Sherri Bradley

I've been volunteering with genealogy projects and societies since I began my online research. I started by hosting a county in the KY Archives, then moved on to a county site - and my involvement took off from there.

I've served as the KY File Manager for the USGenWeb Archives, as the County Coordinator for several KY counties, as the KYGenWeb State Coordinator and currently serve as the National Coordinator of the USGenWeb Project.

Articles by this author

• Volunteer Projects Help Family Historians

"In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep, to know our heritage - to know who we are and where we came from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness." -- Alex Haley

My main genealogical interest is the United States, it usually depends on which family I'm working on as to where in the US, but Kentucky is at the top of the list.

I've been researching our family history with my mother for many years, but 10 years ago got really serious about it. The last ten years have made me an expert at internet researching and tracking down elusive family members that just didn't want to be found. Many of the techniques that I used in my research have found their way into this article so hopefully they'll help others, too.

The most surprising genealogical find was that my 3x great grandfather, whom we'd always assumed was an only child, actually had a sister and 7 other half-siblings that had traveled from France to the US at separate times. The sister actually lived in an adjoining county and no one ever knew that either one had any family alive, much less residing that close!

Family history of historical greats doesn't interest me. I'd much rather be trying to track down that of our family.