The Beautiful and The Damned

While seeking out information on long lost relatives, I often come across other advertisements and news articles that capture my attention.

Playing in theaters 87 years ago this week was the movie version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's book, The Beautiful and The Damned.

Memories of Childhood - Fess Parker

Fess Parker 1924 - 2010

The passing of actor Fess Parker brings back many memories of my childhood and watching him portray Davey Crockett on television. Below is a photo of me dated December 1955, showing off my coonskin cap, most likely a Christmas gift that year.

Nellie Kelly Rector's St Patricks Day Party

Our Irish relatives celebrated St. Patrick's Day as well! Here's an article about a St Patrick's Day Party given by Nellie Kelly Rector in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1905.

The 2010 Census

Did you get your census form in the mail today? Wow - they weren't kidding. 10 questions 10 minutes. I don't think it even took me that long to fill out!

As I look back at the information gathered in the census in earlier times, it's a shame that the only information gathered this time around is the name, date of birth and race/ethnicity of the household members. I pity the genealogists 100 years from now who are not able to find out our occupations and all of the other gems that appear in earlier censuses.

I guess the government wasn't really interested in preserving family history when they came up with the questions this time around!

Fill out your census form and mail it in! It's your duty!

Contemporary Obituaries

Quite often we get wrapped up in seeking obituaries from 50, 70 or 100 years ago. Just as often, the more current obituaries found online will give us a link to the past. I've had a great deal of success with Legacy.com, an obituary service used by many of the newspapers across the country. These obituary notices will include living family members, where they live, and quite often, the names of the parents of the person who died. This has opened up a lot of connections in my research in helping to fill in the blanks. Online obituaries seem to go back to about 1995, but a few that are older than that are available. Even if the obituary is older and archived, the cost of $2 - $3 is well worth it. Check it out and see if any of your long lost cousins appear!

Visit Legacy.com