As you begin to compile information for your family tree, you may be surprised at the number of surnames that may start to appear. A surname is a person's last name, as opposed to his or her given name, which is the first name. You can make your family tree as detailed or as sparse as you like, searching only for your direct ancestors (those who "begat" you) or including siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. Just doing your direct ancestors back a few generations can make the names add up into the hundreds. And you have to decide whether you're going to be just a name-taker or an interesting story maker.

I had never even thought about it, but when I started doing this, I suddenly began counting. I realized that I had two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents, and 32 great-great-great grandparents. And that's only six generations (counting yourself). These days, it isn't unusual to have five generations still living...four has become almost common. Add another generation and you add 64 more people to your direct family tree. Since ladies in genealogy are always referred to by their maiden names, you can see how the surnames start adding up.

Also, most of these people had sisters and brothers, most married, and had children of their own. Each time there was a marriage, a new name was added. See what I mean about "hundreds?" These additional surnames may help you trace your tree more easily. You may not be able to find anyone out there who can connect directly to your parents, or even your grandparents. But when you start adding names of sisters and brothers, spouses and children, and ask questions about these additional names, people seem to come out of the woodwork and say, "Hey! I have that name in my family tree. Do you think we may be related?" You may or may not be, but you have at least scratched the surface and maybe made a new researching ally.

My main surnames are Fowler (my father) and McWhorter (my mother). Behind them I add Blake and Payne. Behind them I add Owen(s), Dorman, Wren(n), and Boyd. Behind them I add Norris, Young, Vickers, Kinney, Wood and LeGuin. You can see I am still missing some surnames back there. This is definitely not an "instant results" type of hobby. As I said, it has taken me a year just to get back to my GGGgrandparents on my father's side. I am just starting to work on my mother's side.

There are lots of people out there who pride themselves on collecting names, birth dates, and death dates. I call these people "name-takers." With them, the more the merrier. They have names of hundreds of people who have their surname...some related, some not. These people probably have rolls of collected twine and balls of aluminum foil stored in their closets too. If this is what you choose to do, I have no problem with it. Whatever floats your boat. There was a scam perpetuated back in the 1970s and 1980s concerning this practice. Thousands of flyers were sent out all over the country advertising a book on "your" family history. "Learn all bout your family!" the advertisement touted. "Thousands of (insert your family name here) listed!" I think the price was around $50 for the "beautiful, leather-bound volume" which promised you all sorts of information on your family, including your family coat of arms. Well, a friend of mine fell for it and ordered one. What it turned out to be was a listing (like a telephone book) of all the people in the United States with his family surname. A totally useless piece of material for a genealogist. I think that particular scam has been stopped, but I'm sure the lady who did it got rich before the complaints started rolling in.

In direct opposition to the name-takers, are the story-makers. I fall into this category, as do most of my genealogy buddies. I want to find out all I can about my ancestors and relatives. It makes them come alive. And you would be surprised at how much "story" you can make from just a few facts garnered in your research. Add it to family tales and you almost have the beginnings of a historical novel. In genealogical research, it's okay to use "about," "before," "probably," and "after" when you are not sure when something happened. It's better to put events into a time frame than to leave them out altogether. It takes a little more research, but is well worth the effort. Here's an example, using my great-grandfather William Jethroe Fowler:

Fact: Born Nov 20, 1849 (tombstone) Fact: Appeared in 1850 Gwinnett County census age 7 months in the home of his father, John Fowler and mother Sarah (Norris), with one sister, Nancy, age 2. Fact: Appeared in the 1860 Gwinnett County census in same household, age 10, with sister, Nancy, age 12, brother George, age 8, sister Polly, age 6, and sister, Avarilah, age 3. Fact: Appeared in 1870 Campbell County census, Campbellton district, age 21, with wife, Lucy and one son, Oscar, age 2. His father and mother, John and Sarah Ann, lived in Campbell County also, in the Fairburn District, with George age 18, Molly age 16, and, Joseph, age 9. (Joseph, called Joel, was supposedly born in Campbell County but that is not proved as yet).

Now, if we put just those facts together in a narrative form, we have something like this:

William Jethro Fowler was born Nov. 20, 1849, probably in Gwinnett County, the first-born son of John Fowler and Sarah Ann Norris Fowler. Most of his youth was spent in Gwinnett County in the neighborhood of his relatives and grandparents, Nathan Fowler and Elizabeth Peppers Fowler. (proof from census records and the will of Elizabeth's father, John Pepper(s)).

Sometime after 1860, when William was about 11, the family moved to Campbell County and settled in the Fairburn area. John was a farmer (census records) and lived in Fairburn with his growing family which now included William, Nancy, George, Mary Kate, and Joel. ("Molly" and "Polly" were nicknames for "Mary" and I found out from family members that William's sister was named Mary Kate.) A younger sister, Avarilah, born about 1857, is not included in the family at this time, so it assumed she died young. (This was not unusual in those times. Diseases and flu took terrible tolls on our ancestors.)

In 1866, following the end of the Civil War, William met and Married Lucinda Caroline Owen(s) of Meriwether County (proof from Meriwether marriage records which show Dec. 22, 1866) and they set up housekeeping in the Campbellton Community out by the Chattahoochee River (proof of location from old Campbell County maps). Their first son, Oscar, was born in September of 1867 (Oscar's tombstone and census records prove this)...." And so on.

Now. Do you see how much more interesting the story is than just the facts? I have taken the story all the way to his death in 1919 in Hightower, Ala., but I won't bore you with all the details.

You can see what research materials I used to get my information. Other information was taken from old newspaper stories, interviews with family members, and court documents. Church records also yield a lot of family information. There are books available in libraries and genealogical libraries which record church minutes back in the 1800s. The fun is in assimilating the facts and then putting the story together.

Now, I want you to start your family story. You can do a lot with information from your family members and tombstone information, just for a start. And when you hit a snag you can't prove but have a hint to go on, it's perfectly legitimate to say "It is said that..." and put what you think is right. Just be sure to note that the information lacks hard proof.

You'll notice a lot of my information was taken from census records. Next time I'll tell you how much fun that is, how to find the records, and how to interpret them. I'll also tell you a very strange story. Until then, keep "finding your folks." They do have some wonderful stories to tell.