I’ve been an amateur genealogist since I was a teenager. I started before the internet existed. This was a world where finding a single fact about a not-too-distant ancestor could involve an entire day of hauling huge indexes off shelves, then waiting five days for the certificate to arrive. It was time-consuming and expensive. As I extended lines it became impossible for me to go further as to do so involved trips across the country to churches and local record offices.
