My Family Tree Research
Top photo: My family's home in Ridgewood, Queens, in 1901 (on the corner of Myrtle and Decatur, formerly Smith St.)
One of my most beloved hobbies is family tree research. I have always been interested in my family's story, especially on my father's mother's side (my paternal grandmother). I have become the family's unofficial historian, and, happily, my cousin's daughter Natalie, who is in her 30s, has also taken genealogy up as a hobby now. While I dabble in it, she documents everything officially. That is no doubt because she is an actual history teacher. Together, we have been able to trace our family to the 6th century AD in England, Scotland, and France.
Vocabulary
hobby/hobbies (noun) -- what people do in their free time for fun
family tree research (noun) -- study of family history
paternal (adjective) -- belonging to father
official/unofficial (adjective) -- formal/informal
officially (adverb) -- formally
taken up (phrasal verb) -- started to do
genealogy (noun) -- the study and tracing of family history
dabble (verb) -- take part in something in a casual way
trace (verb) -- find or look for along a path
Vocabulary Exercise: Matching
1. taken up a. not formally
2. genealogy b. father's
3. trace c. began to
4. unofficially d. look for/find
5.dabble e. interests
6. hobbies f. research into family history
7. paternal g. take part not in a serious way
Grammar Point
The present tense and the present perfect tense are used in the passage.
The present tense is either the base form of the verb or the base form +-s. Examples are:
I dabble
she documents
The singular pronouns he/she/it are followed by the simple form + -s.
The present perfect tense is the helping verb has/have is followed by the past participle of the verb.
I have been I have become
We have been
Grammar Assignment
Write 4-5 sentences about one of your hobbies. Use both the present and the present perfect tenses.
Explore verbs here.
4 comments:
Researching family trees is a very cool hobby! My favorite hobby is that I like to travel. I am happy going anywhere--whether it's a road trip to Upstate New York or exploring a new country. I used to be into crafting as a hobby. However, I find I don't have as much time to enjoy it anymore. My New Year's resolution was to read more so that has become my newest hobby!
One of my favorite hobbies is making different crafts. The idea of creating something, whether it be a decoration, piece of art, or something else, makes me feel accomplished. I enjoy making crafts because the activity itself keeps me entertained and when I am finished, I have something new. Recently, I purchased a Cricut machine and I have been using it to make different decorations and displays for my classroom. I like to give myself different projects to work on when I have some spare time.
I really liked this post, Professor Nenchin! My uncle is the historian in my family, which has taught me a lot about my own family tree. He’s found out some really cool stories through his research. My favorite story is that my ancestors came to America from Ireland on the same exact ship as one of our very close family friend’s ancestors. My uncle read a list of passengers on the ship and after further investigation he was able to confirm that our family friend’s ancestors definitely came to American with our family, even though we just know the family from our small town, not because of our ancestors. The cherry on top of this story is that one of my female ancestors became pregnant while on the ship to America, however she was not married. The only other single man on the ship was an ancestor of our family friend. It’s fun to believe we could have had relatives in common. However, there was a miscarriage. It’s so neat to discover stories about your family’s past. I hope you enjoyed my story, and I hope it wasn’t too confusing.
This is an interesting fact to learn about you professor. It so awesome how you are able to trace back your roots all the way to the 6th century AD. Its even more wonderful that you have a history teacher, Nathalie, in your family that is just as interested in your family history as you are.
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