People come to learn about their family history for many reasons: curiosity, health, old family stories, who they resemble, and a myriad other reasons. My story is a combination of those. I grew up an hour from Chicago, Illinois. My father and his family were locals. My mother and her family moved to Illinois from Michigan when she was a grade-schooler. As a child, I was fortunate to know all of my grandparents and three of my great-grandparents. In fact, Michigan was always my summer birthday destination to my great-grandparent's house. I didn't know then how important Michigan would become in my own family history journey. As a teen, I discovered the little bag of old "goodies" my mother kept stored in a cabinet. I kept my discovery of the trove a secret but eventually wanted to know what it was and why we had it. The bag contained a well-worn large leather wallet, weathered receipts for hay and farm merchandise, an herb recipe, and some old names and dates. My mother only occasionally let me look at them but I was hooked! My search has lasted a lifetime, and through the internet, has taken me to Canada and France and Belgium and Ireland and England and Germany and Poland and Scotland. The quest is everlasting. ~ Sally