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| Brenda Glover Leyndyke, photo taken by her husband, Kirk. |
Over the years, I have corresponded with quite a few bloggers, some I've met and others I haven't. Last month, I was fortunate to meet up with a Michigan blogger, Brenda Glover Leyndyke who writes two blogs, one for her own family is called, Journey to the Past. Brenda and her husband, were on a three-week research / vacation trip and part of their plan included Massachusetts. We have been early blogger friends, since before May 2010. When we met, the three of us had an enjoyable meeting, exchanged gifts and had lots of laughs. However our visit was cut a little short because they wanted to visit a site, before it got too dark. That site was a cellar hole and steps of the foundation where her grandfather once lived! Brenda is sitting at that location in the photo above.
Before we met, I tried to remember why I thought she was special. Then it came to me because I wrote about it in a blog post of May 31, 2010. "Another email came from Brenda of Journey to the Past who wrote, 'Do you have grave site photo's? This (West Leroy) cemetery is about 3 miles from where I live.' Subsequent emails brought additional information and about 19 photos! She also drew a detailed map of the cemetery and indicated where my different direct line families were buried! Brenda has helped me in the past in locating a newspaper article about Yates Adams, and his murder / suicide." How nice could somebody be, especially to a stranger?
Her handwritten map of the cemetery is below, but I couldn't find any photos on my hard-drive or on any blog. So that meant, I must not have shared them in my blog! Fortunately, I thought to look at FindAGrave, and apparently that is where I placed her photos of my Lay and Farmer lines. If you look at the site, you'll see that I took her credit.
Just prior to ending our visit, she handed me a manila folder, filled with 42 typed sheets, with 1,226 individuals listed who were buried in the South or West Leroy cemeteries in Calhoun Co., Michigan! The list was printed in 2003 and was being discarded by her Genealogical Society. Brenda was there and knew exactly what to do with the folder, she took it, saved it and gave it to me! Any genealogist would think that was the best of gifts. Thank you, Geneafriend, Brenda. During the winter months, I plan on going line-by-line to see if I find anything new, what a fun project.
Follow up: I have gone line-by-line and determined 50 individuals were in my family, the list I prepared is below. The names (7 in all) in All Caps are my direct ancestors.
