People do genealogy for a lot of different reasons. They enjoy collecting family stories. They want to discover where they come from. They love the feeling of being connected to history.
I like filling in names. It's a bit of an obsession for me. There's nothing I hate worse than seeing 'unknown' in the name field. So I do what I can to find the names, especially the maiden names of the women. Yesterday, I received the SS-5 for my 2nd cousin, twice removed, Frank L. Craner. The reason I requested it was there in all its glory: his mother's name was Mathilda Shepard Ogden. I rejoiced. But, then I began to wonder. Shepard and Ogden are names I've run across in my NJ research. Who are her parents? I looked at her dates. Oh no, she'd probably be in the 1880 census. But, maybe not with her parents. Maybe there'd be hope for me. No. Her parents were Isaac S. & Ann E. Ogden. Another unknown. What was Ann's maiden name? The search continues.
I found a new ancestor. Yay! He owned slaves. Boo! This is the first slave owning ancestor I have found. I suppose it was inevitable being of European descent and with so many of my lines reaching back to colonial days, but I thought the poverty of most of my ancestors would prevent it. Thomas Moore was the father of Charlotte Moore, wife of Howard Ogle.
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