My days with the Daileys

I have been sitting here thinking about my days.  Thinking about what they consist of, what I would like to have them consist of, and what, if anything, I can do about that. 

If you think that last part is a good case of futility, you may be right.  

After having a shock about my health earlier this year, last month I had added to that another shock, and I do mean shock, about an unexpected enormous bill for a needless test to determine that I definitely did not have the problem that the test would have proven existed.  Have I made that muddled enough?  

Fortunately, I was willing to let the Lord take it in hand and he has blessed me with people who are compassionate and helpful in getting things sorted out.  He is good about that.  

So, I have had plenty of time this past week to consider my time and how to spend it.  I have now resolved - once again - that I will be more consistent in getting my family information on-line.  That's on Find a Grave and on Ancestry.  I am using my nieces' account to put her Dad's side of the family into outer-space.  She is occasionally working on her Mother's side of the family.  

Yesterday I spent 7 hours, mostly straight through (cup of tea, pit stop, cup of tea, pit stop) on the Dailey line.  My computer says I have 193 of them in my file.  

That's a reduced file.  Once upon a time I had more than 11,000 individuals that were proven connected through blood or marriage or maybe even wishful thinking.  I condensed many files by putting descendants of some sidelines into a text file under the name of the parents.  It worked to leave just over 4,000 individuals.  That's the number of people I am working with now. 

Yesterday was a good day.  I found what I had forgotten when I laid aside my regular trips into the past.  I enjoy the polishing, the searching, the finding of family members, and enjoy corresponding with people about their families.  That part of the process became lost when everything became more automated with so many records on-line.   Having contact with real people makes the research more real.  

Here's where my Daileys come into my family.  My Dad is a Simmons, his father is a Simmons, his father is a Simmons, his mother is a Dailey.  And so it moves back to the 1700s.  

I have deleted from my file some very early Dailey names for which people have not offered proof of the relationship, and not really even of their existence.  My policy is to have at least 2 records for each person in my file - that prove of their existence and relationship.  Sometimes that's all that I can find, but at least it shows proof.

Paternal Ancestry Chart of Juliet DAILEY

                               5-James DAILEY, b 1752, d 1825

                      4-John DAILEY, b abt 1775, d bet 19 March 1840 - 28 July 1843

                                5-Margaret [STANDFORD], b 1756 January 12, d 1812

            3-Vincent DAILEY, b 1798 May 14, d 1868 August 7

                       4-Nancy [CARPENTER], b abt 1775, d 1835 September

      2-William DAILEY, b 1823 September 1, d 1899 February 12

                       4-Thomas McKEE, b abt 1772, d 1861 March 4

            3-Margaret McKEE, b 1803 March 6, d 1865 May 21

                       4-Mary [---], b abt 1784, d bef 1860

 1-Juliet DAILEY, b calc 1850 July, d 1869 April 20

 William married

      2-Charlotte FARNSWORTH, b 1829 September 19, d 1916 January 5

This chart makes it seem that there is a smal-lish Dailey family with only 100 years separating the early and late generations, but it's the Descendants that are in great quantity.  

I don't have a photo of Juliet, but do have two of William and Charlotte, posted elsewhere on this blog and repeated here.  

William and Charlotte (Farnsworth) Dailey

William and Charlotte (Farnsworth) Dailey and their surviving children

World War II

It has come to my attention that there is quite a bit of interest this year in studying World War II - interest created by teachers of high school students.  

My great-niece, who is a Sophmore in her school (in another state), was given an assignment this summer to read a book and not just report on it, but to study it, annotate it, and write an essay about it, among other things.  

The book was Unbroken.  It's about a fella in the Pacific Theater of Operations.  I was familiar with the name of the fella, having just read another book that included his name.  

I borrowed it from the library and began reading.  After a while, the story became grim.  And then grimmer and actually sickening.  What in the world was going on that teens were required to read such misery?  I skipped section after section to get to the conclusion.  

I found out, at the end of the book, that the author had been asked by teachers to provide a highly edited version suitable for "young readers".  I wish I had noticed that information before I began reading.  I would have borrowed that version instead.  

I am old enough that I have read not only about the World Wars, but about the entanglement in Viet Nam and decided long ago that I would never again read about the extreme cruelty that one human can inflict on another.  I had friends and classmates die in Viet Nam.  I have a nephew who has been involved in the Middle East messes.  I have read more than enough about war.  

