I've been researching my genealogy for about a year, and I'm amazed at the information that is available. The internet has definitely made it much easier for me to connect to relatives I didn't know I had, and their contributions to my work has been immeasureably valuable.

Besides my genealogy hobby and my day job and family, I am a self-taught artist. I grew up in an artistic family and have always been interested in history. I paint caricature portraits of long-dead and imaginary people. I have been concentrating on classical composers, recently completing a series including Beethoven, Brahms and Bach. Next, I plan to explore kings and queens of the Renaissance era.

Reading is something else I enjoy. My favorite book of the year is "Slaves In The Family" by Edward Ball. I discovered through my genealogy hobby, that my fourth great grandmother was a slave on a plantation in Virginia. She had a child with the owner of the plantation whose name was, John Faircloth. John emancipated the young boy (his son) named John Peter Faircloth. John Peter was my third great grandfather and he moved to Connecticut around 1840 and established his family and lived there until he died. The rest of my family is largely Irish, Polish and English, so this interesting mix of John Peter's lineage definitely has sparked my interest in learning about slave life in the early 1800's in Virginia. I hope to discover much more about this part of the family in the future.