More Halloween!! Sandy Adamson

I went a'searchin' and I found some gold!!

My Mom dressed as the Scraecrow and then ones of her as a Witch!!

Love them!!

I am pretty sure she said she scared the kids with this getup

Happy Halloween!! 2x Great Grandma Mollie (Batten) Smith

HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL!!

Whenever the holidays come around I always wonder how my family used to celebrate...Did they go trick or treating?? Did they dress up?? Really what was Halloween like for them.

Hidden in my Aunt Tina's pictures I found this one of my 2x Great Grandma Mollie (Batten) Stover Smith Reynolds on my Timbrel side, dressed and ready to head to town.

The inscription on the back of the photo reads: "Aunt Mollie (ready for Halloweeen & Big parade in Greenville, Ohio) To Tina:"


Mollie moved to Colorado sometime between 1910 & 1920, so I think the photo was probably taken sometime between then...she would have been in her 30's.  But I could be wrong and it could have been taken before that.


Note the pumpkin on the ground at her feet.  I wonder if it came from their own garden....


Theron thinks she might have been dressed up as a witch....could be.


Do you have any good pictures from Halloween??? I think I have a good one of my Mom...going searching again. :)

Treasure Chest Thursday - A Voice From the Past Part 2

Here is another story written by my Grandma Helen about her life.  These really do mean so much to me! Makes me feel like I am wrapped up in her arms again. 

" Life in the U.S.
The Birthday Cake
     I woke feeling that the day was special.  I couldn't think why?  Then I realized it was May 13th, my husband's birthday.  But more than that he would be coming home.  He had been sick and couldn't work for sometime.  He had gone to work a week ago in another town.  Had it only been a week?
     I could hear the kids moving around, and knew by the happy sounds they remembered too.
     All the time I was getting them off to school, I was thinking about a birthday cake.  Lloyd had been out of work a long time and there wasn't anything to make a cake with.  No matter how bad things had been, we always managed a birthday cake.  And the kids were sure I could do it for Dad.
     We were setting the table for dinner, when we heard the car, and Lloyd was home.  The poor man had five kids and one wife all over him.  When I saw his happy face, I knew everything would be alright.  It didn't matter if the dinner was slim and we didn't have a cake.  We were all together again.
     After dinner we cleared the table and I told everyone to set back down.  I went back to the kitchen for a bowl of jello, I had put 38 candles in.  But I made the mistake of lighting the candle's in the kitchen.  As I walked into the dining room, candles were going every which way.  And when Lloyd tried to blow them out, they went everywhere.  We all laughed till tears ran down our faces, and the candle's melted into the jello.  Lloyd said it was the very best birthday cake he ever had.
March 8, 1979"

Rootsmapper.com

Last week, my husband and I signed up for Google+.  Google+ is a social media website like Facebook and Twitter.  I had actually signed up quite awhile ago but found it was not user-friendly and couldn't see many of my family members going to this site.  But my husband had to sign up for a class he was taking.  I decided to give it a second chance and see if I could figure it out.

I did manage to work out the basics and will continue to become more adept at it.  My goal in using this new site is to connect with other people in the genealogy world.  If you would like to follow me, or be my friend or in Google+ talk be in "my circle" please shoot me an invite or whatever the new terminology is regarding Google+. 

This morning I got on Google+ to see if I could find some genealogy posts.  Not sure how it works or why I was able to see the post but I think it has to do with the fact that my posts are about genealogy.  Like I said, I am still learning.

But no matter how I came across it, there was a post for a new website called, www.rootsmapper.com.  The post said "If you have a familysearch.org account, checkout our new site that allows you to map the birth locations of your ancestors!"  Well heck, that looked interesting.  I decided that I would check this out.  And I have to say it was pretty cool. 

To see my family lines moving across the United States really brought out my "American Pride".  In my family, I have yet to "cross the pond" and leave the U.S.  A couple lines I have traced back to the Revolutionary War.  I am a pure American...long line of American history.  Love it! I know that eventually I move out of the U.S. but I am still working on finding those ancestors. I think I have a good idea of which lines I would need to spend more time on to really find my way out of the U.S. but I don't want to get ahead of myself.  I will get there eventually.

