Genealogy Update

I got in a film today that I have been waiting on for a couple months.  It's church records of my family members from the 1730's!!!  It's actual baptisms and marriages, etc.  I can't wait to look at it.  I am also ready to turn in my lineage papers for the Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War so I'm very excited about that too.  It's my first lineage society to join.  I'm looking forward to lots of good things this next year and I am going to make 2011 a great one!
I am also starting my own little side genealogy business.  Nothing fancy, just kind of for fun.  I get asked quite a bit for some help and they are willing to pay so I decided to make it official. 
digintoyourfamilyhistorywithtiff.weebly.com
Exciting stuff!!

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, Day 9: Grab Bag

Hmmm... What to write about today.  Well my Christmas shopping isn't even close to being done.  My cards are not even close to being sent either, but the funny thing is by next Friday, both things will be almost finished.  I had planned on having my genealogy book for my "Wright" side ready for Christmas this year and then back in August I found some incredible leads and about five generations further back and well... I'm aiming for February.  I would like to have them done for my grandpa's birthday, so we'll see.  :-)  Otherwise, this year was full of big events and life changes for me so I'm glad it's almost a new year.  We'll see what it will bring. :-)

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, Day 8: Christmas Cookies

I briefly remember putting out Christmas cookies at my grandma's one year but this wasn't really something we did for too long.  It wasn't really tradition from what I can remember.  One other time I remember putting out cookies was when I was in sixth grade.  Since I don't have much to write about cookies I will insert this Christmas story here.  My mom had back surgery for scoliosis that year.  She ended up spending almost 2 months in the hospital from that surgery.  On Christmas Eve she was still unconscious and she ended up biting through her tube that was helping her breath.  It slipped down into her lung.  She died on the table but they brought her back twice if I remember right.  Either way, my brother is 5 years younger than me and was still in the believing age so it was up to my step brother and I to get everything around while my step dad was at the hospital with my mom.  We made sure the presents were out, made everything believable and took bites out of the cookies, drank the milk.  She pulled through but that is all I remember about that Christmas.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, Day 7: Christmas Parties

There's not much I can write about Christmas Parties.  We have one at work that I attend and we usually have fun things to do.  We always take a group photo around our humungous tree we get.  Last year we played some games and this year we are doing a dinner mystery.  I remember a couple times growing up we would have some of my step dad's coworkers over for dinner around Christmas.  I remember a couple times going to a Christmas type play, usually at a church.  I went one year with my best friend in high school, his family and church.  I'm sure we also had Christmas parties when I was in girl scouts but nothing really stands out.

Advent Calendar of Memories, Day 6: Santa Claus

This is my first picture with Santa.  I have a few more through the years.  I'm not sure when my belief faded, but Santa was always in our lives.  My step dad was one of Santa's helpers.  Yes Santa does need help.  We were taught the Spirit of sharing and caring through watching my step dad help Santa with countless families who didn't have enough for their families.  Sometimes they knew us, and sometimes they didn't.  Seeing the tears from strangers when they realize their family will have a decent Christmas was all I needed to have a great holiday.  It's that way for me now.  It is something I will never forget and I will pass on.

Advent Calendar of Memories, Day 5: Outdoor Decorations

Growing up I don't remember having outdoor decorations much until I was about 11.  Then my mom married my step dad and he liked to decorate for Christmas.  We had a light up santa and reindeer on the roof, lights from every corner, not quite the Lampoon's Christmas vacation, but sometimes close!  We had toy soldiers on the curbs. 
When we moved to the country, the decorations spread!  We had lights lined all the way down the driveway.  We still had the light up santas, reindeer and soldiers, but now we had these wooden decorations as well.  My step dad, Will's great grandparents had made a santa and reindeer and my mom used cardboard to make a pattern and they cut the pattern out of plywood.  At that point she painted them and they stood on the fence corner for as long as I can remember.  They may still be there now!  Since I have been on my own I have worked on building my indoor decor more than anything, so this year will be the first time I attempt any outdoor decor on my own and I plan on putting a few lights on our lonely bush outside.  :-) 

