Hampton: The Family That Got Me REALLY Interested

     139 years ago, on June 28, 1874, in the small village of Paw Paw, Illinois, my second great grandfather, James Hampton, was born. He was born to Jonathan Hampton and Mary Lambert, as the seventh child of nine.

     On August 29, 1911, in Dixon, Illinois, he married 17 year old Elsie "Dolly" Estelle Nance, who a year before came from Bethany, Iredell County, North Carolina. I always wonder how they met and how she convinced Dolly's parents to let her marry James. James was 37 and Dolly was 17 - a 20 year difference but age is only a number!!

     Anyway the point of me writing this blog today is that the Hampton family is really the first family I ever did serious research in and the family I know the most information about. I had a really good first time experience in genealogy with this family.

      It helps that my grandmother had LOTS AND LOTS of photos and stories, and also a lot of information. It really broke be into how much fun genealogy can actually be, and that it's not just names, dates, and places. Its stories. My thing that really makes me interested in genealogy is trying to figure out how my ancestors decisions affected me. My favorite is that if my 5th great grandfather never moved to Canada, his son would have never met my 4th great grandmother, and I might not be here today (or the way I am.)

     So my question for you is: What was your 'first' big genealogy find and how did it affect you? OR, what got you REALLY interested in Genealogy? E-mail me your story at: tylerjamesmccane@gmail.com or post a comment and I'll post it in a blog!