Here is my Roots Map, I am 0 and then it works backwards from me.

The only problem I had with the website is that there is no way to download your map or save it as a file.  I use Mozilla Firefox for my internet browser and it does not offer a screenshot option.  So I switched over to Google Chrome and did a quick screenshot.  Which for me wasn't a big deal, but if you are someone that is not computer savvy you might find it intimidating and just look at the pretty map but then move on.

My opinion is it is a pretty cool website but it does need to work on adding a feature for downloading your map from the webpage. 

My favorite feature of the whole site though is....IT'S FREE! :) Those are my favorite websites. 

Blog Vs Book: And Admitting When I am Wrong

So one of my "genealogical" dreams is to someday write a book with all the stories and pictures and cool things about my family that I have found.  I haven't yet started working on this dream because I still have so much work to do beforehand.  In the meantime,  I decided to share my work as I do it, and share some of the things I have found along the way.  And to do that I decided to start this blog.  I love this blog.  It gets my family talking and reminiscing over the "good ol' days".  And gives me an outlet to share and talk out the things I am working on.  I figure out a lot of stuff while talking to my husband about whatever I am working on at the moment...and this blog gives me another place to "talk it out" with out always boring my hubby with dead people.

The other good thing about this blog, is it gives me the opportunity to correct mistakes that I have made.  After consultation with a fellow genealogist, and talking it over with different family members.  I have come to accept the fact that the photo I have been "haunted" by these many years is in fact my Grandpa Les & Grandma Marie Timbrel.  I think this photo will always have a special place in my heart.  But it is time to admit when I am wrong. 

I will continue my search for photo's of Jake & Jennie Timbrel...someday I will make it to Walden, CO...looking high and low, searching under every "cousin" rock I can find.  And hopefully, someday I will have faces to go with these wonderful people.  But till then it's "back to the drawing board".

And you know what I am OK with that.  I am OK with the fact that I was wrong.  I had a hunch.  Sometimes they pay off and sometimes you are just chasing your tail, but at least I tried.  I put my best effort into proving or disproving my case.  I didn't just say "hey I think I am right and this is so and so". 

My Mom came for a visit this last week and I stated my case to her.  We examined the photo's that I had posted and talked for a good long while.  She says that Grandpa Lloyd specifically told her that that was Grandma Marie & Grandpa Les in that picture.  And she noted that the handwriting on the bottom of the picture was different than hers, and that it was in fact Grandpa Lloyd Timbrel.  She says that the day before Grandpa Les passed away he was in his basement working on fishing fly's.  Literally, he made fishing fly's till the day he died.

I still think that they look old in the picture but it is not a good quality photo.  She doesn't know what happened to the original.  And that makes me so very sad.  I wonder about all the photo's that have been lost to time, and wish for them back.  But yeah well wishing didn't get anyone to the end of their rainbow...hard work is what will get me there.  So someday when I reach that elusive "end of the rainbow" I will find what I am looking for, till then I will keep plugging away...making mistakes and working through them. 

Marie (Stover) & Lesile Timbrel abt 1917

Myrtle Marie Stover married Lesile C Timbrel on 19 Feb 1917 in Walden, Jackson, Colorado.  My Mom says that she was told this was their wedding photo, not sure about that.  But with the snow on the ground it could have been taken around the time of their wedding.  They were not very well off people though so it could be.  And also when it comes to this particular photo I don't have a good track record.  And that is the story my Mom was told. :)

Treasure Chest Thursday - A Voice From the Past Part 1

I don't ask for presents for my birthday, anniversary or Christmas, for the simple fact that the price of being a genealogist can get pretty spendy.  And luckily I have a pretty awesome husband, who lets me chase all my leads no matter the cost.  We take trips to visit family so I can do more research, or to go to some obscure archive.  There are ways to do this "job" cheaper but I find that for the amount of work I do (as I help anyone who needs it) it is worth the cost.  And it brings me fountains of joy, so he gladly pays the cost.  What a man!!

