Friday, January 30, 2015

When you finally go back to your old home, you find it wasn't the old home you missed but your childhood. Sam Ewing


"When you finally go back to your old home, you find it wasn't the old home you missed but your childhood." -Sam Ewing

The Old Home Place - By Mary Walker Butler


The Old Home Place

By: Mary Walker-Butler

I can see the crooked boards 
That line the outer walls. 
I can smell the age-old scent 
I hear the rooster call. 

I like the lingering aroma
Of Grandma’s old cook stove, 
As she prepares to bake her pies 
Using apples from the grove. 

I see her wipe her wrinkled hands 
Upon the apron which she wore. 
Then she stokes the dying coals, 
To start the fire once more. 

Grandpa, in his chair he sits,
As he whittles on some wood. 
He loves to do creative things. 
It makes him feel real good. 

I hear the clanging of a bell;
Oh, the cows are coming up.
Grandpa folds his pocketknife
And empties his coffee cup.

He gives his tired, old body
A good, long, needed stretch.
To the pasture he slowly walks.
I know the cows he’ll fetch.

The old home-place still looks good.
It gives my heart a lift.
To see and smell the age-old rooms, 
Is such a precious gift. 

I even feel the spirits
Of the two dear, precious souls,
That together cared for home & hearth
And reached their well-planned goals.

Some Day You'll Be Just a Memory For Some People...


One day you'll be just a memory for some people. Do your best to be a good one.

Photo Credit: Lessons Learned in Life

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

I Saw Behind Me Those Who Had Gone...


"I saw behind me those who had gone, and before me those who are to come. I looked back and saw my father, and his father, and all our fathers, and in front to see my son, and his son, and the sons upon sons beyond. And their eyes were my eyes." -Richard Llewellyn

Sunday, January 25, 2015

11 Things You Should Know About Find A Grave


Find A Grave is one website I use often. In fact, when I first started my genealogy, I used it so much that I decided to become a volunteer which allowed me to photograph headstones and submit them to the website for others to see. When you go to www.findagrave.com, you'll notice that this outdated little website has much more to offer than you can imagine and you'll agree when you get there.

11 Things you should know about Find A Grave, www.findagrave.com

  1. It's Free! That's right it's free for all of us; no strings attached.

  2. This database contains over 115 million (and counting) grave records and gets an average of 8 million online visitors a day.

  3. Your ancestors online memorials could be on find a grave and you probably don't even realize it.

  4. Thousands of volunteers all over the world are the reason why find a grave is a success. Volunteers take photographs of headstones and submit them to the website. You can "request" a photo to be taken of your ancestor(s) and within 14 days, you will recieve an email when someone has photographed and transcribed your ancestors headstone and added it to Find a Grave.

  5. You can become a volunteer at find a grave. Here's how...

  6. Find a Grave has joined up with Ancestry.com and has allowed all their info to be found on ancestry.com's searches.

  7. You can easily "transfer" an online memorial to another person. For example: When you manage online memorials at find a grave, you submit the info and photographs and you add more info or edit your managed memorials at any time. But, sometimes others would like ownership because they are a family member. In that case, I will transfer the online memorial to them because they are family and chances are they will have more information on that ancestor than I do.

  8. You can search famous people and find their final resting places on find a grave.

  9. You can read through the endless amounts of "Success Stories" on find a grave, see here.

  10. On find a grave you will often find important information like: name of deceased, date birth and death dates, the cemetery name and place, the plot location, photographs of headstones, obituaries, biographies, other family members, linked family members, life sketches, maps, etc.

  11. I highly recommend Find A Grave to everyone.

Friday, January 23, 2015

21 Things You Need To Know About Ancestry.com

21 Things You Need To Know About Ancestry.com:


  1. Ancestry.com is the world's largest online family history resource home to billions of historical records, millions of family trees and much more. It's also the world's leading network of businesses dedicated to helping everyone discover, preserve and share their family history.

  2. You are offered a 14 day FREE trial before signing up. You get to "try it" before you "buy it".

  3. Once you have a membership, Ancestry helps you to grow your family tree by showing little green leaves (hints) on your family tree when there's a match for one of your ancestors. I just recently found out that my great great grandfather served in the Civil War because of one of these green leaves. I clicked on it and it brought me to his original military record. I love this feature!! Read the story here.

  4. You can export your family tree as a gedcom file, so you can load it to any software of your choice. A free tutorial about how to do this is here.

