogy group at Brooksby travel back in time to discover relatives they didn’t know they had—some who fought in battles hundreds of years ago, others who live next door.

Finding family
Riding the growing wave of interest in family ancestry, Brooksby’s genealogy group has encouraged people to investigate and write their own histories, literally.

Robert Bragdon, who lives at Brooksby, wrote a 50-page book of stories about his ancestors who were involved in famous historical events from the Salem witch trials to Shays’ Rebellion.

But it was at a recent meeting of the group that Bragdon and Dorothy Christopher, who also lives at Brooksby, discovered they were distant cousins.

“This is fun, finding another cousin,” says Christopher, who was attending the meeting for the first time. The experience wasn’t the first for Bragdon, who had already discovered another cousin at Brooskby. “We’re all probably cousins,” he says.

An addictive pastime
Members of the genealogy  group, which meets monthly, give different reasons for getting involved in this type of research—but they all agree that there’s an addictive quality to it.

“Once you get started, it’s very difficult to stop,” says Evan Randolph, who has created a website with his family photos, stories, and other findings.

“You always hit a stone wall, but that’s what makes it fun. It’s sort of like trying to solve a puzzle,” he adds.

Online resources
For centuries, people have looked to books for pieces of the ancestral puzzle,  but today genealogical researchers can  also turn to the Internet. Websites like genealogy.com and ancestry.com provide tools for searching records and  building family trees. The well-known website cyndislist.com links to thousands of other, more specific Web pages.