I’m Vanessa Wood in Fairfield County, CT. You may have met me while doing genealogy research or we may be meeting for the first time on this website. My website is called The Record Lady as a nod to all the documents and artifacts I work with to tell family stories.
Vanessa Wood, Fairfield County, CT
My genealogy journey began on the back of a brown paper bag. When I was ten, my parents attended a family funeral and brought back a family tree. My father had cousins on his mother’s side of the family fill in what they knew about their kinship. I was hooked. I asked prying question of their elders to fill out the branches of the family tree.
Those early questions led to some interesting discoveries. One of my favorite stories came from my grandmother. She said her elderly grandmother wore a bonnet and a long skirt. When I saw great-great grandma listed in the census records, it was amazing to discover she was born in 1829. My father used to tell me about his great aunt Bette who smoked a corn cob pipe. I thought he was probably telling a tall tale until I found her grave marker had a photo of her with her pipe (see Find A Grave). It’s amazing how far back in time we can travel through talking with our living family! Sometimes the details we learn are surprising.
In entered the grown-up world of genealogical research while I was in college and before the Internet and I collected information from books and old fashioned microfiche at the large Family History Library in Los Angeles.
I’ve always had the desire to share genealogy with others. While working to unravel all the families who share the Pryor surname, I created a website and blog (tennesseepryors.com). The Internet is a wonderful place to engage others in your research and to collaborate on brick walls.
For me, genealogy is an opportunity to connect us with the stories of the past. It’s the means of making a connection with our ancestors and learning who we came from. Understanding when they lived makes history meaningful.
My goal is to use genealogical research with family stories and artifacts to tell a story. I now do client genealogy projects and write genealogical articles for publication [see list of published works].