Welcome to Finding My Twisted Roots!
This site is a combination of our family history research passion and a genealogical writer’s desire to share what we learn with others.
While we have other researchers who occasionally post on FMTR, the two main authors of this site are Jonathan and Adrienne. We have both been involved in doing genealogy (of some kind) since we were living at home.
Jonathan has been interested since he was 16 and learning about family while working on the BSA Genealogy Merit Badge. He has been working on family history research off and on since.
Adrienne has been into family history since the age of eight or nine. While on the annual summer visit to her grandparents’ house, she remembers helping with the family history research and documentation with her mother and grandmother.
While in college, Adrienne volunteered for a couple of years at a local LDS Family History Center. She appreciated the fellow staff members and patrons who taught her so much.
From our marriage in 1998 until now, our combined love of genealogy has grown. Two cross-country trips in 2002 and 2005/2006 proved to be incredible experiences for our family.
Our trips included visits with numerous extended family members and close friends. Our camera took a lot of photos of us with these wonderful people whom we had not seen in years or had just met that trip. If available, photographs were scanned and saved to be shared with other family members.
We have now been to cemeteries in multiple states across the country. At each cemetery, Adrienne took digital photos of the headstones. Since GPS was newer back then and using it was indeed a learning experience. GPS coordinates for each headstone are in our database thanks to that second trip.
We are working on adding photos of our ancestors that have passed. We do respect the privacy of the living and will not knowingly post photographs of them without their consent.
In more recent months, we have begun to teach our oldest two boys how to research our family history. It is fun to watch them learn about the different programs and websites that we use.
Adrienne is the main genealogy writer of the family. She is the one whose posts you will probably read the most here on FMTR. Some posts are by Jonathan, especially when there are personal experiences of his to share. Our oldest two sons will be posting on here as they are starting to love writing almost as much as their mother.
For our oldest’s Eagle Scout Project, he planned and managed a BillionGraves project at a local cemetery. He invited friends and fellow Scouts to help take photos at the cemetery using the BillionGraves app on their smart phones and transcribe the photos. Now, all of those ancestors (and their headstones) are searchable online.
So grab a cup of hot cocoa (our family favorite) and read more about us and our family. If you are one of our relatives, we would love to know!