Learning about our past can help to enrich our lives and connect us to real, live humans who are part of our family tree.

“Genealogy is the second fastest growing hobby in the United States, next to gardening,” said Lisa Vogele of Melton Ranch.

Vogele first got a taste for genealogy eight years ago with some preliminary work, and in 2005 developed a real genealogy Jones, when for a 50th birthday present she decided to research the life of her husband Mark's grandfather. In particular, she wanted to research his life during World War I, so the couple could travel there on vacation and retrace the grandfather's footsteps in the Alsace-Lorraine region where he had fought.

While looking for a place to stay on their trip in Riegel, Germany, she found a bed and breakfast with the name Vogele and e-mailed, asking for information.

“In the middle of the night, the fax machine went crazy. These German Vogeles had sent a family tree that showed that Lothar and Walter Vogele were cousins of Mark Vogele. The B&B was no longer open, so when we checked into our hotel room, Lothar came and took us to their house, where we celebrated Mark's 50th birthday,” she said.

“It was my best birthday ever. It was so exciting to go back to my ancestral homeland,” said Mark.

The next year, Lothar Vogele's two daughters came to visit Mark and Lisa in Snowmass Village.

Genealogy is much more than just building a family tree and learning vital facts about one's past relatives. It often results in human connections with others.

Since then, Mark and Lisa have planned their travel around genealogy and Lisa became serious about studying the subject. She is now a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the National Genealogical Society and is working toward certification. She hopes to become a certified genealogist by next year.

“It's a very rigorous training. You have do research in different repositories, including state records, archives and libraries. I make four to six trips per year to Salt Lake City, which has some of the best genealogy records in the world,” she said.

“Every trip we make lets her hone her skills. “ said Mark.

“I have traced Mark's family back to the 1600s and last year I helped my sister-in-law and mother-in-law stand on the old family farm in Ireland. I was raised by my mother and grandmother and didn't know about half of my family. Right now I'm working on expanding my own tree,” she said.

She also works with clients in her new business called Little Bird Research, named after Vogele, which means “little bird” in German.

Census helps with research

One of these clients is Villager Joan Bemis, who she met through the Snowmass Arts Advisory Board, which Lisa now chairs.

“Last fall I decided that I would begin a family tree as a surprise for John and his two sisters. During a conversation with Lisa, I realized that she did genealogy work and said that I wanted to be her next customer,” said Bemis.

She gave Lisa some vital information about John's mother's family.

Through Vogele's research for Bemis, a lot of coincidences were uncovered.

John and Joan Bemis met at college in Texas. Joan was born and lived in a small coal mining community in Iowa for a few years and then moved to Texas with her family.

John had moved around with his family, but had never lived in Iowa.

After 10 years of being married, Joan found a memorial card for John's mother, which mentioned the same town where Joan was born.

Vogele unearthed the fact that Joan's grandmother and John's uncle had actually lived in that small coal mining community at separate times. Also, both of their grandfathers belonged to the same fraternal lodge and must have known each other.

Another coincidence was that Joan's father, who had been a semi-professional football player, had a coach named Shug Thomas, who they discovered was a distant relative of John Bemis.

Now Joan is looking to answer the question of what happened to John's grandfather, who mysteriously disappeared from the census, without there being a recorded death or records that he moved out of the United States.

“I'm on the look out for Fred Thomas now. The worst thing about genealogy is that it's addictive,” she said.

In the process, the Bemis' have connected with many other family members.

Lois and Tom Sando of Owl Creek Ranch have been researching their relatives in Norway and Sweden. They are about to embark on a three-week genealogy trip to Scandinavia to meet distant relatives and explore their roots.

When they get stuck in their research, they have asked Vogele to help out.

“I started genealogy because I didn't know much about my mother's side of the family. My sister and I are the only ones left. The process has been fascinating. Now that we've found members of our family tree, they've come alive for us,” said Lois Sando.

Coming from a purebred Swedish background and referring to Tom as “a mongrel,” because his roots were in Norway, Sweden and Germany, she found that his side of the family tree was actually more interesting. For example, she discovered that one of his relatives came to America in 1630.

“We are both fascinated by doing the genealogy. You make so many connections with people through this work. We've connected with distant relatives who are also into genealogy and we will be visiting them on our trip. They are as interested in learning about our lives as we are about theirs. We are now also studying Swedish history of the common man. Why did they leave to come to America? Genealogy is about history and sleuthing. It's a total education,” said Lois.

The Sandos agree with Joan Bemis that it's a very addictive hobby.

“When we travel in the United States, we go to research libraries, where we can find more than we ever could on-line. There is nothing like going to a town and visiting the cemetery and history library. Last year in Milwaukee, we found the handwritten will for Tom's great, great grandfather. It was wonderful to hold it in our own hands,” she said.

Lisa Vogele had a similar experience.

“The real research happens when you're in a dusty basement going through files. I just held my great, great grandfather's will from the 1920s, that I found in a local historical society in Pennsylvania. It was very exciting,” she said.

“We have a great genealogy software that we use called Reunion for Macintosh users. We put all our information there including photos, videos and scans of records. Having a good software program, keeps you from getting too much paper. I highly recommend it,” said Tom Sando.

The couple also uses Genline.com, a Swedish subscription search engine for genealogy, to research relatives in Sweden.

Locals who want to start their own genealogy search can learn how to use Pitkin County Library's two genealogy databases, Ancestry and Heritage Quest, at the library's eThursday class on Thursday, May 27, at 5:30 p.m. in the meeting room. It will feature Proquest representative, Aimee Leverett, teaching how to search and navigate the two databases.

For those, who are not interested in doing their own research, Lisa Vogele or another professional genealogist can do it for them.

“I also put together family history books which make a nice gift. Depending on how much research people want to do they should start thinking about holiday gifts now. The books are also great for birthdays, family reunions and other celebrations,” said Vogele, who charges $45 per hour for her work in three, five and 10 hour units after a free initial consultation.

She advises people to do oral histories with aging family members before they die to get clues and information.

“First, begin with the census, then add in vital records and use other sources to fill in the gaps. Always try to work with original records and have two to three pieces of information that confirm the facts. Good sources of information are Social Security death index, land records and obituaries. I also recommend Ancestory.com, cindyslist.com, and familysearch.com.

Lisa Vogele can be reached at (970) 987-4096 or at lisa@littlebirdresearch.com.