​Do people send postcards these days when they are on vacation?  I don’t but I know I still buy a few to remember the scenic beauty of a place and to use in my photo album.  Most people probably send a text or email home or post items on Facebook.  And what about the rare art of letter writing?  Remember how fun it was to receive a long letter from a friend or relative with all the news?  Now we use text, emails, or cell phones to stay in touch.  Perhaps these help us to be diligent in our correspondence.  Regardless of how our ancestors, friends and family kept/keep in touch, we need to think about capturing that information was we write our family histories.  Let’s look

​With the extreme heat, smoke, and humidity this week, I’ve had no excuse to put off gathering research and analyzing the information.  I’m particularly interested in finding my ancestor’s mother’s death record.  This record has eluded me and so I’ve turned to researching my ancestor’s siblings and families in space and time.  I know that the parent didn’t travel to the United States, so the mystery lies with her children and grandchildren.  By finding more information about them, I hope to find where this mystery lady is in space and time.

A recent trip to Minneapolis made me appreciate the less busy highways of my region.  With summer construction and more travelers, it was certainly a challenge navigating these roads.  It made me wonder about the travels and possible vacations of my ancestors.  Depending on where they lived and their social-economic status there were likely some trips to visit relatives or other states.  Some may have ventured back across the ocean to the homeland.  Let’s look at ways to find this information.

Do you spend time laser-focused on a specific branch of your family?  An individual?  Or perhaps you hop from ancestor to another as the spirit takes you? All of these are fine if you are capturing the source information so that six months, ten years or more you or a descendant will know where you got your information.  Let’s look at revisiting our research.

Wishing you all a very Happy 4th of July!  Enjoy time with family and friends and the warm days of summer!  Perhaps you'll have new stories to share in your family history!
​4th of July Facts and History—July 4 Fun Facts (parade.com)