Newman Virginia Roots

I started researching my family when my grandmother started telling me stories about her family. I was 14. I loved the stories! I started keeping track of family records and especially remembering the stories. At 16 I spent 3 months collecting stories from all four of my grandparents; recording them on cassettes and then typing them.

I went on to study Family History at Brigham Young University. That launched more than 25 years of responding to “Can you help me find my family?” questions as well as researching my own family. The best part of helping people was telling them a story about their ancestor–from the records that we found together–and then, like Sherlock Holmes, explaining how the information in the record told the story.

Working with Julie Cabitto and Wade Newman has been so much fun. We all ask questions about the records. Why did they build that? Is that a normal cost for buying a horse? What event were they commemorating when they took that photograph? All of which lead to new discoveries and new conclusions.