But I stayed up late last night doing some research, and I am very thankful I did, because I stumbled upon some information I had previously missed, and some other information I had forgotten about.
Soldier and I have a bit of OCD regarding our ancestry and family heritage. We have extensive family trees and have done so many hours of research it makes your eyes bleed after awhile. We are committed to finding out everything we can about everyone we are possibly related to; my ultimate plan is to put it all in book form someday, to be preserved for future generations, so they can simply read it and then go focus on more important things, like saving the world. Inevitably, when doing genealogical research, cemeteries become quite an important and useful tool. So much so that now, whenever we see a cemetery that looks old, we pull over to go check it out. Our kids think we're mentally ill; they go wherever we go, which means they end up coming with us on all these cemetery hunts, and they could not think of anything less fun. We make a point to go somewhere or do something fun for them on the same day, so they don't feel too bitter about it, but I have a feeling this is what they will someday tell their children and grandchildren: "Mom and dad used to drag us all over the country looking for dead people, all the freaking time." But when the price to go to Busch Gardens is a two hour visit to a historical church and cemetery, they're usually ok with it.
Last night I discovered that I have another set of who-knows-how-many-great-greats-grandparents buried not too far from where we currently live. I had once found this information, but had forgotten about it while researching other branches of the family. Not only that, I also discovered some photos that some generous soul has posted online of some of those family members. For a genealogical researcher, photos are like discovering gold.
I also received a package yesterday from my father, of things that had belonged to his parents. His mother died some time ago, and his father is in a nursing home, so the family cleaned out the house, took what they wanted to keep, and sold/donated the rest. My dad had several things in his lot that had been marked for me, and among the various china figurines and tea towels were two pocketwatches.
This is a big deal for two reasons: #1. I love pocketwatches. #2. These pocketwatches had originally belonged to my great-grandfather. They don't work anymore, of course (the winding mechanism is broken of both of them), but what a thing to hold in my hands! I was beyond thrilled. If photos are like gold, actual possessions are like winning the ultimate genealogical lottery. It just doesn't get better than that.
Today's entries are brought to you by the letters "OMG" which is exactly how I felt last night.
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