Wordless Wednesday: My 6th Grade Teachers

Leo Lake and Elinore Haneke, 1957

E. E. Morrison School, Great Bend, Kansas

Genealogists Know This

Greg Olsen is one of my favorite artists and is a Facebook friend. He graciously shares his original paintings with his fans and calls the offerings in this album: "SPIRITUAL STEROIDS": DAILY thoughts & images to pump up your soul! -Healing-Inspiring-Awakening! - Greg

As a genealogist, I know this to be true: "Those we love are never far away". The more time we spend researching our ancestors, the more we learn about them and the better we get to know them. This contributes to us feeling their presence in our lives. I've been so blessed to spend thousands of hours with my family...if only on paper and in my mind. But my feelings for them have grown and my consciousness of them is ever present. I know, as artist Greg Olsen tells us, they are never far away.

Thank you, Greg, for reminding us of this. And for delighting our lives with your beautiful paintings.

Tombstone Tuesday: My First Blogoversary

Wednesday, September 23 is my First Blogoversary. To celebrate, I'm posting this memorial on Tombstone Tuesday. Pictured here is the gravestone of Catherine Van Dyke Follett, wife of Jonathan Follett III. The memorial was created on Find A Grave by Sonnet Tidwell on Feb. 1, 2009 and is memorial #33449852. Thank you, Sonnet!

I adopted my son as an infant and he was recently reunited with his birth mother. She graciously provided us with her pedigree chart, completely filled in for 4 generations. A genealogist's dream! In researching my son's ancestry, I've found that Catherine Van Dyke Follett was his 5th great grandmother. She was born 15 Feb 1787 in New Jersey and died 3 Jan 1889 in Garner, Hancock, Iowa. She's buried in Garner Cemetery, Council Bluffs, Pottawattomie, Iowa. So she lived to be nearly 102. It's a treasure to find a picture of a headstone for a 5th great-grandmother and a woman who was born in 1787! I'm grateful to Ms. Tidwell for posting this memorial and sharing this treasure with us.

Wordless Wednesday: Fred Becker Family

Rest in Peace Patrick Swayze

This post is in memory of Patrick Swayze (1952-2009), 7th cousin of my step-mother, with whom he shared common ancestors Caleb Horton and Phoebe Terry.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Family Music at Christmas

From my treasure chest of family photos, I found this picture, one of the least attractive, but one of the most representative of some of the good memories I have from early childhood. When my Grandpa Jones came over each Christmas, he encouraged his grandchildren to play or sing for him. You can see in this picture that we honored his wish. Standing at back are (from left to right) my mom (step-mother) Phyllis, my dad Ernie, and my mom's sister Maxine. Seated from left to right are me (Becky Jamison), my twin brother Dennis, and my cousins Cora and Diana Sova. My dad is providing our accompaniment on his guitar.

When we were in 5th and 6th grade, we all played musical instruments. Maybe next week I can dig out the picture of us offering music to Grandpa Jones at Christmas time by playing our Flute, French Horn, Trumpet and Clarinet. Boy, you can be sure that was a "concert" to remember! A concert only a Grandpa could love.

You can tell by the loud drapes in our living room, this picture was taken in the early 50s.

Great Grandma Mazie

Yesterday I had the very special privilege of meeting "Karen", the woman who gave birth to my son and allowed me to adopt him shortly thereafter. She came to our meeting armed with photographs of some of her ancestors, as well as her immediate family.

Karen graciously loaned me her photos so I could scan and save them, which was my first priority on this holiday. One of the most precious photos she shared with us is the one at left, which is of her grandmother and my son's great-grandmother Mazie, shown here at 18 months old.

It's nice to meet you, Great-Grandma Mazie!

Tombstone Tuesday: Onesiphorus Flanders

My Great, Great, Great Grandfather

Onesiphorus Flanders 1772-1853

Buried at Vittum Hill Cemetery, Sandwich, Carroll, New Hampshire

Husband of Mary Burbank Flanders 1779-1853