Stray Branches of Our Family Tree

While this blog site is mostly a soapbox to tell the story of some of our ancestors that have not had their full story (or a wrong story) told, I also may slide sideways into other areas of genealogical interest that helps to eak out the little details that strengthen their biographies. Today's sideways roll is  My Personal Genealogical Holy Trinity : the three things I most want to find about an ancestor: 1. Photographs. I always look for photographs. I have a very large extended family, one of which is still has yearly reunions, and others of whom keep in touch via FaceBook. These are great ways to ask for more photographs, because there are never enough. With the apps available for cell phones, it is extremely easy to make copies without it ever leaving the hands of the owner. This is extremely important for many people who own valuable photographs. And it doesn't just have to be photographs of people. In the collage above, in the lower right corner, is a picture...

THIS LITTLE TWIGGIE... I've recently, at my grandson's request, started working on his family tree. I haven't worked on this branch since the mid-1980s, before even Steve Jobs knew what was going to happen with computers. Yeah, he wanted our phones to take photographs, but who would have thought thousands of courthouse records would end up on the interent? Who even dreamed of something remotely close to a thing like the internet? Or find-a-grave.com...every grave stone in the United States on the internet with a picture? Seriously? It is even branching out to other countries. Absolutely astounding! And FREE :-) There have been three books written about my grandson's paternal line, the first written in the late 1800s. I use previously written books as my jumping off point to lead me to primary sources. Much later than the Civil War, and I start getting foggy -- it's difficult to read the handwriting, and Colonial America is way out of my comfort zone -- British...