I suppose I read as far as I did in this book trying to figure out why high school teens were reading it.  

The second instance was last month.   My brother asked for information about our Dad's military service, sort of.  The high school-age son of a lady he knew was instructed to:

interview someone about their experiences in World War II

Huh?  How tough would it be to find someone still living who could be interviewed?  

Brother knew I had plenty of information about our Dad's service and so I put together a few things and passed them on.  

Since the assignment didn't specify (at least as far as I know) just military service, I sent along my mother's four-page reminisces of the War in Great Britain.  She was in the Women's Land Army as well as being a citizen of a country that was shoulder deep in carnage.  

I don't know if any of what I passed on helped the young man or not, but I was glad to have put it together and thought it would be a welcome post here.  

Mom first  

Memories of World War II, 1939-1945

1939:  I returned to Malpas after living with my grandparents for about 6 years. 

I had come down with Scarlet Fever - the ONLY one in the school - so, after 6 weeks of quarantine in my bedroom, I went to the country for fresh air, fresh milk, eggs, etc.  Times were difficult and I had three brothers at home, John, David and Douglas Gimblett, so when war was imminent, it was all be together!

My Father was a Civil Servant and he was one of several men who set up tables and chairs on the pavement, in front of the "Milk Bar", for men to sign up for military duty.

One of the first things we had to do was go to Malpas school to be fitted with a very nasty smelling Gas Mask, which we carried everywhere, and ID and ration book.

Black-out curtains were put up on every window, every doorway.  Windows were taped and some became very creative:  No lights to show anywhere!  There were volunteer Air Raid Wardens who patrolled the neighborhood to make sure that no lights were visible.  No street lights.  No bus lights!  Headlights were painted the top half outside, bottom half inside, so that light shone down; same with flashlights (torches) and bicycle headlights.

Air raid shelters.  We lived in a semi-detached, which meant we had a backyard and garden, so an air raid shelter was put in the garden.  What were they?  6 ft deep? 4 ft deep? All I know is that ours was up against the garden shed, had twin bunk beds and we had heat and electric light.  Dad's shed had had electric forever and an electric heater that was used on really frosty nights.  I don't remember spending too many nights in the shelter.

There were also Morrison shelters for indoors that were like a heavy steel cage.  Areas that did not have yards big enough - like "Pill" - the streets were dug up and shelters big enough for maybe 20-30 people!  The same with school.  I was going to Brynglas Central and a couple of playing fields gave way for shelters large enough for 20-30 students.  After the first "nervous" exit we were told "don’t forget your books; we will study in the shelter”!

When I left school at 14 years I went to work at Ferris Grocery, corner of Bridge Street and Cambrian Road.  When there was a raid, our shelter was next door at a brewery, down in the cellar, walking through the sloshed beer! Can you imagine the impression we made, young teenagers, reeking of beer, riding the busses.  Last bus to anywhere was 10 pm.

When the convoys were heading for the docks, they would stop where Malpas Road and Brynglas Road meet, by Malpas Road Presbyterian Church, so naturally everyone rallied around and had refreshments for the troops.  Where they got the tea and biscuits, etc, I have no idea.

Of course when the school children heard that a convoy was at the bottom of the hill they just came from everywhere.  The children asked the soldiers, "Any gum chums?",  and asked for insignia from their uniforms to add to their collections.

There was a church behind the railway station that also had a group of volunteers.  A couple of volunteers would go to the station to find any serviceman, having a long wait between trains, who was invited to the church hall for tea, or coffee and what food was available or even a cot or bunk bed.  "Take off your boots and rest. We will wake you in plenty of time”.

Everyone rode the bus or had a bicycle or walked.  There were no personal cars; no petrol; no tyres.

There was a "blockade" near Bettws Lane and Blaen-y-pant, by the old Desmond Llewellyn home – “Q” in James Bond movies!  One time I was out late and was challenged.  "Halt, who goes there?"  I had been visiting a friend, Betty Herring, when the sirens sounded.  Her mother wouldn't let me go home, so we were in the shelter for hours. It must have been almost midnight when the all clear sounded so Betty and her mother walked me home from Crindau area to Malpas.  Mrs Herring explained to the sentry why were out late and where I lived: no problem.  My mother wasn't concerned, she knew where I had gone and that they would see me safe. 

