Wednesday, December 6, 2017

On a Personal Note...



I haven't written much on this blog in 2017, or even late 2016!  But there are reasons for that! 

In late 2016 we sold our home in Yorkville, IL and transitioned into a rented condo there, while we gradually moved our stuff to our new home in Middlebury, Indiana.  (Hubby has a trailer, so we did it all ourselves!)

In early 2017 we both prepared to finish out the jobs we'd held for 25 years (hubby) and 17 years (me), intending to retire and move to Indiana on July 1.  But a couple of "acts of God" changed that plan!  Gary's place of employment (Pilkington in Naplate, IL) was blown apart by a tornado...  And then I got stage 3 thyroid cancer. 


Somehow we managed to finish up at our jobs, and we got to Indiana in late May.  After a summer of cancer treatments and a hospital stay for sleep apnea, I finally got my strength back this fall - and I then got a knee replacement in October and another one in November, just 9 days ago. 

I did manage a couple of genealogy projects, but I didn't have the time or energy to write about them...  But 2018 will be a better year!

Monday, August 21, 2017

She's How Old?



The other day I found this 1945 Florida State Census record for a client of mine.  In the middle of the page is my client's grandmother, Francis Phillips, and her grown son Robert Thomas Phillips.

The funny thing:  Look at Francis' listed age!  "21+"?!

I've looked at many hundreds, maybe thousands, of census records, and I've never seen a woman get away with something like this!  

I asked my client about it, and she had this to say:  "My grandmother always looked very young and she was incredibly vain.  To the point that she lied about her age to her 10 and 11th husbands, who were at least ten years younger than her!"

So, that explains Francis' answer...  but she must have been a very persuasive lady to get away with that answer! 

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Another Step in the Right Direction



Last year at about this time I wrote one of my most personal blog posts ever - about my late brother, Bruce.  Here is a link to that post, with a postscript added at the end...  It's another step in the right direction.