A Family Story

So...This is what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket to create a blog post.  You start researching and one rabbit hole leads you down a path that you find yourself at the crossroads of the Cheshire Cat resting place. "Where do you want to go?" A thousand thoughts go through your mind and the next google search points you down another path.  Then the nurse comes in and distracts you from your direction by riling up your mother from her sleep and creating minutes of chaos.  Things quieten down and you try to collect your fractionated thoughts, but you are back a square one. The collected basket of information so far collected is examined and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there isn't any cohesive points.  A big sigh is breathed, and the process begins again.
Finally 4 days later and many repetitious moments of the previous sentences, the Doctor releases your mother to return to her assisted living facility. All is well again. You figure, Yes! now I can concentrate.
You return home, open your computer to organize and write what you have.  Still, the information appears like a kaleidoscope of ideas.  The phone rings, and you hear..."GrandmomE, come down and play with me, please, Please, Please..." In the sweetest of of pleading voices. "Come play with me."

It is not hard to admit, one looks at the computer, then at the phone...and the sweet voice wins.
The story is not written, but the ground work is planned and the collection has begun. So, here is a preview and see if you can figure out what road we will be traveling next month.

 Normandy Invasion, June 1944

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Battle of the Bulge September 1944

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Right now an angel face is patiently waiting for grandmomE to put the computer down and snuggle her to sleep.

And that is how the plans of a genealogy blogger can be waylaid by present day family.  Do you identify?  See you next month with a well organized post. In the mean time snuggle and love your sweeties and make memories for them to write about. 

Tidbits From My World:: Reflection's Dreams. Headstones. Fortunes. Critters. Scientific Fistic.

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Man and I are already dreaming of escaping for the winter - when our Heritage RV, Tana heads south. First, however, lets talk headstones, critters, fortunes and scientific fistic.  Yea, let's.

Last summer and earlier this year, I shared with you the experience of ordering three memorial markers at one time.  Three markers, three different cemeteries, three different set of rules.  One could say I live dangerously, err, an exciting life.  One could say, I might be just a little crazed.

But, all's well that ends well and Man and I are very pleased with the results.

And, so, I unveil a photo of the last of the three.  (To see the first two, see this post from June 2015.)

And, the memorial marker for Man's paternal grandparents.  Yes, he has two names.  Yes he is one of my most interesting research subjects.  He IS the reason I became addicted to family research. Good ole "Archie".

If you care to read my report on the day we went to the cemetery, it is here, on Reflections.  It was quite the day. Hopefully you will find some humor in it at my expense.

Now, about those fortunes, critters, and scientific fistic.  I spent a few hours this summer transcribing news articles. I have collected news articles here and there over a few years. I have more to transcribe. It is tedious work that transcribing. Tedious, but, also enjoyable. The articles add so much color to my data base. Stories, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous, sometimes sad.  Over the last few months, I have published some interesting ones over at Reflections.  And, here are the links.

One of Man's ancestors, a uncle of some generations removed, Aaron Lashbrook took me on a bit of a fortune hunt.  The hook, from 1892,  that caused me to search more, is here.    And, in 1902, the report of the failed hunt.

Oscar Lashbrook, son of our fortune hunter Aaron, was involved in a horse story.

Aaron has his own horse stories, here is one.  Believe it or not, Aaron was probably the subject of this dog story.

Orville Lashbrook, another of Man's kin, was a police officer in Kansas City, Missouri. Over the years I have found quite a few little tidbits that are interesting on Orville.  One post at Reflections covered vice squads, safes and opossums.  Really.  Tis here.

Next I found Orville testifying about, of all things, honey bees.

And, Aaron, our dear country veterinarian from Kansas, was also the subject of this piece, on scientific fistic.

Newspapers, do you research them??  Really you should.  I followed one Lashbrook young man from the first articles on the draft for World War I till he went off to war and returned home.  It was a fascinating, eye opening, experience for me.  One time I found a report of all the new cars sold in a month.  Yes, indeedy, a Lashbrook was listed.