  5. You can connect with living relatives and become acquainted with each other and share your family history.

  6. You can easily find and share photos of your ancestors.

  7. You can compare family trees and work with others to prove and or fix errors.

  8. You can share your family tree with family members. This allows them to see your family tree and the changes you make.

  9. You can easily "gift" a subscription to anyone you choose.

  10. Ancestry.com has created their own Family Tree Maker software that allows you to easily sync your family tree and records from ancestry.com. Family Tree Maker ranges in price from $29 - $69.

  11. You can choose to have your family tree "public" or "private".

  12. Ancestry.com helps you to remember what you've searched for by keeping a log of your "recent activity". This comes in handy when you're researching many different names and families.

  13. You can create a Bio and link all your websites into your profile for others to see.

  14. You can easily print free pedigree charts and custom charts for a reasonable price.

  15. You can publish family history books through Ancestry.com.

  16. Ancestry.com has DNA tests for Ethnicity & Genealogical DNA. The cost is $99.

  17. Ancestry.com has teamed up with many other genealogical websites to give you more records all in one place.

  18. If you stop paying for your membership, you will still have access to your family tree, pictures and documents that you uploaded; just not the historical records offered by Ancestry.com.  However, if you own Family Tree Maker Software, you can sync your records from Ancestry.com which gives you a copy of all the historical documents owned by Ancestry.com

  19. Many believe that if you stop paying or cancel your membership, ancestry.com "owns" your genealogy and your family tree. Ancestry.com does not claim ownership of any family tree or genealogy posted from anyone. They only claim ownership of the historical records that have been preserved by their company.

  20. The Cost of an Ancestry membership:
    • 1 Month Membership 
      • $19.99 (US Discovery membership) 
      • $34.99 (World Explorer membership)
      • $44.99 (World Explorer Plus membership)
    • 6 Month Membership:
      • $99 (US Discovery membership)
      • $149 (World Explorer membership)
      • $199 (World Explorer Plus membership)


  21. Ancestry.com is FREE to use at any LDS Family History Library. You will be assisted by family history volunteers that will help you navigate through Ancestry.com and give you advice on your genealogy. Click here to see a listing of Family History Libraries near you. 

The knowledge that we gain through our research turns into our family history which turns into a great treasure for many generations.

Check out www.ancestry.com or call to speak to a customer service representative:
United States 
1-800-ANCESTRY (262-3787) (toll free)
Monday - Friday: 9:00 am - 11:00 pm ET
Saturday - Sunday: 9:00 am - 11:00 pm ET

United Kingdom
0800-404-9723 (toll free)
Monday - Friday: 9:00 am - 10:00 pm GMT
Saturday - Sunday: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm GMT

Ireland
1800-303-664 (toll free)
Monday - Friday: 9:00 am - 10:00 pm GMT
Saturday - Sunday: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm GMT

Australia
1-800-251-838 (toll free)
Monday - Friday: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm AEST
Saturday - Sunday: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm AEST

New Zealand
0-800-442-100 (toll free)
Monday - Friday: 11:00 am - 10:00 pm NZST
Saturday - Sunday: 11:00 am - 6:00 pm NZST

Canada
1-800-958-9073 (toll free)
*We do not offer French support on weekends.
Monday - Friday: 9:00 am - 11:00 pm ET
Saturday - Sunday: 9:00 am - 11:00 pm ET

Sweden
020-091 0203 (toll free)
Monday - Friday: 10:00 am - 17:00 CET
Saturday - Sunday: Closed

Other Locations
Country code for the United States +
Monday - Friday: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm ET
Saturday - Sunday: Closed

Keep connecting the dots! -Sarah

Thursday, January 22, 2015

"Remember Me In The Family Tree; My Name, My Days, My Strife..."


"Remember me in the family tree;
my name, my days, my strife.
Then I'll ride upon the wings of time
and live an endless life."
-Linda Goetsch

About this photo: This is a photograph of my father, Ron (2nd from the left, white shirt, blonde hair), and his 2 cousins, Bobby & Berry Burnes. Grandma told me they had just gotten back from deep sea fishing. The little girl is unknown, but with a little more research, this mystery can be solved. I will remember this girl in our family tree.
Date: 1949
Place: Napa, Napa, California, USA

Keep connecting the dots! -Sarah :)

Every so often your loved ones will open the door from Heaven, and visit you in a Dream...


"Every so often your loved ones will open the door from Heaven, and visit you in a Dream. Just to say "Hello" and to remind you they are still with you, just in a different way... "
-Matt Fraser

Look closely! Do you see her?
She's my beautiful ancestor; Lillian Burnes Ziegler.

Keep connection the dots! -Sarah :)