Family Tree Magazine - Sept issue

I received my September issue of FTM today. On the cover is a note about an article called, "How to Preserve Family Bibles." Since I want to preserve our falling-apart-at-the-seams family Bible, this caught my eye. I quickly flipped to the article - but boy was I disappointed.

The article was about half a page, but with the "fun" text formating and photos, was really less than a quarter of the page - four paragraphs. And the paraphrased content: Don't try to repair it yourself, but hire a pro. Or, just stick it in an archival safe box.

This article is an example of why I'm going to let my subscription run out. Articles about preservation, that could be filled with lots of information about preserving books (they do give links to buy archival safe supplies, but that's it) but it's not. My Bible's in a box. I thought I'd find the "what next" information here and I didn't. I'm just supposed to let the book rot in a box. Great to know. How about tips on how to physically handle the book? What conditions are best for preservation? But no, nothing.... But hey - there's a whole page about vintage shoes!

photo stories

I currently have temporary possession of my Granny's photos. It's fun to look through them and see how life was in the 30s and forward. Here are some cute "photo stories" I've found:

Uncle John's first birthday:




the puppy, the boy & the well:

Photo wealth

I've just come into a wealth of borrowed photos. My Granny's house is being put up for sale and the family is emptying it out. My Aunt June knew that I was interested in any photos, so she put them all aside for me to borrow and scan.

Well, there are hundreds of photos, many of them loose and in no way chronological. The photos range from a few years ago to 70 years ago. There are some that I've seen before and many others that I have not.

I think that first I need to organize them, probably chronologically. Then I'll start scanning them. If I don't organize them first, I'll end up with a jumbled mess... much the same as I have now.

Maybe once I get them scanned I can create CDs to send out to other family members.

It's sad though, to find baby pictures of myself that we gave to our grandparents, that once again belong to us now that their recipients have passed on.

Looking back at old notes

Lately I've been looking back over old notes that mom & I took during the beginning of our research. At the time the notes either didn't make since at the time or didn't seem to connect to any of the other information we had. Now, looking back, I see notes that we'd put aside for years that have snippets of information that makes since and will start me off in new directions. Some information backs up other sources that I've found as well.

Most of the information consists of notes taken by my mom from interviews with my grandmother. One piece of information is a partial transcript of Milstead Methodist Cemetery in Rockdale County, Ga (I added the info to findagrave.com). There are also cemetery maps from a few Atlanta cemeteries.

It's nice to look back at this "old" information and find "new" leads.