Since today is my birthday (woo-hoo!) I’m sharing one of my very favorite finds with you!

To know her is to love her

I “met” Laura Broadway at the local antique shop. Sadly, this cabinet card lacks a photographer’s mark, but I’m guessing she lived in Illinois based on clues from other photos in the same group. Inconveniently, there are no guarantees that the whole pile of pictures all came from the same attic, so it’s really just a guess.

I made her acquaintance via her note penned on the back.

Dear Cousin Orpha I send you this my Photo as you know I am much Better looking than this is when you want the Milk to sour quick hold this Photo over it your affectionate Cousin Laura Broadway

(If you love this as much as I do, you can see the scan here.)

Don’t know about you, but I like her. She’s got vinegar–enough to sour milk, evidently!

The search begins

Of course, while poking around on FamilySearch, I couldn’t find her. Or rather, I found Laura Broadways, but I had no way to narrow down the field. The name was simply too common…

…which gave me the idea to look for Orpha Broadway.

This too was a guess–after all, cousins may or may not share a surname. None of mine are Heinemans, after all. That’s just how the apples fell from the tree.

However, I did find an Orpha Broadway. In Illinois, no less.

I do believe this tree bears more shaking than I have room for today, but this is a mystery I want to revisit, and soon…!

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“As you know, I am much better looking than this is”… [Tweet this]

Finally, a use for those unflattering photos! [Tweet this]

Also, I have a novel update!

Just in time for my birthday! Whispers in the Branches is in the final stages of production and may be available as early as next week. It’s received several warm endorsements, including this one:

In Whispers in the Branches, debut author Brandy Heineman pens a fast-paced, entertaining and ultimately touching story mixed with ghosts and genealogy and sprinkled with God.  Her delicious prose sizzles and soars as she introduces grieving Abby Wells who uproots her life in Ohio to search for family secrets in Georgia.  Abby encounters a haunted house, a feisty great aunt and a young, handsome caretaker in her new surroundings as she grapples with grief, the truth of her family’s past and the unseen presence of something deep and spiritual.

–Elizabeth Musser, author of The Swan House,The Sweetest Thing,The Secrets of the Cross trilogy

It’s exciting and humbling that I’ll soon have my very first book out there to offer to all of you. 🙂

What I know…

I have some good tid-bits for your this time–

The ebook edition of To Win Her Heart by Karen Witemeyer is on sale. Pretty sure this deal ends today, so if you want it, get it now. Karen is one of my favorite authors, and I loved this book so much!

Also, those of you on Twitter should know about two fun genealogy chats:

#GenChat meets every other Friday night (10 ET/ 9 CT). It’s hosted by pro genealogist Jen Baldwin, and covers a specific topic in a Q&A format. It’s a fun way to learn and get a variety of perspectives on how to approach various research opportunities.

#AncestryHour is a newer gathering held every Tuesday at 7PM Greenwich Mean Time, which is in the middle of the afternoon for USA tweeters like yours truly. This is an open-ended link-sharing and question-asking free-for-all, and is an especially good place for UK and Scottish researchers.

That’s all for now!