I worked at Ferris' for about 1 year, then went to work for "Uncle" Roy Hurford in the canteen at Mountstuart Dry Dock.  There was Uncle Roy, the cook, and 4 or 5 girls.  Joan Parsons (Dowd) was one of them; we are still friends, although long distance.  How Uncle Roy managed the meals, I don’t know.  A lot of substitutions?

There was a Russian oil tanker, The Azerbaijan with a hole big enough to drive a truck through.  New Years dinner in the officer’s dining room, white table cloths! silver! food, food, and more food! What happened to rationing?  Joan and I at the head table, sitting under a portrait of Stalin!  The engineer was a woman as was the 1st mate.  Very friendly people, enjoyable evenings; but then they were our allies!

Then there was the Kincup, a Canadian destroyer all repaired; ready to go back to sea; water entering the dock - ship capsized!  All the security came down from wherever!  What a commotion that caused!

It was whilst I was at the canteen that workmen were coming in asking, Peg, you have family in Eveswell Street?, again and again; when I got home, I asked Dad and he said, Yes, that’s where Gladys lives!  Number 13 got hit and 7 out of 9 people living there lost their lives.  The Gimlets, grandparents, parents, Uncle, 3 girls.  Just Edwin & Louise survived.  Eddie spending months in hospital with shrapnel in his head and with broken limbs.  (He died just over a year ago.  He was 90 years old and still had the shrapnel in his head.)  That happened July 1st 1941.

Aside from Eveswell, the closest bombing that I can remember was a bomb dropped just below Twm Barlwm.  It didn’t do any damage, only a hole in the ground.  Another time a bomb landed in the mud at the Dry Docks but didn’t do any damage.

That brings me to another disaster.  Brother Doug and I were to be evacuated to Canada to Dad's brother.  We were all packed, ready to go.  The ship ahead of ours the "Benares" was torpedoed, I think 77 children went down. There were 3 sisters from Malpas - 8, 10, 12 years - and I think 5 boys from Newport of which 2 were brothers from Stow Hill or St Woolos area.  The government cancelled the evacuation plan.

After a year at the Dry Dock, I went to work at Kings factory - near Clarence place - only because my parents wouldn't sign papers for me to go into the Land Army (they already had 1 son in army, 2 in RAF, 1 in munitions.)  We made ammunition boxes and helped on coffins when needed - like D Day.  At 17 1/2 years the Boss signed my release papers and off to the Land Army went I!  (You couldn’t just quit a vital job and move on; there had to be a good reason.)

October?  November?  Cold! Cold! Frosty!  Off I went to Oaklands Park, near Newnham, Glos,  close enough to get home on weekends.  There were about 16-20 of us billeted in the servants quarters at Oaklands.  The only staff left was the butler, his wife-cook, etc, and sometimes 2 maids.  We seldom saw Lord or Lady Evans.  Usually by 7:30 we were being "trucked" to one of the local farms to help out, only men under 16 or over 45-50 left to do farm work.  We did Everything: milking, clean up, planting, reaping, haymaking, etc  - but Back to Newport - -

For entertainment there was always the pictures and dancing! - ballroom dancing – continental tango, waltz, foxtrot.  In the town, itself, we went to the barracks at the top of Stow Hill then to Conti's café at the bottom, opposite the Kings Head.  If we were down near Cardiff road, there was another Conti's.  There was always fish ‘n’ chips! And whatever non-alcoholic drink available!

After a few scares with the air raid sirens, as long as you couldn't hear a plane or a Big Bertha (gun firing) we all went about our normal routine, always aware of where the nearest shelter was.  It didn't stop us from showing up at Stow Hill - dancing - Lysaghts - dancing - the pictures at the Odeon, Colliseum etc.

Then, in 1942? 43? Here came the Yanks with that crazy dancing Jitterbug!

We saw many nationalities besides the Russians & Canadians.  There were Yugoslavs, Free French, Gurkhas, and probably many others that I did not recognize.

When it was announced that the war in Europe was over I was helping to plough a field in Newnham.  Me, leading the horse, Mr Wilshire guiding the plow, Val Morgan from Bridgend, Maureen Morgan - no relation - from Bristol, picking up rocks, etc.  We said goodbye Mr Wilshire, see you on Monday and we headed for Newport.  We were in the middle of town with the celebration, as I recall, up on somebody's shoulders.  It was alright - we wore jodhpurs or dungarees.  We also wore kneesocks, brogans, green sweaters and ties, small beige hats.

