While I was preparing my post for Monday, which was an old post that I updated. It hit me it was over a year since I wrote a post about genealogy. This might suggest that it has been far from my mind. However, I have recently spent quite an intense month or two working on my family tree, which disproves this. As I have mentioned before I have been actively working on my family tree for half of my lifetime. Because my father blessed me with a relatively rare maiden name, it made the early stages relatively easy. Now there are nearly eight thousand people in my tree; however, even when things get difficult, my interest never dampens. Although I might take time away. This is the reason that today I will put forward the case of genealogy for spoonies.

Time needed

Genealogy is something that you can do at your own pace. Last month I spent many hours working on mine, but equally, other times I have not touched it for months. Since I started using Rootsmagic, available from Amazon everything has got so much easier because the software contains a place to list To Do’s for each person or family, and even a full-blown research log. However long I have been away I can see where I am up to with each person. I talk more about Roots Magic in this post when I explained why I switched software.

Style of working

I have two styles of working on my family tree. When my clarity level is good and I am not in too much pain I launch into a full on research mode. If I am in a bit of a flare-up or my concentration levels are struggling, I can chip away at something that needs doing but doesn’t need too many mental resources. This is one way that genealogy is great for spoonies.

Medical History

Because there is no definitive understanding of what causes a person to have Fibromyalgia or some other chronic illnesses. It is interesting, and potentially useful, to gather details about the health of our ancestors. As an example, I know that the Second World War greatly affected my Grandmother. Her mental health never recovered from the horrors she experienced. Trauma is being considered as one of the possible causes (or at least contributors) to Fibro. Is it possible that extreme trauma could affect someone to a point of changing their genetic makeup and the genes they carry forward? I am not a geneticist but a few generations after a World War cases of Fibro are on the rise, so I think it is a suitable question to ask. 

Genealogy is online

Another big selling point for spoonies is that these days we can do so much genealogy online in the comfort of our own homes. For many of us, the internet provides our entertainment and our social life so it is unusual for a spoonie not to have internet access. To get the best information possible, you will need to subscribe to a website. If you are in the UK Find My Past is an excellent starting point as I explained in this post. Naturally Ancestry are excellent too and I use both websites to do my research.

Genealogy on a budget

Naturally many spoonies are on a tight budget, I have scarcely any income of my own but fortunately Michael can cover the cost for me (I am helping research his tree too!) However, there are many free resources available to help you get started. If you would like me to put together some information about getting started on a budget drop me a comment below.

Genealogy for spoonies

Now I have put forward the case for genealogy for spoonies I would love to know if you are a spoonie who researches their family tree. Or maybe I have persuaded you to research your roots, that would be amazing! Either way drop me a comment below because I always love to hear from you.