It all started with the pictures. As long as I can remember, they were always there in the second drawer in Grandma’s buffet. Even as a child of nine or ten, I was drawn to the people in them. I never tired of listening to the stories Grandma told me about them, even though I wasn’t sure how we were connected to most of those faces. And there were so many names. It was just too much for a kid to take in.
Sometime in the mid-1970s, I got serious about identifying the people in the photos. I was fortunate enough to have my maternal grandmother and great-grandaunt as resources. On one of our trips to Chautauqua County, New York to visit my family, my husband, Philip Howell, expressed an interest in finding out about his family. Given that Phil didn't have much information on the Howell and Richards families, we turned to his uncle, Rex Howell, the family historian.
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| Robert Howell and Catherine Leavell's Golden Anniversary |
The genealogy journey that started decades ago with a childhood curiosity about people in some old family photographs became a serious hobby that involves history, detective work, and storytelling. My hope is that by preserving the history of our families, we will all feel increasingly connected to our ancestors and each other as we discover how our ancestors' lives shaped who we are.