Musings of a Genealogy-Nut

"Ambitious Katie was both teacher at a two-room school and Postmistress of the small town of Alvordton. She was desperate to get away from the small town. Then an handsome railroad "boss" stopped to get his mail whenever he passed through town. Soon the two were an "item" and a short while later, they went to the county seat to be married by a minister they knew. Katie was no longer able to work as a teacher OR a postmistress once she was a married lady. They traveled together and finally settled in the town of Adrian. There my father was born. Grandpa Gus took a job with the railroad in Detroit and they settled there for good."

As a very little girl, my mother had always wanted a lot of children. However, her health had made that all but impossible. She had numerous operations and miscarriages. Then along I came! It would be another 12 years before the second child, my brother, was born.

"Grandma Laura, why did I never get to know you? Only 2 of your 8 grandchildren were ever held by you.You were born and bred a lady, but with a strong mind of your own. You defied your parents to marry the son of immigrants a man who worked to become a successful and wealthy businessman to give you everything. You never saw either of your daughters marry or have children. When you died far too young, your family was never the same. Your husband followed in less than a year “of a broken heart” and your youngest daughter named her first child, me, after you. You are the first person I want to see in the after-life. I want that Grandma hug I never felt."

This is my mother's mother's mother...Great Grandmother Alice. I can only identify her because I know for certain that it is my Great Aunt with her and I can rule out any of her sisters as the second woman due to age. As far as I know, this is the only photo of her in my collection. None of my cousins seem to have any old photos so I guess this is it.

I create all scrapbooking pages on Photoshop Creative Suite 2.

Several older family members had explored a line or two of our genealogy for the Daughters of the American Revolution and I guess I thought that was enough. Then a cousin spent hour upon sleepless hour tracing his heritage back to ancient Scotland. Still sounded tedious to me.

Then, one day, I realized I was the last person alive who knew my grandpa well. I could NOT let my loved ones disappear!

I had Family Tree Maker, a gift from one of my daughters. I fired it up and started entering what I knew. I searched the items I knew of and got them pretty much all in one place. That took forever!!! Bits here and pieces there. Some conflicting.

Then I bought the new version of FTM and there was a direct link to Ancestry.Com. from each page. I started checking the facts I had. Then I started finding new pieces of the puzzle. There was a grandmother's date book, my aunt's high school scrapbook, a draft registration of a grandfather that linked me to his place of employment. From them I received a CD of the payroll listing my grandfather. The place still existed and I had made a friend there.