Advent Calendar of Memories- Day 4: Christmas Cards

We got our first Christmas Card from my grandma Kirby last week.  I normally get a handful and I think it's a nice way to keep in touch.  I like to send pictures in mine and I'm getting mine ready right now.  My holiday pictures are normally filled with my animals but this year I have 2 step sons, a wonderful man and of course, my baby girl Sierra.  We are having such a wonderful holiday season so far. 
For anyone who does send me cards there is one sure way to ensure I will keep it forever... make sure the card has a dog on it.  :-)  I keep all cards with dogs on them and scrapbook it.  I will keep letters and pictures out of them, but I got it in my head awhile back to learn how to declutter and so now it's habit.  I also may make little boxes out of the cards I don't keep.  My guy hangs his cards on his blinds so that along with the candy canes we got are hanging there. 
I love getting cards and just seeing how people have been over the past year and what they have been up to.  I now get electronic cards by email and that's ok too.  I will print some of them out.  Just keep in touch with your families!! :-)

Advent Calendar of Memories, Day 3: Ornaments

Well, I started talking about ornaments when I was talking about the tree, but I have some other things to add about trees that I thought of so I guess that works!!
When I was in high school we lived on a farm and we always had a real tree.  It was a tradition that we got the tractor ready and hooked up to our trailer.  We lined the trailer with hay and all of us loaded in bundled up and full of blankets.  Of course we also loaded up our dogs and made our 10 mile an hour trek to the Christmas Tree farm a couple miles from our house.  At the Christmas tree farm we walked around until we all agreed on a tree and then chopped it down.  We got hot chocolate and then we headed home.  Normally someone drove in a vehicle as well in case there were babies or anyone was sick or the little dogs.  Now the farm is gone, the tractor is gone and the Christmas tree farm is gone but the memories will always live. 
Back to ornaments though... Like I mentioned earlier, I get an ornament every year to symbolize something for that year.  We just decorated our tree yesterday and I was looking through my ornaments (some which are missing now) and just remembering what they stood for.  Some went back in the box but all the ones for my animals came out and my step sons were all too happy to hang up the one's for my baby girl Sierra.  (They also love to make her wear Reindeer antlers lol).  My grandma Wright and I go every year and pick out our ornament.  There are so many to choose from but her and I love to go and just browse to find the right one.  It's something I look forward to every year. 

Advent Calendar of memories, Day 2 Holiday Foods

Who doesn't like to talk about food??  In the past 10-15 years it has become tradition at my grandma and grandpa Wright's house to have chili and Oyster soup on Christmas.  Before that it was a full out meal like Thanksgiving, with turkey, ham, and all the fixin's.  One of my favorites that Grandma still makes is Cherry dessert.  It has a graham cracker crust, cherry topping and whip cream.  YUM.  I also love green bean casserole.  Sometimes my step dad would make Pisatchio dessert where you mix the pudding mix with whip cream and add mixed fruit.  That is pretty good as well.  One year we had Prime Rib with twice baked potatoes and asparagus with cheese.  It was sooo good! 
We always have a veggie tray, but we also started making our pickle things as we call them.  We take thinly sliced ham and spread cream cheese on it and wrap a pickle in it and cut it up.  Those don't last long.  :-)

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, Day 1 The Christmas Tree

We have always had a Christmas tree as far as I can remember.  It was always a fun time to decorate it.  We would have snacks and have a movie in, usually Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  In the recent years it has been tradition for me to put my Christmas items and tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving, bake cookies (chocolate chip), put in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and decorate the tree.  Every year I get a new ornament to represent that year.  My dog Sierra also gets one.  :-)  I have ornaments from other pets I have had and I put them up.  If someone dies or is born, I try to get an ornament to represent that as well.  My nieces and nephews have come to know they are getting an ornament from me for Christmas.  I just thought it would be fun for them to have their own mementos and a piece of home for when they are on their own. 
One picture that stands out in my mind (and I don't have a copy right now to attach) is the picture of my great great grandparents (Wilson's) sitting in front of their Christmas tree.  You can barely see them, it's kind of like a shadow, but enough to tell it's them.  They are in front of a window with this Charlie Brown looking tree sitting on a little table (if I remember correctly).  It is slightly decorated but they look content.  I'm thinking they knew what the holidays were really about!
I have since added the image.  When I looked at the picture again it first looked like a house plant, but you can see the few things hanging from it, such as the bell.  :-)

