2008

As the old year ends, I want to mention a few exciting family history related things that happened in 2008. The countdown...

3. The switch to Legacy software was a great decision. It works the way my brain works and adding sources is so easy there's no excuse not to. Love the help disks that came with it. And the people who created it all seem like a really nice bunch of people, too. A real bonus in this age of people who feel entitled to be grumpy all the time.

2. Adding the Davis branch to the family tree. I will post sometime in the future about how you should always listen to your mother, even when (or especially when) it comes to little tiny family history clues.

1. A tie. When you have an ancestor named John Jones, any information you can find out about him is wonderful. I've known he died at the old soldiers home in Leavenworth, Kansas, for many years. But this year I found the possible location of his grave on the Internet. I got on the phone and talked to a young man named Mike, probably a volunteer, and when he confirmed that this was indeed John's final resting place, I got goosebumps. Another story for another day. But probably the most wonderful thing was finding more information on his wife, Alvina Davis Jones. She died when she was about 51 years old, in 1896. I don't think her death was probably recorded in any official way. But thanks to old newspapers, I was able to find out when she died and why. Yet another story for another day.

I'm looking forward to many more family history adventures in 2009. I have a whole list of goals...maybe I'll post them tomorrow.