The Faithful Two

Last Monday evening I had the opportunity to see the love of genealogy in action.

I also saw the dedication of an Ohio Genealogical Society trustee in action.

I happened to be talking with Sunda Peters at OGS on Monday afternoon, and she had mentioned how they are trying to help a struggling county genealogical society stay afloat.  She was driving to their meeting that very evening.  It was cold, it would be dark and a bit rainy, so I volunteered to go along with her.  Cheryl Abernathy would be meeting her there.

Sunda is past President of the Ohio Genealogical Society.
Cheryl is a trustee on the board.

Sunda picked me up, and we laughed and talked all the way to Mt. Vernon, Ohio.  We located the building and walked in to wait on Cheryl.

This is the beautiful big older home where the society meets.

Dick and Jim were already there and welcomed us right in.

Jim is on the right, and is the President and the Treasurer.  Dick is on the left, and proudly showed us their collection.  Each month, Jim draws up an agenda for their meeting.  They are the only two who attend.

I want you to look at the faces of Sunda and Cheryl as they listen intently to the problems these two men face in keeping the society alive.

Some of those problems include:
1.  Having an historical society and a genealogy room in the public library that appeals to people more than the tiny space they have.
2.  An out-of-state membership.
3.  An aging local membership, many of whom are in nursing homes or the cemetery.

Take a careful look at Ohio in 1810.  We had just become a state seven years earlier.  The red arrow points to where I now live in Richland County.  The parent county is Knox County, right where I was Monday evening.

It's an old county.  And, an important one.

Dick proudly showed me a photo album that had been left in a motel that ended up with them.  I thought of Maureen Taylor as I looked through the pages.  Here's a few for you to look at, too.

Look how thick it is!

Who are these people?  They were left behind in a motel, and no one seemed to notice.

Well, Dick noticed.  He turned the back of each photo over and noticed there were names on a few of them.  So, he traced them.

I learned many things that evening.  As we left to drive home in the rain, I felt profound respect for Dick and Jim and their efforts to keep a small, but important piece of Ohio's history alive.

I saw the relief on their faces as Sunda and Cheryl leaned in to listen to their concerns.  I don't know that I have seen a better example of officers, past and present, than what I did that evening.  A "tiger team" that will include other trustees will be assembled by Cheryl to meet again and help these men out.

And, once again, Peggy had another opportunity to learn.

We Still Need Family History Centers!

We still need Family History Centers!

One of the most frequent comments I get concerning genealogy is this,

"Do we really need Family History Centers anymore?"

A resounding Yes!!!

I believe we do.  

Let me show you one of the reasons why.

Right now, I am in the middle of preparing to go to RootsTech2016.

I am taking several hundred photos to run through scanners that will quickly upload the photos to my computer.

I saw these in action last year, and I knew this would be one way to conquer the mountain of photos that are making me feel quite guilty.

This photo is from a previous post showing how I will scan them, several at a time.

But...

not everyone is going to RootsTech.

Or to the Harold B. Lee Library in Provo, where they have high-speed scanners, too.

They may not belong to a warehouse club, or have one near to them.

Or, they may not even have a scanner at home.

They may not even be able to afford a scanner.

All is not lost!

After a recent conversation with Pat Richley-Erickson, she asked if I would write a blog post about scanners that are available in most of the Family History Centers that I have seen.

This Lexmark scanner is available in our local Family History Center in Mansfield, Ohio.

It is an amazing machine that all of our computers print from.

And, patrons can scan on it, too!

And, this is a stack of photos I brought out to show how easy it is to use.

Notice that they are in a mess.

Excuse me.  You know you have one, too.

The sign-in screen shows two icons that you may tap on for your work.

Copy = making a regular copy of something that is printed off

Scan to FamilySearch = your photos, documents, etc. are scanned directly to your FamilySearch account.

That's right! 

Directly to your FamilySearch account.

You will be asked to enter your Username and Password, 

just like when you sign into FamilySearch online.

Hint:  The screen size is similar to that of a small tablet.

If you have trouble, bring a stylus with a rubber ball on the end,

or simply use a pencil eraser.

