Exploring the Past to Improve the Future
Week 24: #52 Ancestors – Father’s Day By Eilene Lyon Many men are both step-fathers and fathers, but only a portion of them do it in that order. One of those was Thomas Alexander Reams, my great-great-grandfather. He was the father of Mary Lila (Reams) Smith. This is the tale of the Reams family: Sprague,... Continue Reading →
Week 23: #52 Ancestors – Going to the Chapel By Eilene Lyon There’s no question that Great-grandma Clara was a staunch supporter of the Methodist Church. Her father (God rest his soul) had been a lay preacher in the faith, after all. She was abstemious, and thought everyone else should be, too. (I do hope... Continue Reading →
Week 22: #52 Ancestors – So Far Away By Eilene Lyon We take for granted our ability to stay in touch with loved ones far away. We no longer have to pay long distance charges and we can talk as long as we like. There are even video-phone options. Back in the day when calls... Continue Reading →
Week 19: #52 Ancestors – Mother’s Day By Eilene Lyon My grandpa, Laurence M. Smith, lost his mother when he was just nine years old. Though his family had known severe hardships in the early years, Laurence remembered the family’s better fortunes from the time of his birth in 1908 until his mother died. Mary... Continue Reading →
This undated story by my grandfather, Laurence M. Smith, is part of his collection of memoir writings. Smitty, born in 1908 in Colville, Washington, was clearly of the automotive age. Though his father’s delivery business started out with horse-drawn wagons, they soon switched over to trucks. This event took place when he was 18 years... Continue Reading →
By Eilene Lyon My brother and I, along with our spouses, were visiting Mom in Oregon last week. Because she has rapidly progressing dementia, she lives in memory care at the retirement community she moved into 12 years ago. She’s doing pretty well physically, for now. I took her to see her regular physician so... Continue Reading →
Week 12: #52Ancestors – Misfortune By Eilene Lyon By all measures, my cousin Orville Bodtker was a very unlucky young man in World War II. But I think for sheer, unrelenting misfortune, I have to turn to the story of my great-great-grandparents, Robert Ransom and Emma Jenkins, the parents of Clara Pearl Ransom. Robert was... Continue Reading →
Week 11: #52 Ancestors – Luck By Eilene Lyon Given that next week’s theme is “Misfortune,” I take “Luck” to mean Good luck, not Bad luck. I can find innumerable bad luck or misfortune stories in my family history. Finding good luck stories is a real challenge. My ancestors had seriously hard lives. On the... Continue Reading →
By Eilene Lyon Often the most frustrating people on my family tree to find records for are the mentally ill, developmentally disabled, or physically disabled people. This is true whether they were living in private homes or institutions. Most difficult to find are death records and burials. I’ve discovered that mental illness does tend to... Continue Reading →
Human Created Content - Creative Writing - Australia
What I Wish I Knew Before I Retired
Life is a series of transitions, and so is the retirement journey.
Creative, non-monetary forms of payment
Random musings on style and substance
Where the locals go, because the locals know!
Internet home for Marie Zhuikov: Blogger, Author, Poet, Photographer
Reflections of an inquiring retiree ...
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A Blog of Retirement and Related Thoughts
I write about genealogy on this site. Come see what's going on!
Fun With Genealogy
Discover and re-discover Mexico’s cuisine, culture and history through the recipes, backyard stories and other interesting findings of an expatriate in Canada
Navigating the second half of my life
The people, places, and things that make the Willamette Valley shine
Journeys Through the Second Half of Life
Doing the best I can to keep it on the bright side
Quips, Quotes; How To and How Knot To
Author, Speaker, Family Historian
thoughts about life from below the surface
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