Joe Martinez has written a “Guest Opinion” for the Tuscon Citizen – Picture from the past – book releases genealogy bug, about how he was bitten by the genealogy bug:
Excerpt from the article:
Walking by University of Arizona’s Main Gate one day, I came across a book displayed in the Arizona Bookstore window, “Los Tucsonenses” by Tom Sheridan.
I went in, asked for a copy and just for the heck of it browsed through the index to see if I’d find any familiar family names. And there he was. Jesus Maria Celaya, my maternal grandfather. I then looked up the page referring to him and was hooked. I’d been bitten by the genealogy bug.
It’s a good story, and I have a feeling a lot of us are “accidental genealogists” (that’s the best phrase I can think of to describe) who are introduced to genealogy or bitten by the genealogy bug, quite by accident. It maybe that we see something like Mr. Martinez, or we hear a family story that we want to be true, but will prove one way or another, and it just kind of cascades from there.