And, there you have it, dreams, headstones, fortunes, critters and scientific fistic.

Till next month.  Come October, Man and I will, hopefully, be in the crazy packing and organizing extravaganza that goes on before we head south.  

Hope to see ya on the road, in a library, archives or a cemetery some time soon.




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Write Your Own Stories

I have been pondering how to write this blog post for several weeks. It is with great hope that the spirit of the post will speak to you.
I have blogged in the past about writing our ancestors stories to make them people and not just names. This time I want to focus on writing our personal stories, some think in terms of personal history, or journals.  I am simply going to put it in terms that most of us cringe... write about yourself. You can tell why you did something or why you felt some way better than another will be able to interpret your motives, etc after you are gone.
So, today I am going to write a little about myself and some of the events and people that had a great influence on me; helping to make me who I am.
I had many events in my younger years that, when I reflected as an older person, I can see why I act the way I do.
When I was 3, my father lost his leg above the knee in a logging accident. I won't go into the story, but you can read it here on my blog. His attitude of not giving in to the circumstances and striving to be better, shaped my way of handling crisis situations and challenges in life.

A picture of my mom and dad and I that was used in a State wide promotion of  handicap people overcoming. 

When I reached 5, my mother and dad decided for my mother to go back to college.  She had been waiting tables to assist with the cost of living because my dad was still recovering. She went away for a week at a time, working for an elderly lady to pay for her schooling and to cover her room and board. From this I took away doing what it cost to take care of your family.  This helped me many years later when my husband had to work far from home for an extended length of time.

My father's mother came to live with us off and on while I was growing up.

Lenorah Gildon Langley

Every day she read the bible and devotionals that someone gave her.  She attended church when she could, because my mom was Methodist and she was Church of Christ, so my dad would just lay low for no conflict.  I learned from her the value of having a spiritual side to your life for balance.

My mom's mom did not live with us, but she did visit.  She had had arthritis all her life. She had 13 children, and raised 6 of them and 2 grandchildren alone after her husband died of cancer. She earned a living, sewed, and was a supporter of her church circles.

Matilda Roberts Whitson and Cecil Whitson grandson

 She had a sense of humor too. She became an ideal person to me of how to face life, if you're given lemons.

Both of my grandfathers had died before I was born.  My grandmothers never remarried.  They helped their children when and how they could.  My life has been similar. My husband died at 62.  I am content as a widow, neither of my grandmothers had complained, why should I. My time is spent serving my six children, 25 grandchildren, and the genealogy community at large.

Love of genealogy was not something that came from any influence of my family. However, the desire for stories and encouraging others to grab family stories came from dealing with my dad's family who was closed mouthed, and never spoke of family or their ancestors.
These are examples of  a few of the people and moments that have influenced my life, and now you know more about me probably than my children.

I am writing my stories on FamilySearch Memories. After I am gone, they will be able to see my stories that I have written for them and my grandchildren (on FamilySearch only that attached to the deceased is visible.)

See you next month... 

Keeping Family History Stories Alive through Fiction - Part B - "Dr. Bill" Smith

Keeping Family History Stories Alive through Fiction

Part B

"Dr. Bill" Smith

My favorite readings are biographies and family sagas… and many, if not most, biographies read much like family sagas. Or, is it the other way around? In any event, I enjoy reading family stories though out our history. Little House on the Prairie, Centennial, How the West was Won, Godfather… books, movies and television series focused on family life, much as we each see as we gather our family history and genealogy family stories, over the centuries., around the world. I like to see these stories preserved. Saving them through fiction is one approach, as I began to speak of here, last month, in Part A.

Today I would like to draw your attention to the "family saga" story in the history of literature (and as adapted to film and other media). If you have not given much thought to this subject, feel free to spend a few minutes looking at a list of the stories in this genre: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_saga. Which of these are among your favorite stories? A few, I imagine. Roots, Dune, The Thorn Birds, perhaps, or Star Wars or Brideshead Revisited? They are set around the world, and throughout time: past, present and future. I noted that few, if any, have been set, in one place, in the Heartland of America. Therefore, I have created "The Homeplace Saga" set of stories to fill this need. I hope you enjoy them, as well. In addition, I hope you will be inspired, perhaps, to create your own family saga. That is, write your family history stories as a series of fictional stories, adding your own creative touches, to bring them alive for you and your readers.