Shortages during the War

No stockings.  Women didn't wear slacks or trousers unless the worked in a factory or on a farm.  So we were bare legged for 5 years.  We learned to get by barter   Dad always grew vegetables, so we could trade veg for eggs or whatever was needed.  It wasn't black market - no money changed hands.   At "Uncle” Roy’s stall in Newport Market, he would personally ration cigarettes.  When a shipment came in he would put some back for early morning workers & so many for night workers, and only a 10pk at a time.  We all did what was right.

I don't recall ever being hungry although rationing was strict.  There was always fish & chips and lots of vegetables and Fish & Chips!  We didn't have bananas or pineapple or peaches for 5 years but there was always Fish & Chips!  Plenty of orchard fruits, apples, pears, plums, berries, blackberries, strawberries.  Dad was a gardener and amongst other things, he could also cobble, tailor - anything that was needed.

The American Camp was past Malpas, past Westfield - opposite Parc y Prior?  So we were covered one end of town to the other!  Soldiers at Malpas, Sailors at the Docks!  I think that the airmen were nearer to Cardiff.  We were more fortunate than a lot of areas.

Between Malpas & Caerleon I think there was a POW camp, where Usk Vale is, down the old Roman road – Pillmawr.  I was on my bike and had trouble.  Here came a “Tommy” with 5 or 6 men in a different uniform offering to help.  I said “No thanks, I can fix it”.  Was there a POW camp there?

I left Newport May 20, 1946; left at Southampton May 24th.  I celebrated my 20th birthday at sea.

I have been back several times – niece’s weddings, etc 1956 - 1970 - 1971 – 1986 – 2007 - 2009. 

Newport has changed A Lot.  There was no Brynglas Tunnel / John Frost Square / Pedestrian Commercial Road and the old Castle is still falling down. 

 

Women's Land Army and Timber Corps

Now, for Dad

Earl Simmons, Raymond Simmons

1943 Florida

Dad didn't write about his war years and didn't live long enough to pass on any memories of his military service - except for one story.  

He was driving a jeep on a pot-holed road 

(that means bombed-hole road), in France,

when he lost control of the vehicle and ran up a tree.  

He broke a bone or two in his hand.  

Since the records of the military archives are incomplete due to a 1970s fire in the St Louis record division, there are no official documents or information I can post here.  So, these are the personal records that are from the war itself, or from information provided by Dad in later years for employment purposes.  

I have Dad's Army photograph album.  A few months ago I spent a day and a half scanning 88 pages - that's pages, not snaps - of 1940s photographs.  Then my computer "crashed".  It has been revived but the scans were lost.  One of these days I will clear off the table and start scanning again.  In the meantime, I have scanned two bits of the album to add to this article.

El Reno Library, Card file 

Immunizations for 4 years on the other side if the world

Driving permit for cargo truck

Application for federal advancement

listing countries where served.

Description of duties during the war

part of a page from Army album - 

Raymond at German gun

Chartres after bombing

Le Havre, France - a shelled city

In 2004 I wrote to the St Louis Archive to ask about Dad's military records, just in case his had survived the fire.  They didn't.  I received this document and forms with the request that if I had information I would like to submit, they would create a file for him.  I haven't yet, but it's on my list to take care of.

AHSGR

 Those letters stand for the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia.   

I am leaving in the morning for a trip to their museum and research library in Lincoln, Nebraska.  

It's a straight shot due North, but while looking at the maps, I keep finding all sorts of other places to stop and other things to see.  It's hard to make my mind remember that this trip has a purpose and it isn't sight-seeing.  

I think I've mentioned a time or two or twelve that I don't know much about where my grandmother and her parents came from - said to be Saratov, Russia.  The end.  Saratov is a province and a huge city, even in the early 1900s when they left there.

https://betweenthewindows.blogspot.com/2013/07/halfway-round-world.html

Friday morning, the 24th:  I have returned and am continuing this article rather than starting a new one.  Sitting here this morning with a first cup of tea (it's 4:30 a.m.) and thinking about people, it occurs to me that I am at a point of life that there will soon be three generations ahead of me with the birth in January of my first great- grandchild.  It has also occurred to me, lately, that one of these days I will die and I have a lot of loose ends to tie up before then, if I am blessed with enough time to do so.  

In the meantime, in the 947 miles I drove (in three days), some things were disappointing and some were wonderful.  

Wonderful things first.  

