Past Life Styles Before the Internet

Last month, I was in a slump and missed my post. I was moving back to the house my husband and I built when we were young. We had such high hopes for it and slowly began working towards those goals while having and raising 6 children.  As you can imagine, it was S L O W. We abandoned it to live in my mother’s home when

         1. She moved into an assisted living facility because of early onset of dementia and...
           2.   My sweetheart had stage 4 col-rectal cancer. 

It is a story and a half house, so my children were concerned about long range challenges for me and my knees. 

Oh well, who know what will happen in ten years. The biggest challenge has been overcoming the pain at seeing what he had worked so lovingly to make had fallen into disrepair. Some reading this know me on social media such as Facebook. I frequently talk about comments from the tree house. My son remarked that it was an apt description as it was a cross between the Swiss Family Robinson’s and the Bernstein Bear’s home. 

Now you can understand a little of the confusion and disorientation I have been experiencing in planning ahead. Well, that coupled with family calling and asking for assistance with their personal problems. What’s a mom to do, say no? I think not. That is what life and genealogy is all about.

An experience I have had as I have been moving back home, is unpacking my genealogy files. Many times, it makes me smile as I see, notes written on scrap pieces of paper, and no reference as to where I found it. 

Today, moving in the professional world of genealogy, I hear chastisement in my head for not having a research plan sheet, or writing down my documentation. I have empathy for those who find themselves with genealogy information and not a clue as to which book it was they found it in. Let me explain.

Going back to building a house and finishing it ourselves while raising 6 children, will help you understand a little bit. I worked as a public health nurse or school nurse while my children were growing up, and helped my husband with work projects he had as well. We are member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which as most know emphasize finding your family history. We were the only members on both sides of family, who were members. No one had a clue about their family’s history, it all fell in my lap to find it, along with all the above. To shorted this story, I will just say the way it happened was, aside from a few planned visits to major libraries, I would swing by the local library for a 30 minutes to grab some research time when I went grocery shopping or was running errands. My sweetheart would look at me when I got home (days before cell phones) and say “you sure took a long time, at the library again?”  And that is how notes were scratched on odd pieces of paper and now, random information found without documentation. It was almost a lifestyle. Grabbing moments to recreate life times, it is why I am going back and filling in the blanks now. Life before the internet was not easy, nor was it always organized. That is my personal family history finding story.

Has anyone else experience a lifestyle so random or am I the only one?