Back in the Saddle

My dad, Edward (Eddie) Ballenger

Those of you who follow this blog may have noticed it's been a bit quiet around here lately. The truth is, I experienced a personal high and low in the same week in June, and it’s taken me awhile to find my balance again.

The high point was that I attended Judy Russell’s course, Advanced Methodology & Evidence Analysis, at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) at Samford University. And it was fantastic! Judy, the other instructors, and my fellow classmates made for an amazing learning experience. I was honored to be one of the recipients of the Birdie Monk Holsclaw Memorial Scholarship, along with my dear friend and colleague Laura Prescott. 

Completing this course was a goal I’ve had for a long time, and it was all I hoped it’d be.

The low point was that my father passed away while I was there. He had been ill for some time, but not critically so, and his death was unexpected. Wrestling with my emotions and the decision of whether or not to leave Samford and go home took more than a little wind out of my sails (an analogy my dad, an avid sailor, would appreciate). In the end, the funeral was slated for the following week, and I was able to help with arrangements from afar by sending digitized photos for his memorial slideshow. I finished the course and still got home two days before calling hours.

Simultaneously, in another state, my 91-year-old father-in-law became ill, and we literally flew from my father’s funeral to be with him. Happily, he recovered and is doing pretty well now, all things considered.

Needless to say, though, the whole experience left me drained. Blogging ended up being the last thing on my mind. As time went by, it seemed harder and harder to pick it up again.

But thanks to encouragement from my friends and family, I’m back. As genealogists, we talk about our ancestors’ friends and associates as a critical component of their lives. Well, it works that way in the present too, doesn’t it? Those close to us have a way of standing by us and nudging us to continue on.

Today happens to be the fifth anniversary of the day I oh-so-tentatively entered my first post on A Sense of Family. So it’s the perfect time to say thank you to all my readers, whether you’ve followed me from the beginning, just recently stumbled upon my site, or fall somewhere in-between. A special thanks to everyone who has stuck by me through this quiet time. I hope to get back to blogging more regularly and sharing more of my discoveries with you in the coming year.

And I hope you’ll share with me as well, because it’s much more fun that way! I love seeing your comments and questions.

On we go... 

--Shelley

Countdown: Top 10 Posts of 2014

Well, we’ve come to the end of another year. When I was a kid, I loved listening to Casey Kasem’s Countdown of the top 100 songs on New Year’s Eve. They’d play on the radio all day, with the number one song announced about midnight.

I remember when Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World” topped the chart in 1971. I was at a sleepover of my church’s junior high youth fellowship at someone’s house that New Year’s Eve. We were so happy when the song came on that we grabbed pots and pans from the kitchen, ran out on the front porch, banged the pans and sang along at the top of our lungs. A moment of pure, simple joy.

So in time-honored fashion, I’ve compiled a countdown of my top 10 posts of the year. They’re a mix of reflections, tips, strategies, stories, and information I’ve gathered. For 2014, the winners are:

10: Tips for Planning YourTrip to the Family History Library

9:   Free Guide to Research at the Ohio History Center

8:   Willard Bishop’s Model T Camper

7:   Minnie King Steele, the Oldest Ancestor I’ve Known

6:   Lloyd Ballenger and Reeb’s Restaurant

5:   George Clark, Ohio Pioneer

4:   Jacob Roush and Philip Roush, Virginia Militiamen

3:   The Two Most ImportantThings Genealogists Can Do Now

2:   Finding John Herrel’s Naturalization in an Unidexed FamilySearch Collection

                                         and

1:   You Too Can Be a Virtual RootsTech Attendee

If you have time to read just one, you can’t go wrong with #3, The Two Most Important Things Genealogists Can Do Now. Following an all-day seminar, I reflected on sage advice from Tom Jones, who urges all family historians to preserve today what could be lost tomorrow.

A good starting point, I think, for setting goals for the new year.

