52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 19 – Nurture (My Mother’s Day Weekend)

This week’s 52 Ancestors prompt is ‘Nurture’.  My guess is because this is the week of Mother’s Day.  Mother’s Day is the day we celebrate the mothers in our lives.  I always celebrate any woman who has nurtured a person in some way.  We all know it takes a village to raise a child.  This…

I Attended My First Writing Workshop

If you have been reading my blog from the beginning, then you know that I have been researching my family history since 2011.  About two years into my family history research I knew that one day I would write a book about my genealogy journey.  I started this blog in 2017 with no formal training…

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge – 4 Month Update

I first read about 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge from reading the blog, Uncovering Roots, Extending Branches last year.  The idea behind this challenge is that you will receive email prompts, a word or phrase, every week, and you find something about your research or family history to write about.  The first thing I…

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 17 – At Worship

When I saw this week’s prompt, ‘At Worship’, I didn’t know what I would write about.  Church has always been an important part of my life and my family.  I could easily write about the two churches of my youth, St. Paul AME Church and Morning Star Baptist Church.  I could write about finding my…

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…