The days when I open the mailbox to find something I have ordered...like a death certificate, how morbid right!?, it's like Christmas to me. I look forward to days like that...makes me feel like a kid again. :)

But two days ago I got the BEST gift ever!  I have gotten a lot of things that have brought me to tears and made me extremely happy but nothing compares to the present I got the other day.

My Grandma Helen (Burrows) Timbrel started writing some stories of times that meant a lot to her, in March of 1979.  My Aunt Tina found this notebook, made copies and put them into the mail for me.

One of my biggest regrets is that I didn't write down any of my Grandma & Grandpa's stories.  Every visit to see them we got at least one story if not two or three.  I loved it!! But being as young as I was, it never occurred to me that someday I would get old and start forgetting all those stories.  I am going to take time this weekend and start writing down the ones I remember....they are few.

But what a great thing it was to sit and read these stories that were written in my Grandma's own handwriting and in her own words.  I cried through almost all of them, even the funny ones.  Not sad tears but tears of joy, longing and love.  I may not be able to remember the sound of my Grandma's voice but I sure could her telling her stories.

Over the next few weeks, I am going to put her stories here for all to love and enjoy.  Hope they mean as much to you, as they do to me.

"Life in U.S."

"I sometimes think we have lost something fine and good, when it comes to pride in our county and flag.  I remember my Dad taking me down to the train depot, one cold winter evening.  There were hundred's of people there.  We couldn't get any where near the depot.  We could hear a train coming, and all the people started yelling.  I was eight years old and couldn't understand what was happening.  My Dad picked me up and put me on his shoulders.  I could just see a man standing on the platform of the train.  When my Dad put me down, he said with tears in his eyes. Now remember you have seen the president of the United States.  There are a lot of us who can never say that.  For he himself could not see because of all the people.  So to this day, I say with pride, I saw Franklin Delano Roosevelt the president of the United States.
March 2, 1979"

Learning Photoshop

Ok one more post on this photo of mine...I am obsessed!! I am slowly learning how to use Adobe Photoshop.  I wondered if I tried if I could clean up that photo a little...not sure why I hadn't already tried.  But so I put it through photoshop and did a little tinkering.

Ummm...yeah a little better lol

Maybe that will help... I am still mulling this photo over.

And still trying to find other pictures of Jake & Jennie...if I had a good photo of them, it would be so much easier to figure it all out. :)

Follow Up on Wishful Wednesday

I have tons of other things I would love to write but I can't get past my last post about the picture of my Grandparents...which set, is still up in the air.

The thing is I have always felt uneasy about this photo...call it a prompting, call it a feeling, or call it crazy but whatever you call it...it's what I feel.

But with anything that is close to your heart, sometimes you can't see past your "feelings".  This is why I am calling for some more eyeballs to take a look and give me an honest opinion.  I know that the chances you will agree with me are about 50%...lol…But I think I can take it. 

I may be a softie when it comes to my normal life…but when it comes to my family history I have a little bit thicker skin.  I would rather have the work right than my pride petted.

So take a look and let me know what you think…. Shoot me an email, send me a text, comment on facebook or give me a call but please give me a hand.  :) Thank you!

In the meantime, I am trying different avenues to locate any more photo's that might be helpful.  I have contacted the North Park Pioneer Museum located in Walden, CO.  And have asked family members to aid in this search.  I will continue my search by other means.

Marie (Stover) as a young girl abt 1915 or 1916

Marie (Stover) Timbrel

Marie Timbrel

Marie Timbrel

Wishful Wednesday - Lesile & Marie or Jake & Jennie Timbrel

Yesterday, I wrote about my 2x Great Grandparents Jacob & Jennie Timbrel and how much I think about them.  It's not just their headstones that is always on my mind but them in specific.  One thing that has always been on my mind is the fact that I have not seen any photo's of them...together or separately.  With the exception of two photo's included in a book called "North Park" written by Hazel Gresham.   North Park is the name of the area surrounding Walden, Colorado where Jake & Jennie lived for a good portion of their life.  I only have copies of the book though, so it doesn't make for a very good picture.