And now, in the spirit of celebration, here’s Three Dog Night performing “Joy to the World”:

--Shelley

How Time Flies: Four Years and Counting

A certain milestone crept up on me this week while I wasn’t looking. Hard as it is for me to believe, it’s been four years since I published my first post here at A Sense of Family.

I remember how thrilled I was to get my first comments and followers. The idea that people out in cyberspace were actually reading what I wrote? Amazing! It still amazes me when I stop to think about it.

From the beginning, I found generous support from Thomas MacEntee’s community of Geneabloggers, from which treasured friendships have sprung. I learned about the ins and outs of genealogy blogging from Dear Myrtle, Randy Seaver, Tonia Kendrick, Caroline Pointer, and many others. Gradually I developed my voice, and before I knew it, I had a whole year under my belt. Turn around and it was two, then three years.

A big thanks to all those who dedicate their time to writing blogs about genealogy, family history, cemeteries, genealogy education, and family history writing. Your posts continually inspire and inform me. I really admire the talent found in our niche of the web.

Even though I haven’t been blogging as frequently lately, it’s no secret that I enjoy writing about my ancestors. This year I’ve been inspired by Amy Johnson Crow’s series, "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks," on No Story Too Small. I’m not going to make it anywhere close to 52, but I still count myself ahead—because let’s face it, any family story preserved is a victory.

I also like sharing news, resources, and tips that I think might interest you. It’s gratifying to be able to pass along some of the things I learn and discover, as well as events I’m excited about. I hope these things energize you to make discoveries of your own.

Whether you’ve read A Sense of Family a few times, a few months, or the whole four years, thanks for joining me on this journey. I’m grateful to each and every one of my readers—without you, I’d just be some crazy lady talking to myself about dead people all the time. Hope you’ll come along for act five.

--Shelley

Father's Day Wishes

Wishing a Happy Father’s Day to my dad, my father-in-law, and all the fathers reading this. Enjoy your day!

--Shelley

And Now We Are Three!

Three years ago, I ventured out into the wide, wide world of cyberspace and posted my first welcome message here at A Sense of Family. It’s been a great three years, and I want to take a moment to reflect and thank everyone who reads and subscribes to this blog for making it so rewarding.

In looking back, I’m struck by three things: how fast time goes, how many more resources for genealogy are online today, and how many wonderful people I’ve come to know through blogging. Since I haven’t figured out a way to slow the speeding days, weeks, and months down, I’ll stick to talking about the other two things here.

In the fall of 2010, most of my searches on the FamilySearch website gave results from the Ancestral File, Pedigree Resource File, and IGI. I couldn’t have imagined the scope of databases under the FamilySearch umbrella today, or the ease of having so many actual record images at my fingertips 24/7. And that’s just one website. Think of all the expansions at Ancestry and Find My Past in three years’ time. And the rise of new companies that serve the genealogical community—Mocavo, for instance. Not to mention the proliferation of smartphone and tablet apps like BillionGraves (I could barely text on my 2010 cell phone). It seems like everyone—from the federal government to state archives to county offices to local genealogical societies—is making an effort to improve access to historical records online. And the ways to learn about genealogy have exploded, too (think webinars and study groups). I know there are some challenges, such as threats to the Social Security Death Index, but the progress is truly phenomenal when you stop to think about it.

Reading blogs is one way I try to keep up with all that change. Bloggers are generous with sharing information and tips. It helps to hear about other people’s experiences as we navigate the ever-changing landscape of 21^st century family history research. Every blog has a voice, and behind that voice is a person. In my experience, the people who write genealogy blogs tend to be passionate, helpful, smart, involved, and genuinely nice people. After reading someone’s posts for a period of months or years, you come to know them a little bit, so when you meet for the first time, there’s a quick bond. You know just what to talk about. I’ve met many fellow bloggers at genealogy conferences and institutes who have become good friends, and I treasure those friendships. There are many others I hope to meet someday.