Click the one you want.

For this purpose, I clicked on "Photo".

The directions couldn't be more clear.

Wait just a few moments.

It let's you know when the scan is complete.

And, look!!

It joins all of the other photos I have scanned into my account.

Off to the left, you will see a list that I didn't take take a photo of.

It is simply a list of albums that I can drop those photos right into.

Now, this may not seem like that big of a deal when there are many different ways to scan photos and upload them to different websites.

But, it is a big deal if you don't have a scanner.

Or don't have a Big-Box store nearby.

Here is a similar article from the FamilySearch Blog:

Upload Documents

Family Dopplegangers

Sometimes family resemblances are just too strong not to notice.

Harmony licking sap from sugar cane

Angel munching a delicious apple

Benjamin

His grandfather, Kerry

Peter, our son

His grandfather, Orson

And, last but not least...

Jordan, our son

And me, Peggy!

When I hung up my picture in the cherry tree, son Jordan walked by and asked when he was ever in a cherry tree!

It's almost over! Perhaps these photos will help you decide...

Tomorrow will be the final day to enter the Flip-Pal Giveaway.

Let me tell you a true story that happened in our family.  A horrible house fire swept through my father's home just a year and a half after my mother passed away.  As we later went through the ashes, we found that the only things that were saved were:

1.  Most all of the genealogy and family history records.

2.  A good many of the photo albums, but not all.

3.  His underwear.

The photos were in magnetic photo albums that were popular at the time.  We now know they are not the best way to house our precious pictures.  However, my sisters and I recently went through those albums and attempted to reconstruct what we found.

 This is a photo of my dad's brother, Charles Clemens, that was rescued from the fire in 1985.  You can see the damage from both fire and water.

 After scanning it with Flip-Pal, I was able to crop it and keep the best part visible.  I will later attempt to restore it to a better image.  This is the only photo I have of Uncle Charles.

 A scan of another one of my dad's brothers, Dewey Clemens and his wife, Edna Gilliam.  The photo was not as bad as others.

 The same photo that has been sharpened and cleaned up a bit.

My father's oldest brother, George Russell Clemens.  I have not done anything with this photo yet.  It was in bad condition even before the fire.  But, at least I have the image.

 A very tiny photo of my dad that was about the size of a quarter.  It was so little that it almost was lost.

 These last two are of my dad when he served at Pearl Harbor during WWII. I don't know that I'll make any effort to restore them, for they fine for me in this condition.  I'm just glad they were preserved.

Even though a fire destroyed only some of our precious memories 28 year years ago, others are not so lucky.  We have all seen the devastation from catastrophic events around the globe.  Our hearts have been touched as victims have searched for any memento they can find.

Please don't let the same thing happen to you.

Go ahead!  Enter!!

Follow the prompts on the widget to the right, and it will guide you through the entry process.  

And, for lots of wonderful ideas on what a great product Flip-Pal is, check out the following:

http://www.pinterest.com/misspeggy55/flip-pal/

www.flip-pal.com

Disclaimer:  Flip-Pal is sponsoring this contest, and the winner will be chosen by RaffleCopter.  I purchased my own unit several years ago, and am an Ambassador for the Grandparents Community:  http://flip-pal.com/category/grandparents/

It's time to do something for yourself!

It's here!!  The contest is here!!!

Can you believe your luck??

Flip-Pal is offering a holiday giveaway beginning today, 13 Dec 2013, and will end at midnight EST on 17 Dec 2013.

There are many opportunities to enter, to refer the contest to friends and family, and to sign up for the Flip-Pal newsletter.

Follow the prompts on the widget to the right, and it will guide you through the entry process.  

And, for lots of wonderful ideas on what a great product Flip-Pal is, check out the following:

http://www.pinterest.com/misspeggy55/flip-pal/

www.flip-pal.com

Disclaimer:  Flip-Pal is sponsoring this contest, and the winner will be chosen by RaffleCopter.  I purchased my own unit several years ago, and am an Ambassador for the Grandparents Community:  http://flip-pal.com/category/grandparents/