I very recently purchased another genealogy software package, about $40.  It got me started thinking about the expenses I’ve had over the years, doing family history research and I thought it might be of interest just how much some of us obsessed with this put into it.

I’ve been researching ALL my families since my mid-20s, over 35 years.  I research All my families because we are all related to all the families we are genetically linked to, not just our father’s direct line.

I used to have to run around to various libraries, Mormon family history centers, historical societies, cemeteries, and relatives and, if you think about it, that costs money as well; gas.

I’ve “borrowed” (rented) microfilm and books from various collections.  I’ve occasionally stayed overnight in order to visit some library or historical society.  I paid vacation time driving to some place to find out something.

I’m a paying member of Ancestry.com (just the US material) and that costs a lot.  I’m a member of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society even now, years after they gave the bulk collection to New York Public Library (heartbreaking for me).  I have and still occasionally travel into Manhattan (not cheap) to visit both collections.

I’m a member of a few historical societies in New York state as much to support the organization as to hope to get any useful information from them.

I’ve purchased a number of vital records of family members, the cost of which has nearly quadrupled during these research years.  I just sent for Stephen Wormuth’s military records; $30.

I’ve had copy negatives made from borrowed family photos, including quite an expensive one from a tintype of Grandma Margaret “Maggie” Wormuth Beismer.  I’ve printed copies of scanned photos I have and given them to relatives.

Grandma is front left and it occurs to me that it's Charles, front right, and that might be one of the older sisters behind them.

I’ve written to more relatives and other researchers than I’ve kept track of; postage, paper, ink.

Over the years, I’ve probably spent a few thousand dollars doing all this.  I don’t mind, I love it.

However, every once in a while you encounter someone who makes you stop and think about what they’re asking for and how much time, effort and expense you’ve invested.  Every once in a while you realize that most of your relatives are not nearly as excited and interested as you are.  Every once in a while you wonder if anyone realizes how much you’re interested in this and how much you’ve put into it.  That’s all.

See new post on Wormuth Page.

Historic Note:

Hancock - "Settled before the American Revolution, the town was formed from Colchester in 1806. The East Branch of the Delaware River crosses the town and meets the West Branch in the Village of Hancock, which became a major lumbering and rafting center.  In the mid-19th century,  French Settlement was created by selling small lots of land to French and German settlers.  The Erie and Ontario and Western [O&W] Railroads aided the growth of the village, which was incorporated in 1888.  After Delaware Co's first wood acid factory was built at Kerryville in 1878, the wood chemical industry flourished, with more than 10 plants in the town.  This, along with tanneries and bluestone quarries, drove the economy in the late 1800s.  Railroad service declined in the 1950s and the reconstruction of Rte. 17 (I-86) as a four-lane highway in the 1960s reduced the tourist business.  In 2003, lumbering and quarrying supported the economy." -- Dorothy Kubik, in The Encyclopedia Of New York State , Syracuse University Press, 2005.

I thought some of you might enjoy this: 

In the box of stuff sent to me from Georgiana Swartwout was a little 2x3" sepia reproduction of Millet's Potato Planting with "Anna & George" written on the back; meaning Anna Wormuth and George Swartwout. 

I think it's cute. I don't know who wrote it but most likely Georgiana, their daughter. I found this sepia repro online: 

I remember Aunt Anna and, maybe, vaguely, George. Oddly, I don't remember Georgiana. I also remember George's brother, Guy, who used to arrange the baseball games at the reunions. I think I might have a photo of him in a baseball uniform. 

I remember one reunion (I think at Shinhopple) in particular when all the Wormuth women were together: Nancy, Anna, Maggie (Grandma)(our Wormuth branch); the others were probably there as well, it was a big one, over 100 people. Aunt Mary must have been there because I think that's the day that she was giving Grandma such a hard time at her house. 

The reunions were started by Elias and Phoebe and it was the Wormuth-Hulse reunion because those 2 sisters (Fannie and Phoebe Hulse) and those 2 brothers ([Thomas] James & Elias Wormuth) married each other but the other Wormuth brothers' families were always there as well. 

Aunt Anna and her daughter, Georgiana, were very beautiful.

Can you identify these two?

I thought this was 2 of my cousins but it's stamped "Nov. 1939" by the photo developer on the back and they aren't that much older than me and I'm told it's not them, in any case.  Please contact me, if you know them.

"Genealogy: Where you confuse the dead and irritate the living."  - no author given, from Family Tree Quotes