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During childhood I was very curious about my family history, and finally found info about 40 years later! Signed for the free trial on Ancestry.com a couple years ago and wrote down what others had found for my family line. Some lines went back to the 1400's, one claimed the 1300's but was missing the connection for at least a couple generations so not sure how they came to that conclusion. Writing what others posted is dicey I know, so if I can ever afford it would like to hire a professional to trace my family tree.
Wish I had known my ancestors who gave me my family name were an English/Scottish mix, as I was stationed in Scotland during the 1980's as a young Navy man.
Also received valuable information from my father after he and some of my siblings attended a family reunion during the late 1990's or early 2000's. There had been an article written back in the 1800's or early 1900's that described the migration some of my ancestors took. Started out on the East Coast, then to Pennsylvania where they were farmers, then eventually to NW Ohio where they again bought land to farm. Part of the town of Wauseon, Ohio was built on farmland that my ancestors sold for that purpose. Later on I received a lot more information from my father, including a 399 page document, with details of some of my family line. He was in contact with a man who we are distantly related to, who happened to enjoy working genealogy. Some of the info he provided seemed to verify what I found online, except I went back even further. Interesting finding out not only what countries your ancestors came from, but specific towns, and of course their names, how long they lived, etc. Most of my mine came from Germany and England, a few from France, one from Ireland, one from Switzerland, and supposedly some from Denmark but I haven't found definitive proof of that. Seemed more likely a couple of my French ancestors lived in Denmark for awhile. Not sure how much Scottish I have in me, only know I have some of that as well. In other words, I'm the classic American Heinz 57.
One of my favorite programs is the genealogy show PBS airs. Very interesting listening to the information they dig up for people.
I became interested in 11th grade when we were assigned a family history project. My grandparents were visiting from another state. My grandmother gave me as much information as she could, but said they didn't talk about stuff like that often. My grandfather wouldn't give me very much information because he said there were a lot of outlaws in the family. I started gathering bits and pieces of info in the years after that. Some of the information has been unexpected. I have a family that probably would have had its own reality show if TV had been around then. Lol!
Unfortunately, waaaay too late to have some of the mysteries solved. Everyone's gone who might have answered the prime questions.
With help of other distant cousins, we have solved some of the strange quirks in the family but some still remain out there in the ozone. I have been blown away by some of the stuff I've come across.....total gobsmacked.
I had a first cousin twice removed. She was my grandfather's age, and we called her Aunt. She didn't have kids and going to her house was like going to a fun house in a castle. (Oh -- when I was a kid, it felt like a castle -- and she had an old attic where my parents lived when they first got married after WW2 -- I saw it years later. What a tiny house!) She had tons of stuff to look at, didn't mind us kids asking questions and said wonderful things like if you put milk in a creamer it becomes cream! And she always made us a little simple dinner, but always had cake and ice cream for dessert. Usually angel food cake and chocolate ice cream.
She was a character, and so was her hubby... which is what she called him. I always said if we had had children any girl would be named after her -- Anna Elizabeth.
Well...in her 70's she got the bug, and started looking. Her goal was to belong to the DAR... and she made it in the DAC -- one better... LOL.
I got copies of all her information, and I sort of got the bug... but what could you do then? I had school, then college, then I got married -- I didn't have time to travel places to look up stuff and money to send away for stuff, and we were so far away from where these people lived.... then we got the internet....and for me -- it took off.
And while Ancestry was handy, it wasn't the powerhouse it is today. A lot of what I found, I found by research all over the internet, because it wasn't on Ancestry. Don't get me started on the leaves....
Freshman year of college when we were asked to do a family tree project for my "north" American history class. My dad had told me there was someone who fought in the Revolutionary War so it was my goal to find him and then I just kept digging.
I was forced to watch "Roots" every year as a child by my mother. I got interested in it and actually paid attention when I was 12 years old. Due to being a black American, I thought maybe I'd find a "Kunta Kinte" ancestor I could read about. I have yet to find any African ancestors but have found that my family's story is different from the typical "Roots" narrative of black American genealogy. The only ancestor's I've traced to another continent were Europeans since some of my distant great grandfathers were British and Scots-Irish. All of my known black/mixed race ancestors were born in America or the colonies. Not sure if I'll ever find a "Kunta Kinte" type of ancestor but if not, I'm satisfied by what I've accomplished with my tree.
I read a book about genealogical research when I was 16 and started actively researching at that age. I still have lots of notes and cassette tapes I made when I was a teenager.
I had a first cousin twice removed. She was my grandfather's age, and we called her Aunt. She didn't have kids and going to her house was like going to a fun house in a castle. (Oh -- when I was a kid, it felt like a castle -- and she had an old attic where my parents lived when they first got married after WW2 -- I saw it years later. What a tiny house!) She had tons of stuff to look at, didn't mind us kids asking questions and said wonderful things like if you put milk in a creamer it becomes cream! And she always made us a little simple dinner, but always had cake and ice cream for dessert. Usually angel food cake and chocolate ice cream.
She was a character, and so was her hubby... which is what she called him. I always said if we had had children any girl would be named after her -- Anna Elizabeth.
Well...in her 70's she got the bug, and started looking. Her goal was to belong to the DAR... and she made it in the DAC -- one better... LOL.
I got copies of all her information, and I sort of got the bug... but what could you do then? I had school, then college, then I got married -- I didn't have time to travel places to look up stuff and money to send away for stuff, and we were so far away from where these people lived.... then we got the internet....and for me -- it took off.
And while Ancestry was handy, it wasn't the powerhouse it is today. A lot of what I found, I found by research all over the internet, because it wasn't on Ancestry. Don't get me started on the leaves....
I found a lot all over the place too when I first started out!
One of my great grandmother's was similar to your aunt/cousin as well. She answered all my questions and I discovered that I am eligible for DAR based on the service of one of her distant great grandfathers.
I had heard of DAC and not sure if we would be eligible for DAC but someone told me that you could join based on being granted land. Our Revolutionary veteran ancestor was granted land here in Ohio but not sure if he was the first to own the land officially. A newly found cousin of mine is looking into this.
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Signed for the free trial on Ancestry.com a couple years ago and wrote down what others had found for my family line. Some lines went back to the 1400's, one claimed the 1300's but was missing the connection for at least a couple generations so not sure how they came to that conclusion. Writing what others posted is dicey I know, so if I can ever afford it would like to hire a professional to trace my family tree. 