---Driving.  I don't listen to a radio or audio books, or anything vocal while driving.  I like to focus on my driving, on what is outside my windows, and on what is inside my head.  To me, driving long spells out on US highways or county roads is therapeutic.   I am free from distractions and am able to Think, to Ponder, to Wonder, to Make Decisions (whether they be temporary or permanent remains to be seen).  That's wonderful.

---People.  I meet the most interesting and kindly people when travelling.  Innkeepers, Service Station attendants, Museum hosts, Helpers - cheerfully giving me directions when I am unsure of the way.  It's a blessing to find how glad people are to help when it is needed.  I didn't meet anyone who was grumpy.  That's wonderful.

---New Places and Old Places, too.  Kansas is one of my favorite places on the planet.  Yes, I know that covers a lot, but I find 'lots of spots' that are lovely for various reasons.  

Disappointments.

---Didn't find anything new about my Germans from Russia.  Disappointment.

---Nebraska.  All the trees left in Nebraska must be in the old parts of town in Lincoln - and lovely they were - as well as the old neighborhoods.  The rest of the countryside has been stripped bare of nature in order to grow vast patches of some grain.  Whew!  Devastation.  More than Disappointment - leaning toward Despair.

Now for the best news of the whole trip!  

The Douglass, Kansas, museum is open again.  

Irregularly for the time being, but open it is. 

 Douglass Historical Museum

Douglass Museum on Facebook

Besides research on families in the town and area, the building displays are astonishing.  I have gone many times over the years for research, but until yesterday had never seen all that the museum holds.  This is a very fine museum.  

Time for another cup of tea.  

The Dearest People in the World

 

Today is October 15, 2025, a Wednesday.

A while ago, I was standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes.  I have the window open because the temperature outside is about 80 degrees.  Out the window, halfway down the yard, is a well pulley on one of those yard hooks for plants or birdhouses, or whatever needs to be outdoors.  I chose to hang the pulley.  

It is an Oklahoma pulley, I am sure.  It came to my husband and I from Chickasha, where his aunt and uncle lived.  They were country people - farmers both on a large scale and then on a smaller scale but growing, then putting up, their own food for as long as they were able.  

Uncle Lafe died in 1975.  That was a long time ago but I still miss him.  Auntie lived quite a bit longer in their home, but eventually had a stroke and had to come to the city.  Her household belongings - most of them, that is - were moved up here, too.  But there were things that were left behind.  Some of those are what were most valuable - think memories - to Steve and I.  

Auntie and Uncle Lafe had a plot in Chickasha, very near the College.  Lafe built their house with a livable basement and single story but with full attic, on the east lot.  Here he planted pecan trees; lots of them.  Across the road (which was a city street, not a country road) he had an acre or two for: raising rabbits for his family-famous rabbit sausage; a fish tank on the lot; and the rest of the ground, as far as I know, was for just food of all kinds - and plenty of it.

We brought home an old cast iron stove - the parlor kind, but not at all fancy, just wonderfully strong.  It was under the house and we crawled under there to get to it.  We brought plenty of other things, too.  Things that we had no practical use for, but just because they belonged to Auntie and Uncle Lafe.  

I have several of Auntie's notebooks and here are some of her notations:  

Record of Odds and Ends as thot of From Time to Time.  VE

1940: canned 18 qts beef . . . 9 qts green beans . . . 5 qts beets . . . 8 qs corn . . . 4 qts cow peas. . . bought 2 bushels peaches . . . bought bushel grapes, put 7 1/2 qts marmalade, 9 qts grape juice & 5 qts just grapes . . . 

From those pecan trees Uncle Lafe planted, we had a tree ourselves, planted in the city when Steve was a kid, at the house where he grew up.  We ended up living in that same house for 25 years and our pecan tree was a wonderful treat.  One year I had a full bushel basket and another 3/4 bushel to crack.  And crack them I did, savoring the pecans, the work, and the joy of the memories.

There are more mentions of Lafe Eggleston and Veda Berry Eggleston in these dated articles:   2018:  April 25 and 26    2019:  September 14 and 15  

After Auntie had a stroke and moved to the city, she stayed with her sister (my mother-in-law) for quite a while.  But she worsened and was moved to a nursing home.  I put together a photo album for her.  This is what it looked like.

And this is the inside front cover.

Each of us who were her family had a page to add a photograph of themselves and a note to Auntie.  It worked out wonderfully well.  She kept it with her in the nursing home and after her death my mother-in-law - her sister - asked if she could keep it for a while.  That was fine with me.  We had all put our hearts into the album.

