My Genealogy

For the past 12 years I have have been researching my families history. The first few years I just dabbled with it. Then at the end of 1999 I started having equilibrium problems and panic attacks. These medical issues made me really dive into trying to find things out about my family and their medical history. I knew lots of things about my mothers side but when it came to my fathers side I was lost. My dad was adopted so we knew nothing about his biological parents. I really want to know about my dad's side since I look more like him and now my daughter looks just like me. I did learn that that I am part Cherokee Indian and that my great great grandmother walked the Trail of Tears and survived. Which really fascinated me. I have come to a dead end with this Cherokee research. But I will continue my search. I'm so driven about this. Searching for your Cherokee ancestors is difficult. Many records were lost when the Americans took over Cherokee lands and started building the railroads in 1838. The Cherokee Nation will not recognize you as a Cherokee if you can not prove it. Which of course I can't. So that made my search more difficult. I think I may also be Irish. I eventually did find my dads biological fathers family tree online and purchased it. My dad as an adult eventually got in contacted with his biological parents. He kept in contact until their passing. It seems he had more contact with his mother than his father. There really wasn't much of a relationship, just contact. I eventually got to meet my biological grandmother. She was very nice but just a stranger to me. Though I remember her being as tall as me, which would explain why me and my sister are tall girls. Especially since my mother and her family are very short. I never did get to meet my grandfather. We were suppose to back around 1991 or 1992 but he never showed up for the reunion. I was very disappointed. I did learn that they both lived to be in their 80's. My grandmother passed away around 2005 or 2006 and my grandfather passed away in 2000. I was lucky enough to have found his obituary online. I learned so much from that obituary. My sister and I are planning a trip to go visit the Cherokee reservation down south. Hopefully sometime this summer. She is as curious as I am about all this history. When I was a kid my grandmother on my mom's side would always tell us stories about her family. I used to think it was so boring and why was she telling me all this. Now I think why didn't I listen. They were great old stories. Just a word of advise. Listen to the elderly people in your family. One day you may regret not listening. I'll keep everyone updated on my progress.
Trail of Tears 1838