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The Life From The Roots blog topics have changed several times since I began this blog in 2009. I initially wrote only about the family history I had been working on for 20 years. Years later, I was into visiting gardens, historical homes, churches, libraries that had genealogical collections, historical societies, war memorials, and travel/tourism places. I also enjoy posting autographs and photos of famous people I've met or have seen.

Along with my New England roots, other areas include New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada.

Please check out the labels on the right side for topics (please note, they need work). Below the labels and pageviews is a listing of my top nine posts, according to Google. Four of them pertain to Lowell, MA. These posts change often because they are based on what people are reading.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Scanner Story, a Lesson Learned

If you are a Vista user, you may be aware that some of your peripherals didn't work with your new computer, esp. if you bought it last year. Such was my case, in March 2008, when I replaced my three year old XP. Once the Vista was up and running, I was a happy camper....the 20" monitor was lovely and the printer worked with it. Then I discovered the scanner didn't because there was no driver from Canon for this computer. At the same time, I found out my XP was under a four year warranty (which I had forgotten), so a repairman came and the problem was fixed. Now, with two computers, the scanning was done on the old XP, the images transferred via flash-drive to the Vista. The whole thing was so time consuming, I pretty much gave up on scanning.


Yesterday, a light bulb went off in my head, and I decided to check Canon's web site. Yes, they now had new drivers and software for my scanner that were compatible with the Vista. The updated driver was October 2008! For an entire year I did next to no scanning. Since this morning, I have gone crazy with it. Recently, because of the blog, I was thinking about purchasing a new scanner. The moral, check back (more often than 1 1/2 yrs.) with the manufacturer for updates. You might get lucky.

DAR application - 1913

Below are the DAR application papers for my great grandmother, Mira Kilborn Bishop, dated October 16, 1913. Her mother was also a member, and her application was dated 1901. I had the original document stating her admission into the DAR, which was beautiful. Quite large, I would say maybe 12" x 14" and had dark blue printing. I showed it to the DAR archivist, and she wondered if I would donate it to the society, so I did. Of course, I didn't have a scanner at that time, so there is no picture. My mother was also a DAR member, as was I. They all used the same Revolutionary War patriot, but since I was obsessed with our family genealogy, I found my own patriot. And he was new, even to the DAR, who later added his name into the DAR Patriot Index.