Family History

Any of you that knew my wonderful mother knew that it would be safe to call her a "genealogy buff". For as long as i remember she contacted relatives, read books, and tried to make the past come to life. As a small child I think genealogy gave my mom something to do "once the kids" were in bed on those lonely nights when my dad was overseas. Later it gave her a chance to get out of the house and go to the library and loose her mind in the rolls of microfilm.


Checking for dead relatives in Roy, Oregon Cemetary

I have always loved the stories but my interest boomed with the advent of computer genealogy programs. My mother and I spent hours entering data into our first DOS ran genealogy program. She would read the information and I would type. Sometimes we did this for 6 or 7 hours at a stretch. Me with my dill pickles and diet soda and mom with her snacks we entered over 14,000 names into the program.

Checking the paper for obits of realtives



Now that she is gone I have been given all of her notebooks, files, books, and such. A gold mine for a beginning genealogist like myself but also a mountain to climb. Over this past spring break I started entering names into an updated program. I get involved and realized that it is almost morning. (I really need to watch this on school nights)


My hope is from time to time to let you know of interesting facts that I have come across. This week's fact is:


The wife our my 7th great uncle was Sarah H Stephens. What if she is related to my brother-in-law Casey. Could it be that my sister married a decedent of our 7th great grand uncle? Sarah was born in South Carolina in 1749 and died in 1844 in Georgia. I have not traced Sarah's line so I am not sure of any other connections. Casey do you have a 7th great aunt named Sarah?