About Us

Hello! We are Mary and Tess, two sisters researching and blogging about our family history and genealogy together.

This blog covers our paternal side (Walczyk and Pionke). Our sister blog, Tree Quest: The Truth is Out There, focuses on our maternal side (Moore and Thompson).

Why Are We Here?

Our first goal is to share the interesting discoveries and stories about our experiences with the people we rarely get to see. Our second goal is to provide a research tool for the members of our extended family who are also genealogists. We think a blog provides an easily accessible central location for us to do this.

We decided to split the maternal and paternal sides of our family into two blogs because there was simply too much disparate information between the two sides. What we share is aimed at a specific audience and we didn't want the information for one side being lost among the information for the other. Hopefully, you'll enjoy both.

As for why we both are involved in this crazy and expensive pursuit of our ancestors ... just keep reading.

Mary

How can I explain my interest in genealogy? From the outside, it may seem I have an addiction, an obsession, a morbid fascination with cemeteries.

Ah, but that is only partly true.

The love of family history and genealogy is an intrinsic part of me. I grew up watching my mother draw family trees. Our home was filled with meaningful objects and old photographs that had once belonged to various ancestors. I heard tales of a revolutionary war soldier, Irish roots, double cousins, and going West.

But... What about my father's side? Yes, there were photos and objects, but his tree went to his grandparents and stopped.

I don't remember ever not knowing that we were Irish and German... but Polish?!? I was quite surprised to discover that our surname had been shortened from the Polish Walczyk. Frankly, I was not thrilled, either, as all I knew about Polish people back then were those awful jokes. (I now love my Polish heritage!)

Fast-forward to the new millennium -- as soon as my sister Tess told me how accessible genealogy had become, thanks to the internet, I was IN! She had been working on our maternal line for some time, so it was a natural division of labor for me to focus on our paternal line. Conveniently, I am situated right here in Cook County, homeland of our paternal ancestors.

I began out of curiosity and the need to learn more about my mysterious Slavic side. I love this research, the thrill of the hunt, the challenge of a complex puzzle. But as I learned more about the people inhabiting that tree, it became important to me that they be remembered. Therefore, I am passionate about sharing all I have learned with as many relatives as possible, however distant.

Tess

Why do I tramp through graveyards and spend hours straining my eyes looking through faded records?  When you put it that way, it's actually a really good question.

Genealogy is, to me, a giant puzzle waiting to be solved.  Who were my ancestors?  Where did they come from?  Why did they make the choices they did?  These are questions I want to know the answers to. I love challenges and genealogy is an never-ending, always fascinating puzzle waiting to unravel.

I was born to an archivist and a history buff with a mind like a razor.  Both had families rich in love and history and they shared endless stories with us about them. Childhood road trips included stopping at every single historical marker along the way. Visits to Chicago and Wisconsin included stops at former family homes, churches, schools, and special locations. And my mother, in particular, was always searching in graveyards and through records trying to find out more about her family history.  So, really, I think you could say I was bred to become a genealogist!

I started working on the family genealogy in 1998 when I discovered that census records were online.  I still remember Mom's excitement when she realized we could look at them at home! My mother shared her notes and memories with me and I began to hunt for her.  As I searched, my interest was piqued and I got the genealogy bug. A few years ago, our mother passed away and my brilliant sister volunteered to join in the family research (thank God!).  Working together, we've managed discover a large part of our family history that we hope to share on our blogs for all to enjoy.

I conduct most of my genealogy research sitting at a computer a mere 350 miles south of the Arctic Circle in Anchorage, Alaska.  My primary resources are Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org but they are just a starting point; I have found information in the most unexpected places imaginable. Genealogy helps while away many of the cold dark days up here but unfortunately tends to get in the way during the fishing season!  Whenever I head south, my sister and I indulge in genealogy road trips, graveyard visits, and harassing our relatives for pictures and stories of our families.  Genealogy is my passion and preserving the wonderful stories, memories, and mementos of our family to share with the generations to come is my goal.

Dedication

We'd like to take a moment here and thank our mother for the memories she shared with us and the love she inspired us with; these blogs are dedicated to her memory.

We'd also like to thank our wonderful great aunt, our cousins (of various degrees), and our father, who have so generously shared their knowledge, stories, photos, and documents with us. Without you, it would have been a struggle to even get started on this journey.