Since I first went through my Grandma & Grandpa (Lloyd & Helen) Timbrel's photo's I have searched for Jake & Jennie.  Every cousin I touch base with I ask if they have a photo.  And so far I have not been lucky in my search.

I have a photo though that has haunted me for all these long years that I found in with my Grandparent's photos.  My Mom has written on the back "Leslie Crayton & Marie Myrtle He made fishing flies up to the day he died".  When I questioned her she swore that it was Grandpa Les & Grandma Marie.  But for some reason it has just never seemed to fit for me.  A feeling you could say, that I was not looking at Grandpa Les & Grandma Marie.

I decided this week to take a closer look at this "haunting" photo of mine.

Maybe the reason this photo has haunted me for so long is the age of both the photo and the people in the photo.  I don't have any real "proof" but by the time my Grandpa Les was this age it would have been the late 40's early 50's.  Grandpa Les passed away in 1958 at the age of 65. When my Grandpa Jake passed away in 1939 he was 79.  In order for that to be Grandma Marie (it would have to have been taken before 1958 when my Grandpa Les passed)  she would have to have been younger than 57.  And just to finish establishing age my Grandma Jennie was 76 at the time of her death in 1938.  I have concluded two things: 1. If it is Grandpa Jake & Grandma Jennie it would have had to be taken prior to 1938.  2. If it is Grandpa Les & Grandma Marie it could have been taken as late as 1958.

I can't age the photo from the paper it was printed on, as you can see all I have is a copy of the original. Or find a date which was sometimes printed on the photo also.

So now I look to the finer clues in the photo...more specifically my Grandma's (whichever one it might be) dress and headband.  This is a big clue for me.

One thing most of my relatives will agree on is the fact that they all knew that Jake & Jennie were "proper" people.  They dressed "to the nines", as I have been told.  Grandma Jennie had the white gloves and dress, and Grandpa Jake always was in a suit and tie.  If you notice in the one picture I have of my Grandma Jennie from the "North Park" book, she is at the river...dressed in her finery.  I can remember countless times my Mother would remark on the fact that she was in her dress out at the river.  I have always kept that in my mind also and maybe that might be another reason why this picture has always stuck out to me.

Taking a look at Grandma's dress, I can see first that she is wearing a headband....interesting.  But more importantly is her dress.  Up until around the 1910's most fashionable women's dresses had high necklines, long skirts and their sleeves went to their wrists.  After some research into dress styles in the early 1900's, I find that around 1910 the dress style starts to ease up.  Shorter hem lines and the neckline starts to move from very high to lower and even into V necks.  We know that by the 20's and the fad of flapper dresses that neckline gets low and the hem line even lower.  Love those flapper dresses! But that is not what I am working with here...sadly. I think after some...much...browsing on the internet that this dress style is from somewhere between 1900 and 1920.  I think probably more around 1910 but that is just a guess or well maybe only a slightly educated guess.  I was unable to get a better idea of the time based on the headband.  Headbands did not change much till the 20's when they became more flamboyant.

Moving on to Grandpa's suit, the first thing I notice is how short the tie is... Long, slimmer ties started becoming the fashion around the 1920's but men were still wearing short ties clear into the 40's.  So while a short tie like that made my eyes perk up, it wasn't a really good indication to form a time frame.  But I did find that his shirt collar was the fashion before 1920.  Before 1920 men's collar's were high and stiff.  The suit jacket also fits for early 20th century.  But just like the dress was a big clue for my Grandma, the hat is a big clue for Grandpa.  The hat he is wearing here is called a Newsboy cap and was especially popular from 1910 through 1920.  Although the newsboy cap was not a sign of wealth or social status, because most men and boys wore this hat from the poorest to the most wealthy, it is a good indication of time.  By the 1930's newsboy caps were out of style.  Taking another slightly educated guess I would say Grandpa's suit puts it somewhere between 1900 and 1920.  Just like Grandma's dress did.