Follow Friday

Well I have two thoughts for Follow Friday today.  To me follow Friday is recommending a website or another blog etc.  So for that part I am going to recommend you take a look at Midwest Genealogy Center's website (part of Mid-Continent Public Library): http://www.mymcpl.org/genealogy.  It is the most wonderful place in the world, but I am biased.  ;-)  On this site you can find tips for starting genealogy and continuing, forms that you can fill out online and save to your computer and many links to other helpful sites.   Not to mention the links under getting started about the online presentation.  Two classes were done by yours truly and another one on the way!! :-)  Check it out!
Next for follow Friday I am challenging myself to "follow" my lead yesterday and go home and do some genealogy.  Last night I spent about 2 hours working on my genealogy and playing catch up on entering my information on my computer software that I have recently found.  I want to spend at least an hour on this tonight (while watching a marathon of Criminal Minds, of course!)  While entering in this information I am creating quite a list of to-do's.  I have also created a goal to get this side of my family put into a book and printed out for my family by April!  I just have to do it!!!!!!!!!!

Monday Madness

Well Monday Madness fits today as I have been very busy!! I have so many projects started that I need to finish wrapping up.  The one I have mentioned before about my great-great granfather Earl Black is one of them.  I now have all of the documentation and paperwork together to send to the courts in order to get a court order for the mental health records, I just need to send it!!  I need to write a convincing letter.  It is my goal to have this done by next Monday!  Otherwise I had started participating in Nanarimo- which is to write 50,000 words in month of November.  I had a good start and then life got in the way!  When family is in the hospital, that takes up a lot of time to go back and forth as well as kids.  I still have 8 days to try and catch up.  I only have about 47,000 to go.  HA HA.  It was my goal to do this for my family history book.  I'll let you know over the next 8 days how I do.  :-) 

Sentimental Sunday

It has been awhile since I posted as life has gotten in the way.  I have been slowly working on my genealogy projects however.  I will write about those in the days to come.  For my sentimental Sunday I am going to write about my Uncle Ed.  He passed away last month.  I considered Ed to be the storyteller of the family.  He could tell you all sorts of family stories and I was lucky enough to get some of them on tape while he was still here.  How much truth is in them is still left to tell, but that is with any family story, as any genealogist can tell you.  I do know how proud he was of his children and family.  He talked about them often.  He also had a big love for his dogs!!  We shared lots of those type of stories.  I remember visiting Uncle Ed when he was married to Ozella in Springfield, MO.  They had horses and lots of other animals.  I especially remember they had 2 crows and they were in the house!  He let us help pull water out from a well and we took lots of pictures that are engrained in my memory.  He moved closer to our family and we seen more of him.  We helped him with his house repairs when he first moved in and I spent some time with his horses.  He then got to the point where he just couldn't do anymore.  What he did do was paint and write.  He was extremely talented.  In his later years however, he did become more lonely and he drank a lot.  I would spend time with him when he wasn't drinking and that's the Uncle I want to remember.  When I go back to transcribe his interview, I will share more stories, but for now I will leave it at this and just say, Uncle Ed, we sure do miss you!

Monday Madness and tombstone tuesday

Well I have been very busy so I have been posting in bulk, but posting still.  I'm still in the process of getting everything around to send off for the medical records for Earl Black.  I got all the certificates now, just got to get it all together. 
Tombstone Tuesday...

This tombstone is of an ancestor on one side and he is the furthest back I have so far on that line.  His name is Elisha Martin and he is the father to Margaret Martin Garner.  Her tombstone picture is the first one I put on my blog.  It's in Clear Creek cemetery in Gallatin, Missouri.  There is so much I would love to know about this family.  When did his wife die and where is she buried?  What happened to Margarets husband after she died?  Who is Elisha's parents and family and how did they come to live in Gallatin?  All of these start with just one tombstone.  Maybe someday I will be posting the answers. :-)

Sentimental Sunday

Almost everyone has items that hold sentimetal value.  Today my boyfriend, Adam, realized that some of his video game systems and games have been stolen out of his basement.  It has taken him years to collect all of it and it wasn't as much for money as it was just something he enjoyed.  It is heartbreaking to lose things like that.  In the same sense, this happens with our memories.  It is heartbreaking to realize that your mother or grandfather cannot tell you the stories anymore for one reason or another.  Get them while you can.
I was lucky enough to get to sit and chat with grandma for a few minutes tonight, but I need to go over and just talk with her and grandpa some more.  Note to self: Make an appointment to let them tell their stories!!

