I began blogging for the glaringly obvious reason that I have some things to say about the families I've been researching for more than thirty years. Some posts have been written to correct mistaken family trees and histories metastasizing throughout internet. Some are cousin bait (I do so love that phrase), though more are aimed at the family I know than those I've yet to meet. Most posts have simply been an effort to share what has fascinated me about my kinfolk with anyone who might care.
Two photographs I consciously look at every day are of my mother and great-aunt (in a location familiar to most family historians) and of a cousin I met when visiting Berezovo, the village where my grandfather was born.
Mary Kathryn Sawyer McKenzie and Mother c. 1990 |
Paternal cousin, 1992 |
For a happily solitary person (hermit and antisocial are other words that come to mind) I'm finding the social aspects of blogging engaging. When I began I saw no reason to share any information about myself - including my name. But I have come to "know" other bloggers as I read their posts, to care about them and the families they write about with such love, laughter and even acerbity.
I've spent several days mulling over anonymity as even my blog title went AWOL for a time. I am sharing my name and genetic information with complete strangers - at times it feels I'm standing on street corners tossing it to the winds. It seems absurd to hide behind Nolichucky Roots any longer - and it's such a mouthful. Especially when compared to Susan Clark (curtsying and saying how 'de do).