The latest novel in "The Homeplace Saga" series of family saga, historical fiction

Family saga stories are not always labeled as such. I just finished reading the new Jane Smiley novel, “Some Luck,” for example, that is clearly a family saga. However, it is presented as mainline literary fiction. Each chapter, a year, from 1920 to 1953, follows the stories of the lives of a farm family, from newly-weds to the death of the husband, and each of their children, and their children, and some assorted grandparents and aunts and uncle and cousins. That sure seemed like a family saga, to me, from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. This is also the first of a trilogy of books/stories.

What will your family story look like, in fiction? Which parts will you include, which parts will you omit? Which parts will you include from your own creative mind? Give it some thought! ;-)

If you have an active interest in what I have suggested, I would recommend that you consider reading the novel, "Back to the Homeplace," see below. It is how I got started. All the rest of “The Homeplace Saga” family saga is built around it. For shorter reads, check out one or more of the several recent episodes of "The Kings of Oak Springs," <http://homeplaceseries.hubpages.com/>.

The original novel in "The Homeplace Saga" series of stories

See you next month! I love to read comments, so please leave one or more, including questions. 

Dr. Bill


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"Dr. Bill" (Wm. L.) Smith can be found regularly at his genealogy blog, "Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories" <http://drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com/> or his family saga blog, "The Homeplace Saga," <http://thehomeplaceseries.blogspot.com/>. He is an original contributor, as The Heritage Tourist, to the "In-Depth Genealogy" blog with a monthly column in the "Going In-Depth" digi-mag. He also writes a monthly post for the Worldwide Genealogy Blog.

Home is Where Our Story Begins

Bear with my propensity of making a scrabbook page to go with a post. :) 

I was a part of many genealogists who felt that the story of an ancestor was just as important as the vital data.  You need both for the tree to be complete. It has been satisfying to see software, websites, and especially FamilySearch to become so involved in saving the stories.  The reason I specify FamilySearch is that they have promised to keep the stories free and always.  Even so, it is a internet place and things can happen, so print out and save your stories in a safe place or disperse among the family so no one person is the keeper of all the data.  Most genealogy software programs have a feature for creating a story now.

But I digress.  I have been talking to some who are using a FamilySearch Partner Legacy Stories and love the video and oral aspect of saving their stories.  Others prefer to add their stories directly to FamilySearch and I have to say that has some merit is you only want one step in doing so.  I write my stories on my blog, save them in PDF format and add to my tree.  That way the story is on the tree for anyone that goes there, but my blog reaches many more so I have the element of possibly finding a cousin just looking. 

While I was searching for my website URL’s I came across several different articles that weren’t just researcher oriented.  Forbes had an article on “Four Smart Ways toLeave a Legacy”.   One of their ways was to write your stories.  Another website I found warmed my heart. It is called TimeSlips.  They are engaged in documenting stories of those in nursing homes before the stories are gone.  I listen occasionally on BYU Radio to a broadcast "The Apple Seed" 12 MST.  It is great storytelling.  They tell stories from peoples’ lives in the past to person experiences.  It is inspiring and uplifting.

However you go about it, telling the stories of yourself, family, or ancestors is an important thing.  My hero shared his stories orally with his family and in writing his personal history before he died.  I have written several of his stories on my blog for my favorite meme “Sentimental Sunday” Geneabloggers has created a pinterest board for the meme.  Writing his stories has helped greatly in the transition after his death.   I am also writing my memories of my Aunts and Uncles, since I have not been able to get their children to help. If anyone knows of a motivation to use with them, please share.  One of these days I will write my personal history. In the mean time, stories and storytelling has become a way of life. See you on the blog. 