Storytelllin Saturday

I went to visit my grandmother, Bernita, tonight and she told me a story about her Grandma Wilson.  Grandma Wilson lived in a house on 3rd street in Maryville, Missouri and grandma remembers her sitting out on the front porch with her corn cob pipe!  The house she was living in had low ceilings.  they are getting ready to demolish the house so the family was able to get some things from it.  It's a short story, but the corn cob pipe always stands out in my head!! :-)

Treasure Trove Thursday and follow Friday

This week has been so hectic for me that I have resorted to blogging in bulk!!  At least I'm blogging though.  This worked out well for Thursday and Friday because I am going to write about the same topic for both.  I am teaching a new class this morning on Basic Military Records and I just was thinking about how lucky I am to have such a "treasure trove" of information at my finger tips.  I am referring to the Midwest Genealogy Center.  Yes I work here, but I started working here because I was here so much that I applied and got a page position.  I worked my way up from there and I absolutely love it.  I NEVER would have thought I would be teaching classes on anything, working so closely with people doing detective work and just overall enjoying my job!  I have learned so much about people and history by researching and it is so wonderful!  If you are researching your genealogy and have never been to MGC, I highly recommend taking a trip.  It is the largest free standing public genealogy library in the nation!  www.mymcpl.org/genealogy

Monday Madness and tombstone Tuesday on Wednesday lol

Well the last two days has been very busy for me so I'm catching up today. 
Monday Madness: I got the letter back from the hospital on how to get the medical records.  I am making the copies of the certificates and getting a court affidavit, so that's on hold until I get all that finished.

Tombstone tuesday:  This past week was an awesome week of discovery in my genealogy and tombstones are no different.  This is a tombstone of my ancestor Asahel Wright and his wife Temperance Jones.  They are on the same stone.  I requested that the pictures be taken and the next day- there they were!! I about cried!  I would love to see this piece of my history in person but for now this is the best I can do.  How wonderful for it to still be standing when it was there during the Civil War era. 

Sentimental Sunday- Just remember....

I went to a retirement party today for a coworker and friend of mine named Maria.  I am sure going to miss her.  She was born in Dublin Ireland and helps people with Irish research among other types of genealogy.  She is going to be greatly missed as a coworker.  Made me think quite a bit though about all the coworkers of mine that have been retiring and just people in general I have had to say goodbye to because of one reason or another.  Made me think that I had better write down memories now because one day I'm gonna wake up and 20 or 40 years have passed and more recent memories have taken precidence in my mind.  I encourage everyone to write memories and stories in a journal while you can.  Think about the future generations.  Would you want to read something that your grandparents or even further back wrote?  Would you want to know their thoughts and what they did?  I sure would.  So read a book on writing and get some ideas and go for it!

Storytellin Saturday- George Wright Jr.

My story to tell today is about a guy named George Wright Jr.  He is one of the new family that I have recently found. :-)  According to the family tree I found online it states that George was a musician in the Revolutionary War.  If you would like, please comment below if you know anything about what a musician in the Revolutionary war did.  So far I have no proof of this but it is something I want to look into.  I may decide to pursue joining the DAR.  The source was listed as a History book for Greene County, New York.  I do know a bit about where information came from for the History books and that is anyone who wanted to pay to put a biography in there and whatever they wanted to put.  There is normally a grain of truth in there somewhere, so off to search I go.

Treasure Trove Thursday- Asahel Wright

Well last night I had a tremendous breakthrough.  A transcription of a bible record is on usgenweb.org that links the Washington Wright I knew of as my ancestor to his parents, Asahel Wright and Temperance Jones.  It also lists dates and siblings.  After that i then found a transcription out of a history book that tells Asahel's parents and where he lived through out his life.  If all that wasn't enough- I found an online tree that someone submitted with that family and traced back to 1610 to a Benjamin Wright born in England!!  Of course I will have to document everything- find all the sources for myself, but it is so exciting to find all that!!!!  It's what i have been working towards for the past 7 years and I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!  I am so excited!  I can't wait to write to the Tioga County Pennsylvania Historical Society and get copies of the ORIGINAL bible pages!!!! :-)

Tombstone Tuesday- Cyrus Maynard Black

Well I am getting ready for the Military Class that I am going to be teaching in a couple weeks and I love to use my family as examples in my classes.  This worked out perfectly for Tombstone Tuesday because of my Civil War ancestory, Cyrus Maynard Black.  A question that is often asked is "How do I know if my ancestor was in the Civil War?"  First you must determine that the person was of the approximate right age to be in War.  Then usually a tombstone is a good tip off.  In this case, this was my first indication that he was in the Civil War.  This is a typical Civil War tombstone and it doesn't give much information.  What it does give me though is that he was in company c, 11th Indiana Cavalry.  Generally when there is a tombstone like this, it had to applied for through the government.  I found the card used for the application using ancestry.com.  The only new information I got from the card was that he was a Private and died the 25th of January 1892.  Using all of this information however, I am able to obtain the service and pension records (at a hefty price), regimental histories and found out that he was a bugler in the Civil War.  He turned out to be a perfect example for my class!! Thanks third great grandpa. :-)

