One album done!

Summer 2023 I was fortunate enough to scan the archives of my uncle, Don Untiedt. I have finally completed the processing of the first album. Posting, labeling and organizing all the pictures.  Woohoo! Only took about 14 months!

1920 Southern picnic

 I found this great article about a July 1920 picnic in southern Louisiana attended by my mother-in-law's, Linda Wells, mother, Kate Fremin. Also in attendance were several of Kate Fremin's siblings: Delta, Tolver, Paul, Joseph, Lloyd, and Olga Fremin.

[Tip: select the image to zoom in; or right click on the image below and "Save image as" to save the article to your device and allow easier zoom.] 

Little brown box

 For more than thirty years, I've moved from home to home this little brown box.

It's ugly. But well formed. It's survived 30 years fulfilling it's purpose, moving from Florida to New Mexico to Texas and now Virginia. It's sturdy, and doesn't take up much space, and has sat for years in a closet or a box completely ignored. 

And so what treasure lies within these unassuming pieces of assembled wood: our history. At least the beginning of how I started our family tree. Back in the day, before wifi, or even dialup, I made an index card for every person in our tree.

Each card was laid out the same. The front listed name and sex; date and place of birth, marriage, and death; burial location.

The back listed that person's direct relations: father, mother, spouse, children, siblings. One card for each person. Written in pencil.

Now imagine that I learned that I misspelled a name, or a new sibling came along. The filing box was organized alphabetically, by family, but  would require lots of updates for one small correction or bit of new information. 

And then eventually, sometime around 1992 or so, we got the Family Tree Maker software. I could finally data entry all my cards and start to have my first electronic family tree. Sadly, the software is still pretty close to how it was implemented back then, though the software names have changed  many times over the years. 

While I always have many family history research goals, one of my 2024 goals is to finally toss the box. I feel the need to check each card against my current database so it's a time consuming mindless task; and frankly, I'm in a mundance mindless frame of mind, so alas, let's see how empty the box becomes between now and December 31, 2024. 

Wish me luck!

UPDATE: October 2024: finished. 30 years of holding on, but set a goal and got it done!