National Genealogy Day is not to be confused with Family History Month. The latter is observed during the entire month of October. It was established by Congress in 2001 and has stuck around since.
National Genealogy Day, on the other hand, was created in 2013 by Christ Church, a United Presbyterian and Methodist parish in Limerick, Ireland, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of that specific church (which was not always associated with United Presbyterian and Methodist). Church records were brought together from Christ Church, Church of Ireland parishes, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). People were invited to come and research their ancestors in the church records.
The celebration of National Genealogy Day has carried on and has spread to other areas after the 200th anniversary of Christ Church. It's one day to focus on researching your genealogy and family history.
I am the family genealogist, and I don't do research on only one day, or during only one month, for that matter. What I'm celebrating today is that most of my family members know that I'm the family genealogist, and they know they can ask me questions about the family.
Recently my brother asked me about specifics on relatives who died in or who survived the Holocaust. I learned he was asking because my niece had to do a report on World War II and chose the Holocaust for her specific subject. I was able to point my brother to my annual blog posts on Yom HaShoah, where I list all of the relatives I know/believe died in the Holocaust, including one cousin who was murdered in Auschwitz. I also gave him details about several cousins who would be classified as survivors. I may have drowned him in information, because I didn't hear back again after sending a long message. I figure that meant my niece had enough for her report.
But I don't do research only on my own family, and even "extended family" members know who to turn to.
My uncle's wife is my aunt by marriage, but I've been researching her family for about 30 years. A few years ago her sister's daughter, who had previously shown little to no interest in family history, sent me a message out of the blue, asking whether I still had all that research I had done on her family, particularly her father's side. Of course I did! And I sent her copies of everything. She didn't use the information to do research per se, but to connect with people she was matching on DNA tests. They also shared family information, a lot of which I received, so now I've added more to her tree.
Of course I did research on my ex's family. Two different times after he was my ex, he called me because someone was asking him about his family history, and he knew I could do a much better job of explaining it. Once he had me on the phone, he just handed his phone to the person who was asking (the same person both times), and we had a lively conversation about his family.
A more unusual conversation about his family came when I had just landed in the Portland, Oregon airport and was waiting for my luggage. My younger stepson texted me with a question about his family, which I answered. Then came another text with a new question, and I responded to that. This went back and forth for close to ten minutes before I finally just called him and asked what it all was about. As with my niece, it was for a school project, and he knew I had the information. I told him that rather than giving him bits and pieces by text, I would wait until I was at my computer and send him all the information then, which worked much better for me than one dinky little text at a time.
So today I am celebrating National Genealogy Day and the fact that I have the opportunity to share family information with so many people!
