I've been interested in genealogy since I started helping my mother with our family tree back in the mid-1970s.

As an American Army brat who has lived overseas extensively since college, I feel acutely the value of connection to one's roots. My family tree research now includes my American, English, German, and Scottish roots, along with those of my Austrian wife of 10 years, whose farming family has been in the same town and environs since at least the mid-1700s.

I'm also on ancestry.com and 23andme if you think we may have some family connections. Father's side is from Germany, England, upstate NY, AR, MO, MS, NC and TN. Surnames include Kempster, House, Bilheimer, Eck, Lehr, Pitts, Hall, Mueller, Shaffer, Sanders. Mother's side is from England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, NH, ME, MA, CT, CA. Surnames include Campbell, Brooks, Potter, Chamberlain, Browning, Clark, Hale, Gould, Hinckley, Lee

I've been interested in genealogy since I started helping my mother with our family tree back in the mid-1970s.

As an American Army brat who has lived overseas extensively since college, I feel acutely the value of connection to one's roots. My family tree research now includes my American, English, German, and Scottish roots, along with those of my Austrian wife of 10 years, whose farming family has been in the same town and environs since at least the mid-1700s.

I'm also on ancestry.com and 23andme if you think we may have some family connections. Father's side is from Germany, England, upstate NY, AR, MO, MS, NC and TN. Surnames include Kempster, House, Bilheimer, Eck, Lehr, Pitts, Hall, Mueller, Shaffer, Sanders. Mother's side is from England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, NH, ME, MA, CT, CA. Surnames include Campbell, Brooks, Potter, Chamberlain, Browning, Clark, Hale, Gould, Hinckley, Lee