Dear Readers,
The monstrous challenges that the year 2020 has wrought notwithstanding, many positive things have happened to me this year. Here are some of them:
😊 No one in my immediate family has contracted that wicked virus.
😊 I got to meet a number of wonderful distant cousins as a result of my genealogy activities -- some of them in-person. They are all lovely people who have become terrific collaborators as well as good friends.
😊 During October, I got to take one of my legendary road-trips "back east" to see my sister Denise and her hubby Frank in Arkansas, and then spend time in Kentucky and Ohio meeting with some of the above-mentioned cousins, along with some cousins that I have known for a while. As usual, I mostly camped and worked alone. This time, I stayed away from strangers, had limited contact with relatives, and felt safe the whole time.
😊 One newly-met cousin has inherited a family Bible, and she agreed to collaborate with me on the publication of family info that is written in its pages. We completed the project, and copies have been distributed/donated for the use of researchers.
Here is the link to the pdf copy downloaded to Internet Archive:
😊 Also during the road-trip, I was able to re-visit the grave site of my great-granduncle Elmer Romans, for whom a Veterans grave marker was finally placed during June of this year. I placed a flag next to the marker and took the photo below. He is buried near many members of our Romans family in Highland Cemetery at Fort Mitchell in Kenton County, Kentucky.
Great-Granduncle Elmer had a son named Elmer Jr (nicknamed "Buster") and a grandson named Elmer David (nicknamed "Bubba") who were both military veterans themselves, with VA markers on their graves in Concord Cemetery in Polk County, Arkansas. The grave markers of these cousins of mine both needed some maintenance, which I was able to perform during the October road-trip. Buster's marker was muddy and mossy, and Bubba's was half buried and covered in pine sap. Here are the photos I took of them, after doing some cleanup and placing flags.
😊 The pandemic forced me to give a couple of previously-scheduled Genealogy talks -- one about studying and preserving cemeteries, and one about different ways to approach cluster studies -- via Zoom webinars. They both were very successful, but still I prefer to do my presentations live. The two talks have some overlapping themes, because in both of them I discuss my ongoing cluster study of Straight Creek Baptist Cemetery, which is featured in the graphics for both title slides.
😊 The physical closure of libraries and archives has been a push-factor in the increased availability of some online resources for genealogy. I have found many of these useful in the progress of some of my research. Such progress will be reported on this weblog, and in upcoming publications, in due course.
😊 We are ending the year with news that my beloved niece, Carolynn, is engaged to her long-time friend, and recent boyfriend, Nick. Everyone in the family loves Nick, and we have been hoping they would decide to tie the knot before long.
--Annie
"Christmas makes Easter possible, while Easter makes Christmas meaningful." --Ravi Zacharias (1946-2020)
