An introduction

Welcome! My name is Nikki, I live in Seattle with my family and I'm a medical librarian. I've been interested in genealogy off and on since I was in high school. No small part of this was due to realizing that I was the only biological grandchild of all four of my grandparents and that if I didn't start getting the names, dates and details of our family, no one else would, and sadly so very much has been lost in the passage of time already.

5 generations figures prominently for two reasons: I am the fifth generation born in California (my 3rd-great grandparents are included in the one and only 1852 California state census!) on one family line, and our son is the fifth generation of only children. When I compare this to my husband being one of nine step, half and full siblings combined it's quite the contrast. My family may be incredibly small, but we're still here on the way to somewhere!

I have been absolutely floored by the wonderful connections I have made with distant cousins as a result of searching for surnames online, some of whom have been searching for our tiny little family branches for many decades without much luck. Their generosity and kindness in sharing information, pictures and resources is amazing and while I don't have all that much to offer in return I'm hopeful that by blogging a little at a time we can all learn more together. Thanks so much for coming along for the ride!