You might say it was my maternal grandmother's fault I got involved in doing genealogy, or you might put it down to my "nosy" nature — both are about equally correct! My grandmother Hawkins has been an inveterate amateur genealogist for most of her life — writing to relatives far and near (both in geographical and relational terms) for information about their families, etc. Because of her notes, and following up on some of the leads I found there, I've been able to hit the ground running, as it were, and haven't had to do quite as much spadework as some people who set out to trace their family lineage.
On the Preston side (which is my genealogist grandmother's father's family), I can only go back about as far as the Civil War. But going back along her mother's line (the Julsruds, or Larsons as they called themselves after emigrating to the United States just after the Civil War), I've gotten things as far back as central Norway at the beginning of the 19th century.
But it's been my maternal grandfather's line that has proven to be the most fruitful. Again thanks in large part to the groundwork begun by my grandmother, and a fortuitous connection to the Washington County (Penn.) genealogy site, I've more or less established that my Hawkins ancestors (or some of them, anyway) came over to Maryland around the middle of the 17th century. Not quite the Mayflower, but around the same time anyway. Several of them served in the Revolutionary War, and many more in the Civil War, some achieving no small measures of distinction.
Unfortunately for my researches, "real life" far too often cuts into my time for doing genealogy. It is very much a part-time hobby with me, and likely to get put aside for other avocations, particularly those (like writing) which bring in some extra money instead of the reverse. Consequently, my resources here are pretty scant at the moment. I hope to change that in the coming year, however.
For right now, all I have available here is the Skeleton of my Family Tree, which shows only those ancestors in my direct line, and not much about them. I hope someday soon to have a more complete, HTML-formatted basic genealogy (Ahnentafel, most likely) available here, along with some of the resources I've found in various family attics.
The most promising of those include:
The following is the "Tiny Tafel" information for the ancestors at the remote ends of the lines I'm working on. If you happen to have information about any of these people or families, I'd be most interested in talking with you. Drop me an e-mail and let's talk! (N.B.: I use primarily Brother's Keeper for Windows 5.2, but also have access to FamilyTree Maker.)
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