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A little reading....

Question: How many of your have received correspondence similar to this in the course of your genealogy research? 

"Please send me everything you have on the ______ family. Thank You."

I have on quite a few occasions. All of you will probably agree that this request is an impossible task. The time and expense alone would be staggering. Those of us who have been researching our various family lines for many years would agree that it has been a labor of love. A difficult, time consuming, frustrating, expensive, obsessive, wonderful, fulfilling, journey. 

Those of us who take our research very seriously, know that it is the culmination of our own efforts, finances, blood, sweat, and tears, and of those who had begun the research many years before us. Bearing this in mind, perhaps you can understand and sympathize what is is to be more than a little protective and "stingy" for lack of a better word...with our work.

As some of you may know, I started the Seitz mailing list at Rootsweb in 1998, and put this site online in June of 1999 as an effort to share what I could, and encourage a cooperative effort on all of those who are researching families of this surname.

The site was online about a year or so, but it went from being a fun, labor of love, to nothing more than a burdensome chore. 

While I had a fair number who were interested in sharing, and did so, I knew there were also many who were visiting the site but not interested in contributing. 

Perhaps it is partly my fault. I have so many people to thank over the years for their kindness and generosity, and hopefully they know that I appreciate them and their efforts. I began my own research over 25 years ago, I have been online in the last 7 or 8 years. I have undoubtedly corresponded with literally hundreds of researchers who I have exchanged information with. I have information that I don't even know who sent it to me, and the sources for it.

So to those of you, who have shared, and who feel a bit slighted, I am sincerely sorry. It was unintentional. I recently began constructing a list of those people who made notable contributions to our collective research efforts, and even though the odds are quite good that I have left someone out, I am going to post it anyway. I realize that appearing on a "list of contributors on some obscure website" is probably not enough, but hopefully it is a start. It will be an ongoing list.

I have had some very wise people tell me things like, "There are those who give and those who take." and "You give some people milk, and before you know it, they want a cookie." 

Well, one thing I do know is that somewhere out there, there is a frustrated researcher who is staring at a genealogy brick wall. They have exhausted their leads and available resources and have given up. If I had something on my hard drive, or in one of my file cabinets, or in my stacks of stuff on the floor, that could help them break the code, I'd want them to have it. I myself have my own brick wall and someone out there has the one clue I need to get past it.

Sharing works. I know it does because I have had the pleasure of helping a few people get past that wall of theirs, and that's a good feeling. That's what family is for right?

I heard a story many years ago, of a Seitz researcher who had amassed a large amount of info through many years of work. After his death, his family, not realizing, or appreciating what he had, threw away all of his notes and papers. Who cares right?

I do. We all do. Dig out your Seitz census abstracts, marriages, land records, cemetery abstracts, pictures, and whatever else you have, and do something with them so they will not be lost after you pass on.

This site is my way of doing so. Hopefully it is of some use. There is already a fair amount of Seitz info online in various forms. Some of it is quite good, and helpful. Much of it is erroneous, and nothing more than regurgitated info that has been passed around and around. Hopefully, this site will not make things worse. 

I have had a couple of people question my motivations. No, I am not interested in writing a book on the Seitz family and am using this site as a means to collect information. I am not looking for glory in the Seitz research circle. I just want to help.

If I was smart I'd be concentrating on my full time career, my part-time business, and my immediate family, rather than my obsession with genealogy, but I haven't always done what is good for me. :)

Thanks for taking the time to read along.   Barney L. Sitz