Monday madness- Earl Omar Black update

Well I have a letter typed out for a judge and I'm in the process of making copies of the appropriate certificates to prove I'm related to him.  I also need to find out where to send the request and court order when I get it back.  I am also working on researching the facility for the time period he was in there to include it in the family history.  It could have been something basic and simple, or far out there.  Only time will tell.....  In the meantime I am going to try to track down what happend to the children and why he went to Oklahoma. 

Sentimental Sunday-"Grandma" Louis and Uncle Pete

Today's sentimental Sunday is more of a recent one for me.  The picture I have included is of my "Grandma" Louis, Uncle Pete and mom, Susan.  The Shetland Sheepdog is Fries and the chihuahua is Hercules.  My Uncle Pete and "Grandma" Louis have both passed on now adn I miss them so much.  Louis was one of those women that people will tell you was the nicest they had ever met.  She believed in God and lived her life by His word.  No one is perfect, but at least during the times I knew her, she was awful close.  She was a close friend of the family who was more family to me than some family I already have.  Uncle Pete was truly family to me.  Unfortunately for many years he battled with alcoholism.  When he came to become part of our family he quit drinking and became the best Uncle you could ask for.  Anytime I needed advice or a friend he was there and because of what he had lived through, he was understanding, patient, funny and caring.  He had inherited the chihuahua, Hercules, from or family, by Hercules' choice.  They were inseperable.  Uncle Pete loved everything about motorcycles.  He loved the freedom he felt when riding them.  He was in a bad wreck one day and I rushed to the hospital and stayed with him all day.  It was very hard to see him lying in that bed.  Part of his scalp was pulled back and blood was everywhere, along with broken arms.  By the time I went home there was blood everywhere.  As I sat in that hospital with him I thought back on when I first met him.  He was still an alcoholic and "Grandma" Louis just died.  He was itching to drink but had been staying with us to keep him from it.  It didn't work, he found ways around it.  It came down to the time when i had to take him home and he wanted to stop by the store, to get cigarettes he said.  I went in with him and he got his cigarettes then said he needed to go to the bathroom so I stood there and waited.  He came out and thought he would try to sneak around me to get alcohol.  He picked up the bottle and I took it away from him and put it back.  I told him he didn't need it and I wasn't going to aide him in getting drunk.  We stared each other down right there in the aisle and finally he backed down and went to the car.  Once we got to his house he just got more depressed and wanted to die.  We talked for a long time and I called my step dad to come over.  I left once he got there.  Back to the hospital scene: He had helped me so much after that day.  I learned from him lessons that you can only learn through experience.  He stayed sober for 3 years.  It was the best 3 years I could have asked for in an Uncle.  But then once again, his depression got the better of him and he didn't ask for help.  He went back to alcohol.  One day I was driving to meet a friend to have a fun filled day and my mom called and told me that Uncle Pete had drank himself to death, on purpose.  I about ran off the road.  It's been a little over a year now and I still go through bouts where I am so angry with him, a little guilt that I could have done something and times where I just miss him so much.  His death reminds me of a song sung by Alison Krauss and Brad Paisley, "Whisky Lullaby."  The phrase from the song, "He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger..." always comes to mind.  Even in his death he still taught me something.  Life is short- live it to it's fullest.  When it seems like it is crashing in on you, ask for help and pull back from your problems long enough to realize that it will pass.  I realize that this blog is a bit more deep and a bit depressing for a genealogy blog, but it's how I feel and I would have loved to have read things like this from my ancestors.  Maybe one day a descendant of mine will read this and realize that a slice of my zest from life came from these two incredible people who taught me not only through their lives, but through their death.

