Times Have Changed Since 1987

So, I gathered my information of what I did know.. I knew my grandfather's name and my great grandmother's name but aside from that I was clueless so I called my dad and asked a bunch of questions about his paternal side of the family. The results was a big fat zippo.. nada except only a few clues... He was from Georgia and the family is from the Macon area... Why not start with my mom's side of the family branch?

It would seem like a logical family line to begin with since I grew up knowing my maternal paternal side all my 19 years old life.... I didn't search because I honestly didn't think my Cherokee ancestors would have fought in the Civil War (boy was I wrong!) and I have a tendency to do things the hard way! and because I am nosy =) I wanted to know what was the big secret why my father never kept in touch with his family in Georgia all that much.

I spent all my summer researching at the local library:

• Pouring over many Census "Books"
• The Telephone Book (GA- Savannah, Macon, Atlanta areas)- writing down all the Amerson's phone numbers I could find
• Locating many books I can find pertaining to Civil War soldiers with the surname Amerson not really knowing if any of them were related to me. 

I spent several days calling long distance calling all the Amerson that I had numbers for .. I began with Savannah and Atlanta because they had they least names.  Got to Macon and about the 6th one down the list I had a hit on my fishing line... He turned out to be my Great Uncle! My grandfather's brother.  I also hit a Mother Lode too because he open a whole new world for me.  I now knew who was who....

So did I get that grant? no, I completely abandon the idea because by this time my college classes had began and college life begin then... When I had a chance I picked up the hunt again and again... years later.. Ancestry.com happen and I was able to see all the cool new ways to do research... still from the library or from my brother's house.  I didn't have access to the "net" nor did I had a computer that was capable of gaining access.

All this sounds ancient huh? ... Even Dino looks good lol....

Yep A lot has changed since 1987... I am so glad too! I wouldn't know a lot of the things I do now about both sides of the branches!