52 Ancestors 2021: Week 47: Thankful

I could really write a long drawn out blogpost for this topic - but I think I've written enough blogs over the last year that you guys have a real good idea about the ancestors I'm truly, truly thankful for. I'm thankful to each and every one of them because without them, I wouldn't be here; but with how often I've written about Mary Janella (Nally) Thompson, Charles Clarence LaRue, Joel Gibson, etc... you can tell, those are truly the ancestors I connect with. 

I know 'Thankful' is also an old name that appears in many family trees. I don't have an ancestor named 'Thankful,' that I'm aware of, anyway. There is a Thankful Nettleton in my tree but it's a distant relationship. I also had a Thankful Beach in my tree at one point, I think. If I remember correctly. I think that was a line of my tree that I had went up the wrong one so I deleted it out a long, long while back. 

I guess the number one person I'm thankful to is my Great-Grandmother. Without the curiosity of wanting to know if she knew any of her Great-Grandparents, I'm not sure I'd have ever been interested in knowing my family tree. I have to thank my Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Charles, Aunt Mary, and my own parents for pushing me to stay interested in genealogy. 

I'm thankful that I'm one of the 'new age' genealogists that not only knows how to do genealogy the old way, but knows how to utilize technology to help me find what I need to find. I'm thankful that I can work this job at home and still have the time to take care of my Mom and have time to myself. 

I'm thankful for all the genealogy friends I've made over the years. I'm thankful to have so many amazing genealogist co-workers all throughout the world that are so kind. I'm thankful to have local libraries that are big into genealogy and host programs often. 

I'm thankful to have best friends who humor my genealogy passion and buy binders from me, or have me help them do their DNA. One of my best friends even bought me Blaine Bettinger's book on DNA last year for my birthday. 

I'm thankful my roots go back deep in the town I live in and that my family ties into just about every other family here. It makes genealogy fun, but easy at the same time. There's always something interesting to find when researching my own tree or someone else that's a native to this area. Our history is rich and fascinating. 

I could go on and on about things I'm thankful for, truly, I can.. but I think this is a nice, short gist.