A Matter of Perspective

Had a good visit with my mom's cousin and his wife today, and was able to take my Flip-Pal scanner with me on the road to capture scans of some great photographs, some of which my mother had never seen.  Of great interest were the photos of my grandfather in military uniform, as well as those of my grandmother when she was younger.

William Lee "Johnny Bill" Wright, Florida, c. 1944

My cousin even had some older photos from generations that he was not familiar with, including one of my 4th-great grandmother and her family, taken on her 81st birthday, January 9, 1914 in Norton, Kansas.  She died on March 9th of that same year.

Residence of Hannah Mills Poe, Norton, Kansas on her 81st birthday, January 9, 1914

There were also photographs that came from his grandparents family, my-great grandparents, and thus I was greatly interested in hearing some of the family stories.


One thing that I've learned is that so much of family history is a matter of perspective.  The way someone views a family member and the legends that develop and get passed down are colored by the perspective of the teller.  It is interesting to get a point of view from a different family who may have differing insight into why someone behaved the way they did.


I was able to sit back and observe, letting my mother and dad and mom's cousin and wife talk about people, places and events without interrupting them too much.  It definitely gave me insight, and fodder for future questions to ask about the family.

Sunday's Obituary : Beulah S. (LeMasters) Rockwell (1866-1940)

Source: Commercial-Review, Portland, Indiana, July 18, 1940, page 1.

Rockwell Rites Are Tomorrow


Funeral services for Mrs. Beulah S. Rockwell, who died at her home in Ft. Recovery Tuesday evening, will be conducted tomorrow.  Short services will be held at the residence at 2:15 o'clock (EST) and final rites will be conducted from the Salamonia Methodist church at 2 p.m. (CST) in charge of Rev. Dennison, assisted by Rev. O.L. Nichols.



Sunday’s Obituary – if you have obituaries of family members and ancestors, consider posting them along with other information about that person as part of Sunday’s Obituary. This is an ongoing series developed by Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here.

Organizing Digital Photos and Files

I've not been doing much new genealogy research lately, but instead have been working to try to tame the digital beast that is my genealogy photos and files.  It's not going to do me any good to have all of these photos, etc. if the file names remain cryptic ones such as IMG_0339.


I've been slowly identifying each of the photos with a unique identifier by the name of the subject and the date that the photo was taken:


LeMaster_Corinne_10Jun2000
LeMaster_Corinne_30Nov2010
LeMaster_Eileen_25Dec2010
LeMaster_Eileen_25Dec2010(2), etc.


Photos that have multiple individuals, I'm making copies of them both, identifying both and filing under the appropriate family name files. Thus, photos of both of my nieces at Christmas time are filed as such:


LeMaster_Lauren_Honeycutt_Ashley_24Dec2010
Honeycutt_Ashley_LeMaster_Lauren_24Dec2010, etc.


Photos for tombstones simply have the word tombstone after the name, rather than a date.  I've yet to begin sorting and standardizing the files of census records, etc. but imagine I will create a similar system.


My goal is to have these photos so organized that at the next family reunion, I can easily share the entire collection based on an individual should someone desire.


How do you organize your digital images and scans?