Peggy Patrick

Peggy is a baby-boomer born and raised in Iowa. Her grandfather and father were farming when she was born, but the family moved to Des Moines when she was four. Peggy has lived in Texas and California and has now returned to Des Moines.

She is currently free-lancing in the legal support services field. She has been a legal secretary, paralegal and electronic document project manager. She has certifications in database use and training and is an Honored Member of The Stanford Who�s Who Black Book, 2010-2011.

Researching and writing in her legal background, a love of the origins of anything, and a desire to continue learning new things are all perfect complements to genealogy research. She began searching her paternal line back in the 1970�s and has now extensively searched all four family lines.

She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), indexes records for FamilySearch.com, is a Find a Grave photo volunteer, and is always on the lookout for other genealogy volunteer efforts.

In spring 2011, Peggy participated in an Iowa Girl Scouts event as a vendor offering education and information on genealogy research. She also devotes a great deal of time each month to attending networking events where she is able to educate others on the importance of family history.

Peggy currently spends a lot of her free time on genealogy efforts for others. The birth of a granddaughter has inspired Peggy to continue endeavors with her own family history to ensure the children to come will know their heritage!

Articles by this author

• Case Study Excerpts: Expect The Unexpected
• Fact Or Fiction? Understanding & Overcoming Errors In Genealogy Records

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain perpetually a child. For what is the worth of a human life unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history? � Marcus Tullius Cicero

Midwest heritage, including Native American, and pioneer cemeteries. I also am interested in combining today�s technology with genealogy research to prove actual heritage and to connect current living descendants.

A grandfather died shortly after I was born and I always wondered what he was like. The other 3 grandparents were a very large part of my life as a child and teenager. They had all passed in my early adulthood, but the desire to know their origins was instrumental. My maiden name is Hoover and I was told we were related to Herbert, so there was a desire to know more about that. My love of origins and research, to know more about my family, and the miniseries, Roots, all pushed me to this lifelong pursuit!

While trying to find information about a grandfather for a friend, I discovered the grandfather had another family after divorcing my friend�s grandmother. It appeared the grandfather may have intentionally given incorrect information on census records. When I first began the research, it appeared there were two men with similar names, but I was never able to find records for two men at the same time. Eventually, I located a descendant from the second family who said there was a family story that grandfather had another family. The two families now know about each other and will hopefully be arranging a meeting in the next year.

I have a passion for Egyptian history during the time of the pharaohs, especially King Tut. Although there is some record of his paternal heritage, I would want to know about his maternal heritage. I would also want to use modern technology to prove what is not known and to track present-day descendants.