Genealogists at Highland Springs are fascinated by family roots

By Danielle Rexrode
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

A number of “detectives” at Highland Springs are conducting an investigation. There wasn’t an accident, and no crime has been committed. These sleuths are actually genealogists digging up their family roots.

“I’ve been researching my family history, as well as my wife’s, for 30 years now,” says Bob Goff, who heads up the Highland Springs genealogy club. “It’s an individual pursuit that reveals things about family and history that are very interesting.”

Originally, genealogy only concerned the ancestry of rulers and nobles and was used to demonstrate the legitimacy of claims to wealth and power. But today most people aren’t out to prove they are heirs to a throne; they’re just trying to find out where they came from.

In fact, genealogy is touted as the second most popular hobby in the U.S., after gardening. It is believed that more than 80 million Americans are actively researching their ancestry.

Start digging
The club meets once a month to assist one another with ongoing research and organizing information. The group has also hosted guest speakers and taken field trips to the local library’s genealogy archives.

“This is a hobby that you can spend an enormous amount of time on,” Goff says. “It’s very challenging. You may get a lead and follow it and then discover it was the wrong lead. Other times, you might find all sorts of information. For example, I had a great discovery when researching my wife’s family. I found she had an uncle who died at the Alamo when he was 36.”

Goff suggests starting your search with your immediate family members.

Popping up all over the place
Technology, specifically the Internet, has also provided the tools to gather important family information quickly and with a much higher chance of success. Just type the word genealogy into the Google search engine and you’ll get back more than 77 million hits.