I don't regret the many thousands of hours I have invested over the years. I can't tell you how it feels to make the discoveries I never thought possible. In a way, it's like walking into  my ancestor's past.  Walking the ground they walked, entering their churches or finding their homes—these are experiences that can't be replaced.

In early summer 2005 I walked into a wrong cemetery in rural Missouri. Really wrong! I was looking for a cemetery that was two miles further up the road. It was a Fretwell grave I was seeking—at Midway Cemetery—but I had arrived at Deer Ridge Cemetery. At the entrance to the cemetery a fairly large stone informed me that the Deer Ridge Methodist Church had been there from just after the Civil War until 1966. I decided to walk the small cemetery even though I knew I wasn't where I needed to be.

I was stunned to find a monument with the surname FRANCIS on it. My third great grandmother's name was Nancy Jane Francis. She was OFD Wilson's wife. I had been wondering if a couple (Thomas and Penelope) who were buried in Palmyra, Missouri could be her grandparents. They were reported to have had a son named Levi. Nancy's father was named Levi. However, I had turned nothing up that conclusively proved who Levi's parents were. When I accidentally discovered this FRANCIS grave I knew the couple buried at Palmyra almost certainly had to be Nancy's grand parents. This grave was about midway between the ghost town of Union in Clark County and Palmyra in Marion County. Nancy and OFD Wilson lived at Union in 1850. This unexpected grave seemed to bring Palmyra closer to Union than I had envisioned in my mind.

I went to the courthouse in Palmyra the next day and inquired about a probate record for Thomas Francis. They had one. The next thing I am browsing through the original hand written records of the estate of a very wealthy man that had died 170 years ago. There it was ... Nancy's father had died and Nancy was named as the heir of her father's share of her grandfather's estate. Nancy inherited three slaves and some land and money. The next day I visited the town cemetery and found the graves of my 5th great grandparents, Thomas Francis and Penelope Payne.

That can't happen at Ancestry.com now can it? I love the thrill of discovery. Like I said, my chief source is Ancestry. However, nothing whatsoever can beat going to where they lived and died. Nothing can beat finding the old house, a photograph, or the town pump that still sits where a town is no more.