I was a young Missouri farm girl. We lived a distance from town...my mother couldn't drive, so the days got long. I was bored and wanted some excitement and expresssed this to my mother... Mother knew I loved to read, so when a magazine salesman came by she purchased a subscription to the Girl Scout magazine, The American Girl.. (believe that was the name)... Every issue was read from cover to cover... but one issue was the best of all, a story of a young farm girl (like myself) who found an old family cemetery on her family farm... She began to ask questions, read old newspapers, and researched the family any way she could... found descendants that lived near.. .and so began her quest... or the GENEALOGY bug!!... I loved mysteries (still do) and found solving mysteries to be challenging..... I read every Nancy Drew mystery available. Here I was living in the community of my forebears, wonderful!! Some of my forebears arrived in Missouri ca. 1800, w/ Daniel Boone...before the Louisiana Purchase; and before Missouri became a state... so why not??? And so my sojourn has not ended... over 30 years... Now I'm working my husband's line... the SWANGERs/SCHWANGERs and the MAY's.. all from Berk Co and surrounding counties of PA... A good time to announce the SCHWANGER Family Gathering which will be held Oct 18/19 in Harrisburg, with a side trip to Berks Co... If you connect or are interested in the gathering, please send me a note: EllieSS@aol.com