• About me, I have written so many, about me’s and deleted them. So today I decided, it’s perhaps time that I let this one stick.

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My Love for genealogy began while I was about 7 or 8 eight years, while sitting on my Grandfather Bill (William) Graham's lap, or at his feet, he loved a foot rub. He would always tell me about his war stories and the war days. He served our Country South Africa, as flight Sergeant, Air gunner and a navigator. My favourite part was, looking at his medals and the proud, yet sad part was touching the scars of his wounds that he’d received when his plane was shot down over Egypt. He would always mention, that he wondered what had happened to his friends that served with him.

My Aunt Yvonne, my Dad’s Sister, was married to a Mormon. They were amazing people. I was told that it was important for them to keep track of their genealogy and trace their ancestors. She used to whisk out her Mormon project book that she lovingly put together and would show me my Grandfather’s certificates, photo’s etc. but that wasn’t all that was in this very thick book. There were photos of family that I had never met before, and family that we saw often. I often would sit for ages going through this amazing book of hers, under her watchful eye of course, and in my mind, said that, this is what I would love to do one day.

I started my Genealogy Tree with my Aunt Joyce, my Mom’s Sister, here on the site Geni, in 2008.

My love grew immensely for my genealogy, when I had started reading my ancestors probates. This was the pedigree, I was always told about as a little girl, and it’s from this that a family’s true roots are built. I truly was humbled, by their struggles, their generosity and their immense, caring for other people. This has changed my outlook on life, hugely. Although I did grow up with all those values, and was taught always to give and be kind, and then reading, where this all comes from, had opened my eyes to a new respect and a world, of generations that are all long gone before us. It made them alive again. The people that were spoken of, when I was a child were literally now in front of me on paper.

History that I disliked at school has now become important, and a reality, if only they had used this concept to teach History, I think I would’ve got top score at every test instead of failing. My biggest, challenge was starting my Husband’s family, the ===Viljoen's=== the ===Du Toit's=== (which I am at a brick wall) and the ===Janse Van Rensburg's=== were started from a box photo’s we inherited.

My Mom’s family, the ===Grobbelaar's===
the ===Botha's===
and ===Janse Van Rensburg's===
were a huge challenge too, as all I had was a book, written from my Uncle Boetie’s (Gideon Jacobus Grobbelaar) memory. It was on a whim, one day, I decided to visit him, here in Cape Town. I took with me a hardcover book, and I asked him to write down all the family, as he was the oldest sibling of my mother’s siblings, as best that his memory served him. I was pleasantly surprised at how brilliant his memory was, except for tiny details, and it’s these tiny details that either throw us off track or make us more determined to find a probate and fill in the missing links. If he could hear me, thank him, when I find probates or fill in the missing links, as he died about a few months after he completed the book for me. Hopefully he is smiling down on us.

It has now become my desire, to connect people with their ancestors, to help find a probate, to fill in missing links, and for others to get to know, their family too.

I have reached a brick wall on my ===Graham=== side, but it hasn’t stopped me. It has just encouraged me even more. My ===Beneke=== and ===Oosthuizen===
lines are doing very well, all thanks to the hundreds of other people also working on these lines.

I have met amazing family via the probates and I have met amazing Curator’s that truly are very dedicated, and helpful, hence my desire to help others. I too have met long lost family and Cousin’s on this journey.

I have many places to visit and more people to see, just because of a Geni. Places now have become significant, and this will be a legacy to leave for my Children and Grandchildren, and I truly hope they will find this journey as interesting as I have. So if you see me adding an extra profile, or a probate, to your branch, it’s because, I always think of my brick wall, perhaps you too are stuck and need help. If I can give back some of the joy that I have received in filling my gaps, and links,to someone, then I am happy.