Born in Rockford, IL in 1954, I retired in Greenville, SC. I didn't really pay any serious attention to ancestry until the COVID-19 pandemic, when I was stuck at home with lots of time on my hands. I knew that my late father's family were Swedish farmers back to the 1700s. But I knew little of my late mother's ancestry. Turns out that through my mom, I'm descended from not one … not five … but TWENTY Revolutionary War Patriots! I've now traced some of my maternal family back to Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, and even Ragnar Lothbrok! Sadly, all of this information has been lost for many generations, and it's a real privilege to rediscover it—and Find a Grave is an outstanding research resource.

Born in Rockford, IL in 1954, I retired in Greenville, SC. I didn't really pay any serious attention to ancestry until the COVID-19 pandemic, when I was stuck at home with lots of time on my hands. I knew that my late father's family were Swedish farmers back to the 1700s. But I knew little of my late mother's ancestry. Turns out that through my mom, I'm descended from not one … not five … but TWENTY Revolutionary War Patriots! I've now traced some of my maternal family back to Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, and even Ragnar Lothbrok! Sadly, all of this information has been lost for many generations, and it's a real privilege to rediscover it—and Find a Grave is an outstanding research resource.