Posts Tagged ‘Online Writing’

Follow Friday ~ Finding Forgotten Stories

Posted: July 12, 2012 in Family
Tags: , , ,
5

A Tree Is Only As Strong As The Roots That Support It
Photo Credit: kellyvial.wordpress.com

In the midst of scanning documents, researching elusive family members, organizing the hierarchy that are my computer files, keeping up with genealogy emails, and job hunting, I have managed my time so well that I was able to read a few blog articles. One article in particular caught my attention, called Finding Forgotten Stories by Anne Gillespie Mitchell. I think it was Anne’s style of writing that kept me so captivated with every line I was reading and I ended up wanting to read the entirety of her article, “Wisdom Wednesday: It Is What It Is, It Aint What It Aint”. 

Once I started reading, I became intrigued with her words as she told the story of her research findings in her own family; I love how she captures the lives of her family to the point where you can envision the current events of the times that may have shaped their lives.  She includes this time line of events when writing of her family and creates a well rounded story. What a great history lesson! It’s not just names and dates or even a few photos throughout the article itself; it’s more like a well thought out story because when a person reads it, they are not only intrigued by the story but they also remember it. She has painted a picture with her words and delivers a wonderful article in which to read. She is a great writer with a unique story to tell.  I hope you like the article and her blog as much as I have.

You Can Read Anne Gillespie Mitchell’s Article Here: http://finding-forgotten-stories.com/2012/07/11/wisdom-wednesday-it-is-what-it-is-it-aint-what-it-aint/

A Story To Be Told, A Memory To Behold

Posted: June 12, 2012 in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

When I started writing this blog a year ago, my concentration was primarily focused on the history aspect of my family’s ancestral roots. I don’t know what I expected to find, being a novice and just starting to learn genealogy and all that it entails. I also didn’t know that it would become an addiction of sorts! My first impression of genealogy was the history part of it for sure, but also gaining a learning experience. 


Writing has always been a passion of mine since I was probably 17 years old. Not many people know this except my mother, but I actually wrote a romance novel! Ha! Who would have thought that a 17 year old girl would know enough about romance to write a book about it? I even typed the manuscript out on a typewriter, some people don’t even know what a typewriter is now that we have all this technology with computers, laptops,the iPad, and our smart phones. As a teenager I never even had Internet! So now everyone who reads this knows my dark secret! I wrote a book, submitted the manuscript to a publisher in New York and it was accepted, but little did I know about the publishing world. They told me I had to pay for the books to be published. Go figure! That never happened to Kathleen Turner in “Romancing the Stone”. So in my mind, I thought that it really wasn’t good enough to be printed. I requested my manuscript back and tore it to shreds and never wrote another word. Until last year when I started this blog, researching my family history.


So here I am today, still searching in the past. What about the future? What legacy will I be able to give my children and their children and so on? I think every family has a story, a past which no one person knows about unless it’s been written in a history book. Some stories get passed on from generation to generation but somewhere along those lines the original story was lost in translation. This reminds me of a time when I was in elementary school. The teacher would whisper a sentence in the first students ear, in turn that student told the next student what the teacher said and by the time the sentence reached the last student in the class, it wasn’t anything close to what she had told the first student originally! So you see, how just one sentence can change in just a short period of time between a handful of students. I can imagine what the different variations would be if a story were to be told and passed on from one generation to the next. There is always a story to be told and a memory to behold.


Photography is both a hobby and a passion for me. I take photos of just about everything; I guess it’s almost like a photo journal where I want to create the snapshot that will tell my story. One day I will create my own photo book of my life to pass on to my children. Memories are wonderful things and as the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words”, I believe it really does ring true. Photos are just memories in time. Times of happiness and memories to be made for future generations to enjoy. 


What keepsake will you create? Share your ideas in the comments below. 




Image Source:
Family Quote ~Tea Cups Of Life

Family Stories That May Be Lost Forever

Posted: July 13, 2011 in data, discovering family, facts, Family, family stories, heirlooms, knowledge, share information
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0
Thank you Ancestry.com! I have made contact with family members I didn’t even know existed. By researching the Cornett/ Sutherland heritage on the web site, I have connected with others who are researching the same family as I am and what do you know? They’re actually family. This is very exciting! The branches of my tree have become so tangled and intertwined, but in such a good way. What a great way to share data gathered through web sites such as Ancestry, and being able to share that knowledge with your own family, is priceless.

Image Source: Family Stories
Photo Credit: Andrew Bret Wallis



I was just talking to my oldest son, John, who was recently asking about our ancestry. He has become somewhat curious about who his relations were back in the “old days”. I was so excited that he even asked, that I think I may have bored him with my rantings of our family tree and what I had found so far. When I was his age, I “tuned out” my family when I heard the stories of ancestors past. Now I’m kicking myself for not paying attention! I went into my own little world of music and television so I didn’t have to listen to boring stories that related to history of people I never even knew. Today, I really wished I had recorded their stories in some way. Now that the older generations in my family have passed on to a better place, there is no way I can get that history, or even the stories back. The stories seem to have died with them. 



Family stories casually chatted about at the dinner table, or told again and again at family gatherings can parallel great epics or notable short stories. The memorable stories of our lives and of others in our family take on special importance because they are true, even if everyone tells different versions of the same event. These tales are family heirlooms held in the heart not in the hand.


So knowing that I lost those memories forever, how do I continue my research into a quest for family stories that relate to my family? Any suggestions?