I am new and green, capable and willing of making mistakes. Liz set me on the right path, in a very supportive way, in my new pursuit. I was using Wikitree to organize/document what I know of my family tree. Not understanding the merge function, I tried to merge my profile to a relatives' profile thinking that is how you "grow" the tree. After I went as far as I could, I stated what family notes stated in a comment, who I believed my 5th great grandfather was, and who he married, Much to my surprise/disbelief she as well as other Wikitree-ers provided source information which connected my tree to yet Two more generations. Within the first two days on Wikitree, I found relatives I was not aware of back to pre-1700. No doubt, Liz and others, put much work in prior to my interest in this venture. Had my first encounter been negative, as far as feedback, I would have probably been done and content knowing what I already knew. I have read more American history since my encounter with Wikitree than I had in high school and college. History now has names. Many with a prefix of grandpa, grandma, aunt or uncle. I know I am not the only one related to historical figures, but until I stumbled upon Wikitree, I didn't know I was. I just spent the day with mom for her 90th birthday, now I can hardly wait to connect the Dalton Gang- her family- to the founding fathers -dads family. I'm going to take a wild guess and say they are related-----somehow. Thanks again to Liz and all Wikitree family for their work.
