Guess what? It's Olive Tree Genealogy website's 25th
birthday! Yep, I started my site in February1995. I'm not talking about this blog, which turned 16 yesterday. I'm talking about my huge website!I'd never have thought it would become so popular, or that I would still be working on it 25 years later! It's funny how life takes unexpected twists and turns.
After my husband died, and I was injured at school, and had not worked for a year (due to injuries), one of my good friends encouraged me to start a website on that new-fangled thing called "the internet".
I had no idea how to do that, but he just kept telling me "You're smart, you'll figure it out!" Well I'm not sure how smart I am, but I'm stubborn. Back in those days there were no editors, so I had to learn through trial and error, how to code a website using html.
I started small on a lovely battle-ship grey background (anyone else remember those days when all sites were battle-ship grey with no bells or whistles?)
I wrote up name on one ship's passenger list from the early 1600s that I found with my ancestor Cornelis Van Slyke's name on the manifest - and it got such a positive response from folks online that I put up another. And another. And another. I've lost track of how many ships passenger lists I have published on Olive Tree Genealogy's Ship section - hundreds if not thousands!
This is my most recent Olive Tree Genealogy logo. If you're interested, you can see the evolution of my tree image and a few images of the original look of the site over the past 25 years.
And that is how it all began. My project for 2020 is revamping Olive Tree Genealogy with a new look, a new navigation system, and more great (free) content!
Thank you to everyone for your support and encouragement, for visiting over the years, for offering ideas -- I appreciate all of you. I'm only 73 so I'm good to go at least another 25 years if you'll let me.
13 comments:
Congratulations on the 25th Anniversary of your wonderful website! Long may you continue with your genealogy passion and the generous sharing of information. It's wonderful to have such a well-respected and high-quality resource available, and much appreciated.
--from a fellow Canadian
Congratulations on 25 years! Looking forward to more tips and tricks from you.
You are amazing, Lorine! Congratulations on 25 years and here's to 25 more years of amazingness!
Lorine, Don't know how you keep all those balls in the air,but Congratulations.
Looking forward to more
Congratulations and Happy Anniversary! I remember the early days and how scary it was to go out on "the internet"! I remember your website from very early days, although I'm not sure which year I found it first. I bless those early Yahoo mailing lists with connecting so many of us genealogists and helping us find resources such as yours! God bless you! I wish you much success in those future 25 years!
Cheers, Peggy Apostolos
Congratulations and Thank You. Looking forward to continued reading for the next 25 years.
Congratulations on another impressive anniversary and thank you for your many contributions to the community.
Congratulations on another impressive anniversary, and thank you for your many contributions to the community.
You are a Blessing! Thank You
Happy Anniversary to you, Lorraine. May you enjoy many more years of finding and writing up great info for all of us. You have done a wonderful thing in sharing your knowledge and leading us on in our quest for our family histories. Thank you and God bless you.
Congratulations and thank you for your dedication to genealogy! HatCityMan
Your blog was very helpful to me in my research of the Elgie and other families living on "Fairview Farm" near Dresden Ontario. Thanks so much for your sound, well documented research.
Happy Anniversary! I remember checking out your site when I first started tracing my family and excited to see your progress.
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