Well, now that I have sufficiently bored you with my examination of Grandma & Grandpa's clothing I will move on to comparing them to known pictures of Grandpa Les & Grandma Marie, so you can see if they look to you like the same people.

For me, I can see a resemblance but is that because it's the same person or a father and son?  You decide.... When I showed this to my husband, he noticed that Les's nose looks longer and more pointy here than my so far unproved Grandpa.  But I will say this, my "haunting" photo is a bit blurry so that may not mean much.  I still am not convinced that this is Grandpa Les...but I will wait to make my conclusion. :)

I included two known photo's of my Grandma Marie, a younger and older version, to compare.  Again, I will leave it to you to decide.  But for me, I still am still skeptical.

Here is the last photo I will leave with you.  Notice how in this photo Grandma Marie is only slightly shorter than my Grandpa Les (also pictured is my Uncle Bobby).  Now if you look at the photo in question there is almost a whole head of difference.  If that is Grandma Marie, she sure got tall, and we can clearly see she is not wearing high heels to make up for the difference in height.

This is what I think...please let me know if you disagree...I think this IS a photo of my Grandpa Jake & Grandma Jennie.  I have dated the photo for somewhere between 1900 - 1920, though I am leaning towards 1910 sometime.  I think the people in my mystery photo are older and if it was Grandpa Les he would have been in his late teens/early 20's and Grandma Marie would have been in her early to late teens...not really of an "older" age.  And the height difference in the two women is very noticeable.

So could I have found a photo...I believe in my heart that I might have.  I would really love a second opinion...my husband's only partially counts as he wants to make me happy because he has to live with me if I am wrong ;)  But please feel free to point out anything I may have gotten wrong (you don't have to live with me lol)...or let me know if you agree...

Not Tombstone Tuesday - Jake & Jennie Timbrel

One thing I look for when researching my family is a headstone.  Some may think it is morbid...but it's not really.  First, you can get a lot of information (not always correct so be careful) from a headstone.  Birth and Death dates for instance.  If they are buried with other family members you can find a spouse's name if previously unknown, and children.  If they had children that were born and passed between census record's, you may not have even known about them.

I had someone ask me once "why do you care so much about headstones? surely, you can find all that information somewhere else", well most of the time you can but not always.  Every time you can document a fact, you should.  Headstones are just another way to document.  You can't always find proof of birth date or a spouse's name.  Birth dates can be hard to prove, for example a census record only gives you an approximation of the year, not an actual date.

There are lots of things to learn when you find their final resting place.  The cemetery office or funeral home sometimes keeps files on the people they are in charge of.  They may have things like death certificate, obituary, military rankings, and most importantly where they are buried exactly.

But mainly I like to find them to pay my respects.  I love to see where their final resting place is and look at their headstones.  Let them know that they are not forgotten and that they are missed.

I can't always go to the cemetery where my family is buried because of time, money and distance.  As I have written about Find A Grave before, some of you may know what it is.  But for those that don't, it's a volunteer based site, where you can create "memorials" for your loved ones and ask for a volunteer to go take a photo of their headstone and post it for you.  I do volunteer for this site, and have taken many photo's for people that have family in the Elko area.  I love it! But I don't just take photo's for others, I also ask for photo's to be taken for my own family.  That is one of the great things about genealogists...we love to help each other out.  :)

I had asked for a volunteer to take a photo of my 2x Great Grandparents marker, Jacob and Jennie Timbrel who are buried at the Riverside Cemetery in Denver, CO.  I had two people step up to the plate a couple years ago.  The first one went to the cemetery looked and couldn't find their headstones.  And that's ok...that happens, especially when you don't have plot information.  The next gentleman though went beyond just looking and tracked down their plot numbers which he later sent to me.  But more than that he took photo's of where they are buried.  He emailed me to let me know that for sure they didn't have headstones and that they were not even buried next to each other, but on opposite sides of the cemetery.  Then he later sent me photo's of their burial spots with a grid on the photo showing exactly where they are at.  Wow!