In 2019 I added the photos in the front and made a pocket in the back cover and added several more photos.  It was finished.  It is one of the treasures in my Treasure Chest.

A New Plan

I have been thinking a lot about my family history collection - photos, documents, on-line postings.  

My computer crashed weeks ago and after my Tech Wizard (Grandson) replaced the hard drive he was able to return almost everything to its original order.  I lost some important things and some that were kept just because there was a place to dump them.  

What I don't have back is my Legacy genealogy software.  It has been a wonderful software to use, but the company was sold in recent years and the website has changed a lot.  My wizard is coming this week to put that back together.  In the meantime, my thinking is about using alternative ways to make useful these collected records. 

Computer crashes:  I have been queried about why I don't store everything in the Clowd.  Do you know what a cloud is?  It is an unsubstantial collection of molecules that eventually change and disappear.  I don't trust the Clowd any further than I can throw it.  

My new plan is this:

Backup Number One:  not-digital resources

 

    I have two thick binders of printed, individual, direct-ancestor records.  Long - long - ago, that was one of the things I did to make sure that if the digital failed, I wouldn't have lost everything.  Besides, I like to sit and turn the pages and read about each person.  

        

    After the initial printing, I updated the books as I accumulated more information.  The last complete printing was 2016 and, while looking through the books recently, I find that there has been very little to add to the texts that would change the overall thoroughness of my research.  I am letting those stand as they now are.  

    I also have the show-files I have created for my families, as a group.  (Also photos are elsewhere in the blog.)  I started out with binders and plastic sleeves.  But I wasn't happy with them.  At an office supply I found what I call show-files, which have fixed pages.  These contain all the photos I have of each family and any records of great importance.  As you can see, plastic is not an ideal substance.

    So, I have three-dimensional resources for my family history.  I have been able, through correspondence - the written-on-paper kind - to share information with anyone who is interested in my records.  It is still my favorite way to disperse information that is of interest to both of us.

In the meantime, people who are interested, but not active historians, don't care to have a bunch of papers to shuffle through.  That's where the digital version of everything comes in.  

                                     Backup Number Two:   digital resources

Ancestry.com

My niece asked for everything to be on Ancestry, has loaned me her account, and "everything I know" will be hers one of these days.  That also provides access to anyone else who might be interested in a particular family line.  

Ancestry charges for access to that information unless your are able to use their library edition at a local library.  I never have figured out if the library edition offers a more limited range of records, or if not, why the labeling.  Many years ago, I subscribed to Ancestry, but never put my family online - just used the resources.  It was a matter of being able to work at home rather than in a library or research center.

I did put my whole family tree on-line elsewhere though.  RootsWeb was a wonderful FREE exchange of information, forums, postings, groups of information that were of special interest, and the best of all - WorldConnect.  I mention it often in my earlier postings.  Unfortunately, it did not survive a takeover by Ancestry.  

Find a Grave

When I began working with FindaGrave, it was not owned by Ancestry (!).  The information they preferred was just about death and burial and photos of person and grave.  That was fine.  I added many family members who were not already listed.  

As the years passed and it was taken over by you-know-who, the ability to add more, in photos and in records, changed.  That was fine with me.  I like the database very much, especially that it so visually links families on a single page (provided that the poster of a memorial has linked them).  Often, I am able to "submit edits" to link family members that are posted alone and add or correct information.  I like that contributions are wanted and appreciated.  I think it's a better source for putting families together.  

BetweenTheWindows.blogspot.com

I began this blog in 2010.  I needed to write and this was a good place to post what I wanted to say.  Sometimes I wanted to tell about my travels - almost always to look for ancestors - but, too, just holidays.  Sometimes it's about everyday life - reminders to me, now, of what joys I found.  I also wanted a place to post photographs and records and personal comments about them.  

(That's another thing about FaG that I like; I can post personal notes and comments that apply to a record or person and have that available for any researcher.)  

This blog is my favorite place to post and I have had some exceedingly interesting correspondence with others who have read something here.  It's a source of personal contact that makes this digital-age more acceptable.  

Now, I am working on synchronizing all three on-line resources.  Hopefully I will be adding much to this blog as I work on making all three sources filled with information.  

I am finding already, though, that I can put more here, visibly, than on either Ancestry or FindaGrave.  Still, they are where researchers will look first.  

That's all for now.