Genealogy as your Hobby

Have you ever read historical accounts of the times your ancestors were living? I think most genealogists wonder at one time or another what their life must have been like. Genealogy is much more than putting dates and faces to a name on your family tree. But the truth is, genealogy is a hobby that you can fashion to your own requirements. You can strictly keep it to dates and places or you can fashion it into a full-blown family history. The choice is up to you. But I think the first time you take a look at one of those 100+ year old documents you will be smitten. Recently we had a visitor at the Brown Co. Archives. She had driven down from Michigan to find proof of a relationship link of her John Kirts to a James Kirts. That would help provide proof of a link to a Revolutionary War soldier, Conrad Kirts. She wanted to get in the DAR. Sometimes I frown at these research requests and think she's missing the fun part. So we helped her gather as much linking evidence as possible, but still couldn't find the best proof possible. We did prove that land passed from James to John Kirts, but with no details to spell out their relationship. I'm not sure what kind of evidence that the DAR needs, but hope she got enough to make her case. As she was leaving our conversation turned to the DAR, where she gave me this last bit of information, "If I can prove this link to Conrad Kirts then he'll be my 8th entry into the DAR." My jaw dropped. I guess she did find her way of having fun with genealogy.