New Years Resolutions - How Did I Do?

Last year's post:

Family History Resolutions



Are you having a hard time figuring out what you want to accomplish in 2010? [Remember these are 2010's resolutions.] I have so many ongoing projects, many of which are hugely time-consuming, that I sometimes have trouble setting goals. The ideas are there, it is the follow-through. I won't even attempt to blame husband for distracting me.

1. Photos. We moved bins full of photographs with us from Michigan. I've managed to have both daughters paw through them and pull out what they want. If there was anything they had that I wanted a copy of I scanned it. Wow, the blessing of scanners, eh? So my goal is for husband and I to go through all the photos we have and pull out what we want to keep. And put them in albums. The rest will be discarded. I've decided that while the concept of double prints was a good thing at the time, allowing us to share with family those precious moments of our lives, it has just added to the problem of what to do with all those photos. This doesn't even include father-in-law's photos we brought with us. We can hardly discard them, and most of them are in some type of album. I have to admit, that I hadn't even touched this one. However, I did carve out some workspace in the storeroom, so this is still number one on my list.

2. To-Do files. I want to continue to work on those items I set aside to work on at a future date. I'd really like to be more organized and more consistent with this. I cleared a lot of items off the To Do list. This is probably one of the easier resolutions to keep.


3. I'd like to get back into a genealogical society. Sadly, the local society here in mid-Tennessee is not all that I would like it to be. Maybe I should resolve to start attending meetings again. I did join the Upper Cumberland Genealogical Association last year. And now it is time to renew my membership. It's been an interesting journey.


4. I think I'd also like to get back into Genealogical speaker mode again. I haven't spoken to a group in years because of my work schedule when I worked at the library. Since my schedule involved some nights and weekends, it virtually put an end to my speaking career. Haven't done anything along this line. It's been a busy year and I'm not sure I even have the drive to do this anymore.


5. Convince hubby to make another trip to Lexington, Kentucky Cemetery so I may photograph more of my families graves. Start working up other cemeteries to photograph. Husband actually was pretty easily convinced to make a trip there in the spring. And a trip to the Lexington Public Library. And I have started lists for two other cemeteries.

6. Keep up this blog. I'm not sure I'll keep up the weekend, but hope to have plenty of material for Monday-Friday. Yay! Not only did I managed Monday through Friday, but did manage Saturday too! The highlight of the blog? Being nominated for one of the 40 Best Genealogy Blogs by Family Tree Magazine.


7. I am adding printing up a cookbook which is a duplicate of my recipe file for each of my daughters. Since some family recipes are included, it is a way to pass those recipes down through the generations.

8. Finish transcribing the letters my grandfather and a few other people wrote to my uncle John Percival during World War II. These are actually more informative than the letters he wrote to his future wife during World War I.  This is actually NUMBER ONE on my 2011 list of resolutions.

Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes

Thriller Thursday - Josiah Percival

From the Diary of Benjamin Percival:
Thursday, 3 February, 1803, this day Josiah Percival was Drowned.

What Benjamin's diary doesn't say was that he fell through while cutting ice on Hog Pond, which was on their property on Cape Cod. Josiah was also Benjamin's son.

The diary entry was subsequently followed by this one:

Monday, 7 February 1803, this day Josiah was buried he was 13 years old the 8th day of last October.

His tombstone inscription reads:

"In memory of Josiah, son of Mr. Benjamin and Mrs. Lydia Percival, he died Feb. 3rd 1803 in his 14 year."





He was buried in Tobey cemetery, which is located on land owned by Hewlett-Packard, or was when we visited the cemetery in 1998. The picture is a reconstruction of his headstone. Vandals visited the cemetery and knocked every stone down.

Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes

Wedding Wednesday - Whiteside & Hall

Today's Wedding is that of Virginia Whiteside, who was my mom's much older cousin and William Hall. Virginia was the daughter of my grandfather's oldest sister, and grandpa was the youngest, being twelve years younger than his sister, Phene. So when Virginia and William Hall were married on December 29th, 1925, my mother was 22 months old.

Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes