Cute. Unfortunately you left out some symptoms, such as:

Insomnia - Patient cannot sleep due to building 'mental' trees and trying to 'dream up' ways to fill the branches with records of family.

Obsessive/Compulsive orginizing of papers, records and photos
just to name a couple of more. LOL
Barbara

Hey there, I especially love the "swears at mailman when he doesn't leave mail" part. Sounds awfully familiar! Giggle.

Magic....I can relate to all the symptoms above with a few more added in...ie; unexplained laughter and waving of arms above head.

Then on some occasions ; a long term of silence followed by,wave after wave of tears, and when anyone asks you cry more and say your so happy.

The only cure I know is for lots and lots of tender hugs,(from someone who loves you ...crazy or not..) with a cup of tea , just to keep you going. cheers Summer

Funny, I have these very symptoms too - especially the one about the telephone account!!
I also do not want to cook lunch or supper or go shopping!! We are a very special breed don't you think?
Bye for now.
Agnes

You forgot the backaches from being at the computer and not wanting to stop, because your husband may want to surf the net and you would lose your place in the genealogy database you are looking at.

I have just began this madness and can relate to all. My husband is resentful of my computer time but is happy about my new found hobby. I am lacking in the organizational department- could have some advice on that. sandyutesch

The Cemetries is mine. Well other things too, but people couldn't understand why I wanted to go to them.

Organizational. Well I also do the flylady thing and it starts with 15 mins a day.

I dreamed about this last night actually.

Take a file box, They cost about 10 dollars. they have hang files, but I just get the manilla ones for my regular files.

Anyways. Take each one fill it with the name of the family. Like my husbands family. One for his brother, one for hubby,and so on. Any info you have for each family stick in their file folder. You can turn one folder up on end and divide the families. Say it is for Jerrell I would put one on end with husbands, fathers name on it or his. Ok haven't done it yet and it isn't sounding as great as it did it the dream. Heck it was all color coded and everything.

Now for the computer I have done that. I have Jerrell as a folder. Inside of it I have James Inside of his I have Charles. Insides Charles I have 3 folders for each of his 3 children. Which I need to add 1 more because we have heard he had a daughter named bennie sue. We don't know anything about her though. Inside Each of Charles kids I have one folder for each of their children. And down to our children. It seems like a pain, but I know were to find it. Unless I run into a problem and it all gets deleted. Anyways we each have a folder so when we have info on a person we can add it.

Then after all that you get family tree maker and make sure you copy it enough so you don't lose data, you keep all paper records and each person has their own folder.

Oh we must not forget everybody will look at you when you start refering to people, you never met before finding genealogy, as cousin. It doesn't matter if they are 4th or 7th or 1st hehehehe they are cousins. heheh

God Bless
Anna

Argh... it's an epidemic

I too have these symptoms including some mentioned by other 'sufferers'
I deal with my cravings by enjoying my 'habit' at small periods daily

myheritage.com has a nice family tree and organizer and free!!! if it's on the internet it doesnt go down unless website is destroyed lol!! guess that aint too funny ...other than that organize and fire-proof safe(and not all of those work so gr8)

my husband and I had the midnight email checking symptom as well as others mentioned. Living in Australia and him being from the USA if either of us woke in the middle of the night we would be looking for emails from his parents and other family members and you can imagine what the phone bill was like. I agree strongly about it being contagious and you don't have to be in close contact.omg.
Cheers.

I've been looking for dead people for many years, with long gaps between finding any, then the sudden enthusiasm to get back to the Tree on my computer and add them. Now that I have hundreds of people, the younger ones in the family have decided that Auntie is the font of all wisdom, and throw curly questions at me at all times about great-grandfathers. I've now got a USB thingy, and have saved everything to that, so I'm not scared of losing years of work. Now to print it all out. When I have time.

Special friends are those who share your delight at finding that long lost bit of the jigsaw. When you can put a name to an old sepia photograph, or when you find an address on a cert, then wow!! you find out the building is still standing....off you rush to take a photograph.

(((((((((Hugs)))))) to all fellow Family Researchers, around the World....Truly You are Special Folk. Blessings Summers

I thought of another one a couple of nights ago. I'll just do a couple of hours after dinner tonight, you think. Then you finally look at the clock, and it says 2 am!

