52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 14 – Brick Wall

From the very beginning, I always thought of my research as a challenge for many reasons.  My family had no real oral history that I could start with.  All of my grandparents were deceased.  I lived in the south, and because of the Civil War, many records from the 19th century had been destroyed.  But…

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 13 – In the Newspaper

I will admit I was torn about what to write about for this week’s prompt.  My family has a special connection with newspapers in that four generations of my family has either worked for a newspaper, myself included, or has used the newspaper as a platform to discuss social issues in America.  Click HERE to…

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 10 – Bachelor Uncle

This week’s word/prompt for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is Bachelor Uncle.  As soon as I saw the email, I knew exactly who would be the star of this blog.  Leslie Samuel Mays is my father’s older brother.  My brother, sister and I have always referred to him as Uncle.  He is the oldest…

Organizing Phase One – Naming and Filing Scanned Documents

It’s hard to believe that it’s already spring break time.  And with that said I have challenged myself to finally start some organizing.  I bought a portable scanner a few years ago that I love.  I have used it pretty consistently and have more than a few hundred documents, photos, and funeral programs that need to be…

RootsTech 2019 – Day 4 Recap

Going into the last day of RootsTech I knew I wanted to finalize what I wanted to purchase at the expo hall, and I had two sessions that I wanted to attend.  Today was a short day.  The last session was at 3pm and the expo hall closed at 2pm.  Not to mention I wanted…

RootsTech 2019 – Day 3 Recap

I must admit that the first two days here at RootsTech have been jammed packed. And if I’m being completely honest I was starting to feel the effects of it this morning.  We stayed three blocks from the convention center, so we just walked there and back every day plus all the walking in the…

RootsTech 2019 – Day 2 Recap

Last night I was able to go through the schedule and pick out the sessions I wanted to attend.  We got to the convention center around 9am again today.  Yesterday was a day of me getting used to the convention center.  I have stated before that I am directionally challenged and get lost easily.  But…

RootsTech 2019 Day 1 Recap

We arrived in Salt Lake City last night.  I would like to say we had an easy time checking in, getting dinner and winding down after our flight, but that wasn’t the case.  I ended up staying up way later than I wanted.  Which led us to have a slow start this morning.  I had…

Relative Race Season 5 Premieres – Sunday March 10

One of my favorite TV shows is returning for season 5.  BYUTV’s Relative Race premieres on Sunday, March 10 on BYUTV.  I have been following Relative Race on all social media, and everything I’ve read so far says that this is expected to be the most exciting season yet.  So I’m really excited.  Don’t forget…

RootsTech 2019…Here I Come

It’s official I am going to RootsTech later this month.  RootsTech is the largest genealogy conference in the world.  I have read about RootsTech for the past few years with dreams of going one day, and this year I get to attend.  RootsTech is held the end of February in Salt Lake City, Utah. RootsTech…

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 4 – ‘I’d Like to Meet…’

I accepted the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge headed by fellow genealogy blogger Amy Johnson Crow earlier this month.  Amy sends out weekly genealogy words/prompts and then you are supposed to write about what that word/phrase means to you and your genealogy/research.  I wanted to get my creative juices flowing and thought this would…

Getting To Know My Grandfather (and His Family) Through My Genealogy Journey- Part 5

I declared 2013 the year of the death certificate.  At that time I had been doing the majority of my research online but had come to a point where I wasn’t finding any new information on my ancestors.  So I went back and re-read a couple of my genealogy reference books.  There I learned that…