Memorable

            Who was the most memorable person I wrote about this year? Of course I could never choose just one. They are all important, and all have contributed to my life and my history.

However …………  I thought this week would be a good week to ask each of you (my relatives) to give me your thoughts on which blog post or ancestor was memorable to you. You can pick more than one! I’m very curious which posts made you laugh, cry, surprised or resonated with you. Just text me back when you can, or put a comment at the bottom of this post. 

Memorable photo I took in 2017 visiting Harley cemetery in PA.

Originally I thought my goal in this project would be to uncover more facts about my ancestors and grow my family tree. While that was certainly true, I came to realize there was much more to it than that. It became about the weekly communications with my family members who are spread all over the country, including some that I don’t necessarily communicate with all that often. This has been the truly memorable part of this project for me!

Memorable drive to Hinch Cemetery

I thank you, my family, for reading these posts each week, even though I’m sure some of you thought sometimes “has it been another week already?”  HAHAHA ! If I was on the receiving end of my posts, I’m sure I would feel the same. The nice thing is that these posts will stay available for you to read.

This “memorable” topic could also mean “someone you want to make sure is remembered”. Here again, I couldn’t choose just one, but I do hope to light a spark in a few of you young'uns to pick up the torch, so to speak, and pique your curiosity and interest enough so that one day you might continue this family history journey, and even tell these stories for generations yet to come. 

Memorable photo of headstone Wm. Hinch GG-Grandfather

One of the many things I have learned doing family history research is that it makes history come alive. I never had much interest in history when I was younger, but let me tell you, when you learn you had ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and WWI and WWII, it makes all the difference! Now I want to know everything about those periods in history. It makes it personal.

Just for fun, here are just a few posts where I discovered a lot about a certain ancestor.

Migration - 2/23/2025 - about my mom’s Aunt Edith, who almost lost her U.S. citizenship when she married David Dillon, an Irish citizen.

In The News - 9/14/2025 - about Roy Hinch, one of my dad’s siblings. The abundance of newspaper articles about him, his teaching career, his wife LaRue, and their lives together blew me away.

Urban - 10/26/2025 - about my mom’s paternal grandfather, James Alonzo Harley, who started life in a very rural area north of Philadelphia, but moved to the city and took up new trades as automobiles took over.

The Name’s The Same - 11/22/2025 - about my dad’s relatives named after Andrew Jackson - there were three Andrew Jackson Hinches!

In closing, please remember to text me about what or who you found interesting and maybe also tell me if there are any relatives you would like me to write about or know more about. I'd sure appreciate it!

L-R Jim, Poppop, Roger (in front), Bob, Carol (me), Roscoe, Dot, abt 1970?