First Post, 2.0/ What Is Ups and Downs of Family History

As I mentioned in the title section, this blog will cover an eclectic mix of cemeteries, genealogy, Bipolar Depression, mental health, mental illness, DNA, history, First Nations (aka Native Americans), military history, and World War II. I will blog about sub-topics or other topics as they arise.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and none of my comments or responses should be taken as medical advice. If you need medical advice, please contact a medical professional. If you are having a medical or mental health emergency, please call 911 or seek medical assistance.

Disclaimer 2: I am not an attorney nor are any of my comments intended as, nor should they be construed to be, legal advice. If you are having legal issues, please contact a legal expert.

A bit about myself. I suffer Bipolar Depression, Type I.  I thought I would get that out-of-the-way first (well, after the disclaimers). I also do a lot of genealogy research, a mix of my own and helping out friends and family. There are many blogs about genealogy and many about mental health/illness, but few they cover both. I will go into more detail in future posts. I chose the other topics because they interest me.

Cemeteries are in the blood. My paternal grandmother’s family runs a number of cemeteries and funeral homes in and around North Carolina. Cemeteries also play a role in genealogy. Sometimes the only information you will find are on headstones, in cemetery records, or obituaries.

DNA is a new passion. I have tested with several DNA companies and the results were interesting.

First Nations, or Native Americans, has always been a fascination. We had the usual story of Native American heritage. Several of the DNA results verified it on my mother’s side.

Military history in general and World War II in particular started as a passion in 6th Grade. I read Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo by Ted Lawson. His story and the story of the other 79 Doolittle Raiders were an inspiration to me and instilled me a love for military history.

I am dedicating this post to a number of people. First, my daughter. She’s an inspiration and an awesome young lady. Next to my family, both my birth family and my “adopted” family (church, friends, Breakthrough colleagues, etc.). A big thank you to Dr. Barb Andres, PhD, for the blog title. I was stuck on what to call it and I mentioned it to Barb. She didn’t have to think about it, but immediately came up with the Ups and Downs of Family History when I explained I wanted to link genealogy and mental health. Lastly, to Lisa at BillionGraves who unknowingly gave me the nudge needed to post.

Copyright 2013 Paul Smith.