Happy Census Day, my fellow genealogists! I had such a wonderful case of genealogy serendipity this morning that I just had to share it.
As most of you know, the images are loading on the official website VERY slowly. A tip that was spread around Twitter was to try downloading the entire enumeration district instead, and then do your searching offline. I downloaded one entire ED from a city I was certain of the address, and then accidentally downloaded only the first page of another district. I figured I'd look at the single page while I waited to download the rest of the district.
The very first family? My biological great-grandparents. How's that for genealogical serendipity? Oh! And the second person in the family had supplementary questions! How incredibly lucky!
The majority of my research is my adoptive family. I've been with them since I was five days old. They are my family. But I've recently started to research my biological line. It's been very overwhelming and emotional in a way I didn't expect.
In the weeks leading up to the census, I've been stressing out about who to search for first. My biological family found me instead.
This is not only an inspiring anecdote, it's such a happy accident that it makes me shiver. It's amazing to think of your biological great-grandparents waiting there, all these years, to be accidentally downloaded.
ReplyDeleteTechnology and humanity are twin miracles.