52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

               Last year I wrote a blog for the "favorite photo" topic. It was of Grannie and Grandpa Hinch sitting on their porch swing in Spring City, TN. This same topic came up again for 2025 and I instantly knew which photo I would choose. It is of my mom in 1945, before any of their kids were born. But let me start at the beginning as to why I chose this particular photo. Dot (Mom) Sept 1945            My dad enlisted in the US Army during WWII and served in the Medical Corps. In December 1944 he was sent overseas. At this time, my folks had been married one year. During his time overseas, he served in France, Belgium, Germany, the Philippines and Japan. They wrote many, many letters to each other during this time. My mom saved all of his letters. He came home safely from the war, and they went on to have four kids together. My dad passed away in 1991, but my mom lived until the ripe old age of 99, passing ...

                                          In the beginning - how my family history obsession started. It happened in Brookside NJ in our family home. I believe I was probably about 16 years old at the time, so around 1962. I don’t recall exactly why I was in the attic with my mom (my bedroom had a door that accessed the attic). One of the many boxes in there held quite a few items from her parents. Inside that box she took out another smaller box that held a document that was folded up much like a paper road map. Once unfolded it was very large. I have come to learn later that its dimensions were 4’ by 12’. It was a huge printed family history chart. I remember my mom showing me where her father’s name had been written in next to his older brothers, as he was born in 1888, one year after the family tree had been printed in 1887. Looking back on this, I probabl...

2025!!!  Here we go. Its a brand new year, and I am optimistic that I will be more consistent for this year's blog. It might not be one a week, but hopefully at least one per month. I hope you enjoy this 2025 blog. I am still learning, but am hopeful that these posts will be something that will pique your interest in your ancestors, or at least a couple of them.  And as always, remember that your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles will not be around forever to ask them questions and to tell stories about their lives. So I encourage you to simply ask them a question about something, and listen to the stories that unfold.  What would be some good questions to ask them? Here are a few suggestions when you are sitting at the supper table, or riding in a car, or pretty much anytime.           Where did you live when you were my age?          What was your house or apartment like?          Who...