The Family Home: A Metaphor Demolished

My ancestral home, or one of them anyway, is being torn down. It might have already been demolished. I never lived there; other than my own grandfather, I never knew the people who did. When distant relatives wax sentimental about their memories (via Facebook), I am...

“Mother’s Two Brothers” (part 1)

I picked up these photos at the antique shop, on the same trip when I found “Grandma and Grandpa Shaws Wedding Picture.” Whether the Shaws photo was jumbled with these or part of the group is tough to say. Of the group, I started with the one that gave the...
7 Sites for Your Genealogy Toolbox

7 Sites for Your Genealogy Toolbox

Have you bookmarked these free genealogy sites? Of course we all have our favorite sites to retrieve the records that let us fill in the blanks on our family trees. Eventually, though, you want to go deeper and learn more about the people and their communities. Here...

Happy Birthday, Grandma Nellie

Now and then, I’ll come across a find that brings a little love to my heart for these people I’ve never met. Here’s one: My great-great grandmother, Nellie Cornell Smith, was born July 16, 1885, and lived to the age of 83. You can see a picture of...