Oops - Middle School to Lifelong Passion

In 8th grade, my American History teacher, Mr. Richard Pearson (RIP) won a special place in the hearts of myself and a good friend.  In addition to being a fine-looking middle-aged teacher (hey, we were 14 and he was Tiger Beat cute!). My memories of him were of dignity and being "woke" before the word was redefined.  He looked out for diversity, he looked out for feelings, and he looked out for and stepped on any bullying that tried to rear its ugly head on his watch.

Sometime during the year, Mr. Pearson assigned the obligatory family history project. I now recognize that this was probably difficult for many of my inner-city peers, but sadly I wasn't aware of this as a teen.  I wonder if my teacher was - I have to think that given my other memories of him, he handled this in the calm and confident manner he handled the rest of his classroom. For me, it was a vehicle to share a newfound curiosity.  My mom's cousin Joe had compiled a family history on the side of my mom's paternal grandmother, and he and his wife had hand-typed what I imagine were several dozen copies of the same book, color-coded for each succeeding generation.  I was enchanted.

The family histories that were turned in to Mr. Pearson covered the blackboard on the side wall of our classroom.  I remember mine (I had copied at much of the book as I could, in "flow-chart" tree format).  I had several sheets of notebook paper taped together, covered in the names of relatives and ancestors in my own printing.  Green felt-tip pen, because we're Irish. What (laughs!)?

I couldn't have known that this penchant for recording and list-making that was developing would lead to a lifelong passion for research, reading, history and yes, list making! I dabbled in family history interest until sometime around the age of 30, when the internet was a baby and Ancestry was new.  About 5 years ago (this May) I made the lovely and enriching acquaintance of my 4th cousin, once removed, my collaborator and friend. We have made some progress on our shared lines, we have found things outside our shared heritage, and we have both coined our own shorthand for our shared passion and tried to play with the math that makes us "only" 4th cousins since, like most families ours was crazily connected and intermarried over generations. 

I couldn't think of a better way to spend my time - researching my ancestors and hanging with one of my best friends!  Thank you, Mr. P.