Genealogy

I've really had my head buried in my genealogy lately. On my birthday I bought Family Tree Maker 2009 software. Ever since Haydyn and Austin were born, I've been working really hard on tracing their family histories. I've joined 3 family history websites. Dillingham World is great! Dave Dillingham Wiltshire is the administrator and he is really great. He sent me a 50 page email with information on Gary's stepdad's family back to 1680! I love the pictures on that site, too. I've only seen one picture of a direct ancestor of Gary's on the Dillingham side. I've traced his Sallings side into the 1800's. They were farmers in Texas.

Another of the sites I joined is the Abrams Family website. The people there are very friendly. One of the ladies is a cousin of my Papaw. She sent me a picture of my great great grandfather Solomon Turpin Abrams and his second wife Louisa Edmonds Gadd. It was taken sometime around 1920. Turp, as he was called, passed away in 1923. He lived in Horse Lick, Jackson County, Kentucky so I also joined the Jackson County Family website. There are so many pictures on that site that I've only been able to go through about a fourth of them. There are some really precious old, old pictures along with new ones of the people of Jackson County. Anita Maggard is the administrator of that site and she is really sweet. She has posted hundreds of the pictures that are on the site. I need to get in touch with my great aunt in Ohio to see if she has any old photos of the family. I've never seen any at Granny and Papaw's, but I'm going to visit them this month with Mom. I'll ask Granny if I can see what she has. I haven't seen them since 2005. It will be a bittersweet visit. Papaw is 87 and very sick. He's got Alzheimers and a host of other physical illnesses. I don't even know if he'll remember me, but I'll try to always remember him. That's another reason doing genealogy is important to me. It helps me preserve the memory of my ancestors. I want my grandchildren to know from where they came.