What a sad day it was for me to find out that not only were they not buried next to each other but that they didn't have headstones either.  Someday I will have enough money to get them proper headstones but till then I have these precious photos.  I may not be able to physically go to their graves or see a headstone, but they are not forgotten.  I think of Jake and Jennie often...as they are never far from my mind.  Even when I am working on different lines, they are always there...

Here are links to their memorials on Find A Grave:
Jacob C Timbrel b. 19 Oct 1859 d. 6 Apr 1939
Jennie E. Timbrel b. Sep 1861 d. 5 Mar 1938

Jacob C. Timbrel photo courtesy: Paul C Biwer

Jennie E. Timbrel photo courtesy: Paul C Biwer

Thank you Paul C Biwer!

Friday's Faces of the Past - Terry & Dolores Timbrel

I found this photo today while searching for something else.  And Wow! Look how young my Aunt Dolores & Uncle Terry were here.  This I am sure is from shortly after they were married.  I really do miss them a ton.  They were two of the most kind and loving people I knew. 

I always looked up to my Aunt Dolores.  She was so crafty.  I remember one trip they made up here to visit, and every one's house that they stopped at she took all the leftover soap...you know from back in the day when everyone used bar soap.  And then took it home to make new bars with the old.  What a great idea! I have a painting that she did and it hangs in my living room, proudly! Wish I had a smidge of the talent that she had.

After my aunt passed away, my Uncle Terry moved back to Nevada to see my Mom and their siblings.  He came up and spent the weekend with Theron & I shortly after we were married.  Theron had to work so we spent one whole day playing cribbage and talking.  What a great day we had.

Miss you both dearly! Love Me

Using Social Media for Yesterday's Throwback Thursday

What is "throwback thursday" you ask....well it is a hashtag link to photo's or posts on social media sites used to talk about things or people from yesteryear.  Let me explain that a little bit more.

Social Media is a wonderful, beautiful thing if used properly.  One way that social media is used for the good, is in bringing families together while they reminisce over the "old days".  If you have signed up for Facebook, then I am sure you have come across the countless pages that are genealogy related.  But have you found any pertaining to your hometown, if not go look.  For example, there is a group called "You know your from Gabbs when..." it is for all who have a connection to Gabbs, NV (my hometown).  You can post your photo's that pertain to Gabbs, or add a post with information on past and current events or people. It is a great way for all to share their memories about a wonderful place. 

Someone posted a photo of my Dad standing with some of the other member in the community, that I had never seen before.  You never know, you might see a photo of you parents or grandparents when they were younger and if you don't have very many photo's that might be an awesome find.  I was also recently contacted by someone that used to live next door to my Grandparents and she said she used to watch their dog for them.  The things you might learn are endless.

Instagram is a new form of social media.  It is a picture editing app, that most can find on on their smartphones.  You can connect with your friends and share your photo's once you have edited them.  You can also share your edited photo's on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and a couple other sites. 

One thing I love about Instagram is that it first let me connect to my nephew as he was teaching his ol' aunt how to use it.  And second it introduced me to the world of hashtags.  Which is pretty cool but if you like keeping your photo's private then best not to use a hashtag.  I don't hashtag any photo's that have my children in them for privacy issues. Hashtags are when you want to link your post with a certain word or words, i.e. throwbackthursday.  You add the # symbol and then the word/s.  So when tagging a photo for throwback thursday in the description part of the photo I would just add #throwbackthursday, with no spaces.  Then once  you publish the photo you can click on the hashtag and follow it others that have posted photo's using the same hashtag.  You can also use hashtags to link a status update or twitter post. 

I use two specific hashtags on a regular basis, one is #throwbackthursday and #flashbackfriday.  I did a photo for each of these a few weeks ago, and my family loved it! I didn't realize how much till the next Thursday when my little sister text me to see if I was going to post pictures again. Ummm...yeah wow! She will listen to me when I want to talk about family history but sometimes I can see her eyes glaze over...common enough.  But I was so happy when she wanted more.  And then she started adding her own photo's! Yes, she has become an active participant in my weekly addition of photo's...isn't that great!

