Thanks for all the info. I have been messing with findagrave a bit and you can find good info on family members.  I'm sure there is still a lot I have to learn about it.  I didn't know anything about the GPS.  An acquaintance of mine is going through the local family cemetery taking pictures  and contributing what information she knows to findagrave.  I've learned that their is a family cemetery back in a field of my husband's side that I would like to instigate.

Dang-- I had a lengthy note started and I must have hit something wrong and it all disappeared!  I'll try again  Thanks for all the great info.  I've only been at it for about 3 weeks and still getting a handle on navigating ancestry,com.  Sooo much information!  I'm just working on my direct line of ancestors--no siblings or cousins yet and it does take research and work.  I look at other's trees and see if they have the same names and dates then on each person I'm working on I to go to also.  Funny story how this all started-- my daughter had me do the DNA test to see where we possibly came from.  My oldest son has almond shaped eyes and my mom's dad pictures show almond shaped eyes.  Knowing that both of my grand parents came over from Czechoslovakia (which at I often joked that we must have some Mongol blood in us.  Sure enough.  My results showed eastern European and Russia and the map showed where the Mongols lived and the results also said we could be descendants of teh Magyars.  Interesting!  I sure wish we kids would have asked about their time in "the old country" because they both came over in 1904.  And now my mom and her siblings are all gone and we can't ask.  I could not get beyond that grandfather at all.  His name was simple (John Koval) and we think that his name may have been changed and simplified at Ellis Island.   

My dad's father's side is providing a wealth of information.  I've gotten pretty far back and was surprised to find that others must have been doing some serious research and contributed stories that i could study.  You are right--it is a lot of work and I'm getting better at digging out the info.  I may have to go back and dig out more of the earlies ones I was investigating.  DD was upset when I told her that one of our ancestors owned slaves according to one of the census reports.  But I also found one that helped with the underground railroad.  I'm loving this even though DH thinks I'm obsessed.  I've always loved history and this makes it more real!  One ancestor served under General Braddock in th Revolutionary war.  

I also like the Thru lines that Ancestry gives you.  It has also verified some of the info I have found.  

Well, this got lengthy  I totally understand your passion

Be REALLY cautious with ThruLines!  It is taking info from *other people's trees*, which could be very inaccurate.   Ancestry is not giving you "new" info.

BTW, there are FB groups dealing with Ancestry.com research.  I belong to "Ancestry.com Users Group".  They might be helpful to you. 

I found one of my husband's ancestors fought with General Sherman during his March to the Sea through Georgia .  THAT was wildly exciting to discover!

I haven't thoroughly researched the Revolutionary War service yet but I *have* discovered a link so that my girls can apply to the Daughters of the Revolution  (DAR).  Our youngest is a HUGE history need.

I was uncertain about the thru lines so I didn't really look at them until I had done research on my own and it was nice to see that some did match up with what I had found. This is no easy task!  

Wow!  That IS exciting!  Seems like most of my ancestors came over from Germany and England and settled in VA,PA, and KY.  For the past 3 years I have been taking solo trips out that way and even went through a town one of my ancestors lived in.  Wonder if it's my roots calling me?

Just so you know, the retreat invitation has been posted.

Carolyn

latterberry said:

even went through a town one of my ancestors lived in.

If you do those trips again, have a list of addresses (if possible) of where they lived.  Take a picture of the address as it is today, then try to find pictures online of past photos.  I did that with the homes that Mr. Pirate's maternal grandparents & mother lived in.  It was interesting to see then vs now.  :-)

Whoo hoo!

I've done that with all the apartment buildings my parents lived in after WWII as they moved around with little Judy in the 1940s and 1950s as my Dad's career with his company progressed. 

My mother had kept a diary of all the addresses where they lived. You can do a lot with Google Street View these days.