My title refers to three different periods of time in my life, I will soon explain why I chose these topics. The last blog I wrote was, We Walked to Charlestown, MA to tour the USS Constitution, written in May, five months ago. My 10 year blogiversary is this month, which means I've been writing quite a bit, well 1,379 posts were written and published. Today, facebook memories reminded me of another anniversary, a message from Laura Prescott, a friend who wrote me 11 years ago today, "Hey, Barbara! Nice to see you at the FHL today!" For those not into genealogy, the FHL stands for the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. That message prompted me to write this, because I wasn't sure how to begin.
This post is for the 1,500 subscribers (email or followers) who might be wondering why I haven't written in five months. I could say I ran out of topics, there are too many critics, not enough time or any other reason. All true, but I decided to write today because I want to share some memories pertaining to genealogy...just remembering I was in Salt Lake City 11 years ago, researching to my heart's content, did the trick.
This post is for the 1,500 subscribers (email or followers) who might be wondering why I haven't written in five months. I could say I ran out of topics, there are too many critics, not enough time or any other reason. All true, but I decided to write today because I want to share some memories pertaining to genealogy...just remembering I was in Salt Lake City 11 years ago, researching to my heart's content, did the trick.
During the past 1 1/2 years, I stepped away a bit from doing genealogy research. (Reason to be explained below.) However, I managed to find ancestors in a local cemetery, tour three historic houses, visit libraries and connect with two first cousins! Eventually, I will write about these topics and several topics about the city I live in, Lowell, Massachusetts.
Both first cousins, each from a parent's line, sent me several family photos I've never seen. The photo above is of my mother, 3rd female from the right. Her sister is in the group along with their cousins. This snapshot was taken in Dunham, Quebec, Canada, where my mother's mother, ancestors and above cousins lived.
My top 9 blog posts as determined by Google. These posts are listed on every post page and may change when figures move up or down.
The 30-year anniversary pertains to the number of years I've been doing genealogy. My two early blogs were about my job at the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution), located in Washington, DC. In this building, I quickly got hooked on genealogy. Not only did the DAR have one of the most beautiful and largest genealogy libraries in the United States, but they also had a staff of certified genealogists, which not all libraries have. You may read 10 posts, in my blog, about the DAR or the two about my job, posted below. New Job at the DAR - Part 1 The DAR job -- Part 2
The 50 Years Before and After part of the title has to do with my husband. We began dating in 1969, our first big date was a train trip to Boston on March 9, 1969, to see the Boston Celtics. I got two great autographs on that day. See my post: Celtics Coach Red Auerbach....I Met Him, What did I Get?
The before photo was taken in July 1969. We took a walk in a Dracut, MA park. We didn't marry until many years later. Once married, we've had almost 25 years to share our genealogy love, by going on research trips like Salt Lake City, Washington, DC, New England states, Canada, and numerous libraries, and conferences in the past (NGS and FGS), belonged to several genealogy clubs, visited at least 60 cemeteries, and took at least 100-day trips to the NEHGS library in Boston. He took to learning information about DNA, much quicker than I did, as shown below.
In April, Bill explained something to Crista Cowan, of Ancestry.com.
More recently, his health took priority over my genealogy research and his. A year and a half year ago, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and has been treated for it for over a year. He remained quite healthy, walked every day, and worked every day through the treatment until he retired on May 1st of this year. Four months later, on Friday, September 13th, he was taking another walk, when his leg gave way, two houses away. Neighbors found him on the street and called an ambulance and I was quickly notified. He was hospitalized and had many tests. The next day, we got the results.
This photo was taken September 16, 2019. The day before his brain surgery, he had a 6" incision on the back of his head, now completely healed. He is learning to walk, and it's a long process. We look forward to future genealogy trips, near and far. Genealogists know how important this is to us.