We all need kitchen timers near the PC hey?

I'm new to this site & couldn't help but smirk at allycat's description of the symptoms of Genealogist's Pox. I suffer from every symptom mentioned but has anyone mentioned the adrelin rush we get when you confirm a new ancestor, or when you find another family member you have never met who is also researching their Family Tree & You are able to provide 100 - 300 years of Ancestory.

Anyone suffering from this strange malady should, perhaps, take the advice of Mark Twain, who suggested that they go into politics and let their opponents dig up their ancestors for them.

Anyone suffering from this strange malady should, perhaps, take the advice of Mark Twain, who suggested that they go into politics and let their opponents dig up their ancestors for them.

I also curse my email inbox when I don't receive contact from another researcher asking or giving info on my tree. Oh the thrill of another relative added.

This is CONTAGEOUS ! My aunt had this affliction for over 40 years and she gave it to me. Uncle is about to give me her research (2 HUGE genealogy books and letters, charts, forms, and records by the box !) just so I will quit trying to pick his brain !

You're all the same as me, except I carry a pen &
pocket note book for the sudden " look-ups " that
pop into my head suddenly,no matter where I am or
what I'm doing. Of course, it does impress the boss
a lot, good thing he never looks at the note-book!

Well I have stumbled on to something here. I was just surfing for more info on my family and I came across this site. I have working on genealogy for about 11-12 years. The last two years have been like major addiction. My husband is saying "what does it matter they are dead." He just does not understand at all. But I did not know it was a real illness. Can I get disability for this? Becasue then I could search ALL the time and still have an income. You know to pay for the internet and phone and the ancesrty.com and gas for the cemetary and well the list is never ending just like the people. Take care and good digging to all!

Don't forget the phone calls we make to people to whom we have never spoken to beginning with "Your'e going to think I'm a crazy person, but are you related to ......"

caught the bug-just barely started on ancestry.com but feel as if i'm probably adding alot of misinformation- where do you recommend i start learning about genuine geneology research
melissaanderson

I only really started doing this because I had too much time on my hands, now I don't have enough! I've only been doing it a few months but its great to find over 200 years of my family in the same district as i live just frustrating to find a dead end when I can't find one persons birth or death record.

Over the past few months I have cried tears of sadness at a newspaper article and laughed tears of joy for finding another family member.

24 hour days are just not long enough !

These are all so true!! My family avoids me because all the stories I relate are about strangers, and they're all dead! Yes, I began calling them all, even the living ones, cousin.
But my heart is filled with "pride" and sometimes longing, to have lived among the people who's world we now seek. Now, that was living!

Good Luck to all my fellow seekers

You've finally hit rock bottom when you get like me and suddenly people are not people anymore. They are potential family trees that you are dying to get started on... everyone has started avoiding me because like i don't have enough to do with my own family now i want to dig up dead people for other people.. and yeah, a cemetery is my favorite place. And all the relatives no matter how many times removed are cousins to me also.

my family also thinks I'm strange talking about people who are not people !!! & my husbnad is often dragged around any cemeteries I can find. I'm over in Ireland now on holiday but still looking, its my addiction

A little poem i wrote many years ago. Back in the sanil Trail days. And yes i am guilty of waiting for the postie.
This is a rteminder not meant to offend
Simply me just trying to get to the end
The family tree feels jilted
And is very badly wilted
Just as a garden needs irrigation
Our trees needs Information
Perhaps you can help out
And make it sprout
Please find the time to add
As my tree looks ever so sad
Without the necessary information
Our trees will be a Devasation
But with your help it will be a graduation
And i await in great anticipation.

Tip: To bring a journal to 'the top of the boards' for newbies all one needs to do is post a comment at the bottom.

I'd hit my first REAL brick wall and got frustrated and put all my research(OK it was just a couple pages of notes) in the desk drawer and quit...for about a day and a half. Once the pox gets ya, it's all over. I am amazed at all the journal postings and the fact that so many of us "poxies" are interested in history of our families. Keep the clever postings coming along with the "looking for" ones. Thank you.