The BBC has an intersting article, Unlocking memories from the past by a reader in Australia, Patrick Flinn, discussing his genealogy research and getting to know the family he never really had a chance understand.
Excerpt from the article:
This voyage of discovery to my family started on the Genes Reunited and Scotland’s People websites, these were the most accessible sites to navigate through from my home base in Australia.
I started with the known quantities, maiden names, weddings, deaths. Luckily, for me the Scottish Birth, Death and Marriage certificates hold a wealth of information for the uninitiated. Names, places and times have all become visible.
Genealogy has given me a family I never knew I had, none of my ancestors was ever well off, probably the opposite in fact, but they had interesting and varied lives.
How many people can say they have two comb-makers in their family! Well, I can.