All My Ancestors

It’s kind of pathetic to go to Ireland and be thrilled about watching a television show, but I did get to watch “Who Do You Think You Are?” and it was great fun. The family story for Griffith Rhys Jones was partially true and partially not so much true. Isn’t that the way [...]

I’m off to Ireland for almost 2 weeks.
My only other out of country experience was 3 weeks in the USSR in 1991–when Yeltsin was being elected.  Hopefully, Ireland won’t be changing governments or anything that drastic on this trip.
I’d like to say I’m doing genealogical research, because that would mean I’d been able to jump [...]

It’s amazing what you can learn by just listening at family funerals.
I learned where one of my aunts was from–didn’t think it was all that interesting until I started looking for her family on the census. Her birth name is not the same as what I always knew her by. And her mother [...]

Today I’m making another trip to the Texas panhandle.
Another of my dad’s siblings has died and I’m off to the funeral. This brother’s children were the cousins closest to my age. I found this picture of us the other day and sent it to his daughter. I told her I’d give a [...]

Today is my Dad’s 78th birthday–he died too soon for an Osborne.
After Mom died, Dad lived with my family and me for a couple of years. One of his “jobs” was to let Slim, our dog, in and out. Both being gentle spirits, they bonded. I’m pretty sure Slim took advantage [...]

This week I’ve been caught up in Chris Dunham’s Genealogue Challenges.
I recently read one genealogist’s statement on “why I do this,” meaning research one’s family, and he or she (don’t remember which) said in what I took to be a rather superior tone that they certainly didn’t do genealogy because they loved puzzles.
I must be [...]