Storytellin' Saturday

I chose my own blogging heading for Saturdays- Storytellin' Saturday.  This is going to mainly focus on those stories that are handed down from generation to generation.  The first one that pops into my mind is the one I was told from my Great Uncle Richard Wright about my great great grandmother, Ruby Wilson Wright.  Ruby was married to William Arthur Wright and if you read the blog earlier in the week about William, you will remember that it said his wife took their son and left before he came home from war.  It was said that Ruby took Roy to Montana two weeks before William was to come home from war.  Now I can't find why they went to Montana.  Was there family there?  No idea yet.  For a long time I couldn't even find proof that they were in Montana until the nice people at the Cascade County Montana Genealogical Society did a look up for me in the city directories and found him there in the 1940's.  I went on to find a state military card showing that Roy was signed up through Montana and then an obituary.  But I never found any trace of Ruby.  Did she die? Did she give him up to another family?  The rest of the story said that she was an alcoholic and ended up in a facility of some sort, but still no proof.  The genealogy society even said they checked a listing for the sanitariums but her name did not come up.  Did she remarry?  I just dont have any idea at this point what happened, but one day i will. :-) The picture is of Roy Wright.

Treasure Chest Thursday

I chose these silhouettes of my grandma Sally for Treasure Chest Thursday.  I don't see this done much today and didn't know much about it at all until I seen these.  My grandma says she was about 6 when these were done.  Her aunt liked getting them.  I think it's cute that you can see the little bow in the black silhouette.  Luckily I have a lot of pictures of my grandma, but if I didn't i would be thrilled to have even this.

Tombstone tuesday- William Arthur Wright

I am writing about my second great grandfather, William Arthur Wright, and attempting to remember the facts off the top of my head as this is the only time i have to blog today. :-)  He was born in hawleyville, Page County, Iowa in 1896.  I have found him on every census that i am able to find him on- including the state census records- and in 90% of them he is in Montgomery County, Iowa.  His father ran a saw mill and when he was old enough, he ran it and then took it over when his father died.  I found his WWI draft registration card and he did serve in the War.  I don't know much about that part of his life.  I still need to order his records.  What I do know is that he was at War when his son was very young.  I heard from other family members that 2 weeks before he came home from War, his wife took his son and fled to Montana.  He did remarry eventually and have more children.  I hear further that the son came back to visit sometimes in the summer.  William died in 1960 and is buried in the Villisca Cemetery in Villisca, Montgomery County, Iowa.  From the stories and pictures I have gathered, he was a hard working man who loved his family.

Madness Monday

Madness Monday is perfect for me because I will never run out of crazy people or situations in my family to write about. :-)  Today I am going to write about my great great grandfather, Earl Omar Black.  There is a chance that he actually was crazy as he died in the Missouri State Hospital #2 in St. Joseph, Missouri in the 1940's.  There is a possibility of getting the records.  I have to get a court order and find out where to go from there.  I printed out a letter today to a judge, so I will keep you posted on the results.  He had 8 children that I'm aware of and his wife, Iva Belle Garner, died in child birth in 1925.  All of the children went to different homes.  I want to find out why he was in there for 4.5 years until his death.  His death was pneumonia.  There is also some questions about his life such as why was he living in Oklahoma in  the 1930 census?  Who was there and why was he there?  What happened to his tombstone?  My great grandmother insisted one was put there, but it is not there now.  All questions that have a possibility of being answered.  So tune in next week for updates.

Sentimental Sunday

The picture I have posted with this is from Clear Creek Cemetery in Lock Springs, Daviess County, Missouri.  It is not the best picture, but will do for what I want to write about.  I discovered this cemetery early on in my search.  I have family there, but when I first found the cemetery I only knew about one family member, which was Margaret Garner.  I stopped at a couple places and asked for directions to the cemetery.  I finally found someone who knew.  I took the route given to me and thought I had gotten it wrong because of how far out it was (I was new to genealogy).  I found the cemetery and discovered that there was a building on the property.  I found that it use to be a church and now is just fixed up to look nice, but is no longer in use.  I went row by row and when i was almost to the back of the cemetery, I thought for sure I had missed something.  However, just like when you are researching at the library and the books you want are always on the bottom row, there was the tombstone in the back row.  I took pictures with a disposable camera and when i looked up, I saw that I had climbed a hill to reach the back.  The view was breathtaking!  Instantly it became my favorite place to be at peace.  Being a new genealogist I didn't think to look further.  I did find the tombstones directly next to it were her daughters, but i later found that the people next to her in the row were her father, sister and sister's family.  I learned then to take pictures of the tombstones around my families, at least, and all of the same surnames in the family.  This journey was sentimental to me because it was the first time that something was found in person, by me, that was new to our family!