This is my photo for throwback Thursday- Grandma & Grandpa Timbrel's plates

Pat & Nick Adamson sitting using the plates

Jessica Adamson...and another photo of the plates

Robert Adamson using the plates

Like I have said before, I don't have a lot of memories of my childhood (bad memory and all that) but I do remember these plates.  What a silly thing to remember.  But it is one of my memories so it is precious to me. And it sure did make my aunt happy when she seen it.  She couldn't believe that I had the plates.  Love that what started as way to post some of my older photo's has gotten my family talking and enjoying learning about their family. 

"Please" and "Thank You" wonderful words in the genealogy world....

Ok, so I am sorry for the rant that is about to come BUT....

I am a volunteer with Find A Grave and I clearly state two things in my bio page

1. "remember kindness gets you farther than rudeness..."

2. " If I have a memorial, that is your family, I am willing to transfer or add to it, whichever you prefer. Mistakes happen, I'm only human, please help me by correcting me if you see one."

Remember #1...it is one of the most important things I tell anyone that I am helping to learn the genealogy trade.  One of the things I can be quoted as having said is "kill them with kindness".  It is my motto. Really! How hard is that.  Kindness really does get you farther than being snotty.

That being said, I am only human!! So there will be mistakes...I am sorry.  I try to prevent these but they are just a part of life.  I don't know anyone, inside or outside the genealogy world, that has gone their whole life without making a mistake or two.  But there is way of letting someone know that they have made a mistake without sending out a scathing email and then not even linking to the mistake in question.  Sure...be rude, then make me go hunting for the mistake in question.

This is what I came home to this evening.  Not just one but two very rude emails, demanding that I fix these mistakes.

And I am thinking this is the straw that broke the camel's back for me.  I have just had it with people treating me like it's my job! Or I owe it to them to keep going out of my way to find the information they want.  And then when I am unable to acquire said information getting mad at me because it's not available.  I don't offer to help so I can go to the museum and stand around and not give it my all.  That would be a waste of my time and not very satisfying. When I go down there, I really do everything I can to find what I am looking for.

"Please" and "Thank you" are not that hard to say.

And this is not the first time I have people that are a bit on the rude side.  I am a volunteer NOT a paid servant.

I do this because I absolutely LOVE to help people find their family.  I love being able to run to the museum or the cemetery and find the things that they can not come here to find for themselves.  If someone is nice in their request and pleasant to work with I will go beyond what they have asked for, especially if I know that there is more that I can find that is available to me here.

In my defense, in regards to the memorial in question this evening, I added information for another contributor to the memorial.  In seeing what was written, I should have double checked it and proof read it.  I sometimes go on faith when someone sends me information to add.  They usually have more information than I currently have.  And seeing as how they are contacting me, I guess I just figured that they have some investment in getting the memorial right.  Maybe that is my mistake...

I have two children that no matter what, come first in my life.  They come before any of my hobbies or obsessions.  That is my life, and I love it that way.  All I can say is maybe it was a night that my kids were needing some extra attention.  Honestly, I don't know.  I am not normally a lazy person when it comes to this work.  So I know it wasn't just because I didn't want to "deal" with it.  I truly love this work and would never intentionally be misleading or lazy, and I am not stupid either...I know how to work spell correct. 

NOW...all that being said.  There are times being a volunteer is so completely amazing.  I have had quite a few people that I have helped for months on end.  The more information I find for them, the more information they need.  They find new members of their family and then would like their information.  I love that.  I love knowing that I have helped someone get farther because of the little bit of time I spend in the archives for them.  When I get a reply from someone telling me how much it means to them and their family that I took a picture of a headstone that they can't visit, or find an obit that reminds them of the great life someone lived, it makes me happy.  I put up with all the mean people for those that are so excited by what I can bring them.  Makes it all worth it.  And really there are more people that are grateful than there are snotty.  So I will keep it up and do all I can do....because really that is all I can do, my best....

"KILL THEM WITH KINDNESS" ....it really does work!!