How’s That Bio? Tell Their Stories

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Recently we had a very unexpected death in our family.  I opened my data base and went to this relative’s place and opened the notes and realized there were very few. That entire part of my data base was seriously lacking.

To me family research is more than the simple recording of dates and places.  It is the “notes” the story telling, the photos, videos, documents, multimedia.

Here is a sample of just a few images, the multimedia of my great grandfather, Charles Gratton Trumbo.  His death certficate, a photo of Charles, a photo of the home he raised his children in, his headstone, some receipts dated 1898 (two loads of "bark" and one of "hay") and the home where he was raised.

In the case of this family death, I found I had failed miserably.  I did have over 25 multimedia events attached, photos from birth.  I had marriages and children recorded.  But, there was almost nothing in the “notes” section.  I had written a piece or two about this relative on my personal blog, Reflections From the Fence.  But, the truth is, I had basically failed in my duties of family researcher and family recorder.  Did you hear that long sorrowful sigh?

I have frequently reminded others when they are sharing stories (these kinds of stories show up frequently in the Newsfeed of Facebook), to add them to their data base.  It is easy to forget to do that.  That little story about your relative, maybe the one about gramma eating dog food thinking it was a appetizer??  Or the one about the infamous card game and who skunked who.  Stories about favorite vacations.  Share information about your relative’s occupation.   Have some interesting insight as to why your relative chose his or her occupation, share it in your “notes”.

I have had family members record pages of memories of growing up, schools, holiday celebrations, their thoughts on the death of celebrities, and especially every day minutia.  These memories, these stories become what some researchers call the “color” of their data bases and their family stories.

And, oh, don't forget to record color for yourself, your parents, your siblings, your children, your grandchildren.  Wouldn't you just love to have stories about your great-great grandparents, their memories, maybe journals or diaries.  I have a very few, I am greedy, I would love to have more.  If you have journals, letters, diaries, have you recorded them in your data base?  Have you transcribed them?  Do you have images of each page?  

Share the color, hopefully you won’t open your data base to find a white, empty page staring back at you.  I failed.  I pray you can learn from my lesson, make your data base colorful.

* Collage courtesy of Collage.com
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Family History - A Key to Meaningful Conversation

I am presently on the high seas on a cruise ship and have lost track of time. I note that the post for the 3rd of May has already appeared but I also note that in Hawaii and other places in the Pacific it is still the 2nd of May so I am bashing out a post and hoping that the ship's internet will behave and allow me to post it before midnight.

What strikes me as I enter into conversations with fellow cruisers and visit sites in various countries is that many people outside my genealogy circle are interested in family history especially if it relates to a place or location familiar to them. Being able to make a connection with a fellow traveller from a village or town through a story of one of my ancestors from that area breaks down barriers and enables one to enter into meaningful and interesting conversations. 

I just had coffee with a Scotsman who loves whisky, he was waiting for the bar to open. When I told him we had ancestors from Islay, home of eight malt whisky distilleries, we were able to skip those questions one normally asks when meeting someone new and launch into a meaningful conversation about Islay, the clearances and beautiful 12th century Scottish Churches. That gentleman is presently paying someone to research his Scottish roots. When his wife from Aberdeen joined us I told her of my issues in tracing my "James Duncan" from Aberdeen ; she wished me luck and said "That is like trying to find John Smith".

Yesterday a lady noted that I had a Familysearch pen and that started a conversation. It turns out that she is an avid family historian and was most impressed that I had such a prize. Our conversation immediately turned to the village in which she lives, the lectures she attends and a discussion of the  1801, 1811, 1821 and 1831 English Censuses.

The Americans on this trip are well travelled but very few of them have ventured to the genealogy mecca of Salt Lake City. So many have been interested in our stories of visits to that place for Rootstech and The Family History Library and have asked many probing questions..

On this trip I have connected with people from the UK, Ireland, Canada and the US with whom I have been able to discuss family history and places that are familiar to them. My family history stories have given me a set of keys to enter into interesting conversations with fellow travellers.