Mostly, I want to say thank you, readers, for taking precious time out of your days to read my posts. Thanks especially to those who reach out to leave a comment here or contact me by email. It makes my day to know I’ve helped or touched someone. It’s also a thrill to hear from a distantly-related cousin who’s just discovered my blog. Connecting with people regardless of the boundaries of time and space is what it’s all about, after all. That’s the magic that keeps me sharing those stories, reviewing those resources, and talking about those tips.

So please join me in raising a toast to being three!

--Shelley

Related Posts:

Celebrating a Year of Firsts—My Blogiversary

And Now We Are Two—MyBlogiversary

Auld Lang Syne and Happy New Year 2013

As we close out the old year and welcome in the new one, I’d like to share with you my favorite version of “Auld Lang Syne,” performed by James Taylor. I confess to listening to this haunting yet hopeful tune when I’m feeling reflective year-round, not just during the holidays.

According to Wikipedia, the original poem that provides the lyrics was written by Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1788. The music is a traditional folk song. In fact, the origins of the song may stretch back to an earlier ballad printed by James Watson in 1711. However you figure it, that’s a lot of New Year’s Eves ago.

But what does it mean? The original Scottish title can be loosely translated to “long, long ago,” “old times,” or “days gone by.” The lyrics ask whether old times, and old friends, should be forgotten. They seem to remind us, in the words of a traditional camp song, to “Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver, and the other gold.” It’s sung on New Year’s Eve in English-speaking countries around the world, and played on other occasions as well.

As family historians, we do our best to keep the memories of old times, and the legends of people who lived long gone, alive. We are preservationists at heart. The message of “Auld Lang Syne” is one that speaks to what we do each time we research and tell the stories of our ancestors. When you think about it, it could be the patron song of genealogists.

I hope you enjoy this rendition of “Auld Lang Syne.” May you enjoy a new year filled with peace, prosperity, good health, and good times!

--Shelley

Merry Christmas to All

Today is Christmas Eve, one of my favorite days of the year. I’ll spend the first several hours finishing up the preparations—wrapping presents, running to the store for groceries and last minute items, making an appetizer, setting the table, and hoping that the package I’m still waiting on finally arrives from UPS.

But at some quiet moment as day slips into evening, the time will come to make the mystical transition between Preparing for Christmas and Celebrating Christmas. For me, that moment, that pause, often comes at the Christmas Eve service at church. Crossing the threshold from the hustle and bustle to simply enjoying the here and now, for me, is a conscious shift. It’s laying aside what may not be perfect and may not have gotten done, and embracing the family around me, while thinking of those I love who are far away. I truly will be counting my blessings tonight.

My hope is that you too will have a relaxing and blessed Christmas, wherever you are and whoever you are celebrating with. May we all come to know peace on earth within our time.

Merry Christmas!

--Shelley

And Now We Are Two: My Blogiversary

Today marks the second anniversary of the day I mustered up my courage and pressed the “Publish” button on my new blog for the first time. Does time fly, or what? In retrospect, I needn’t have worried. I’m not sure anyone saw that first post except me.

After I got a couple more posts under my belt, I gathered my courage again and announced my blog to Geneabloggers, which I envisioned as the Great All-Seeing Oz. I hadn’t yet met the real Thomas MacEntee, the hard-working yet fun-loving face behind the curtain. In fact, I hadn’t yet met a single genealogy blogger in person. I was thrilled whenever a new icon popped up in my gallery of “Followers” (confession: I still am). And I was even more thrilled when I began to get comments from readers. Somehow, out of the vast arena of cyberspace, people were actually seeing what I wrote, and taking the time to read it and respond. Amazing!

Now, over 160 posts later, I can honestly say I’m glad I took the plunge and started writing A Sense of Family. This blog has somehow become part of who I am and what I do. It makes me happy when something I’ve written connects with my family and friends. And it’s incredibly satisfying when someone lets me know they’ve learned something from what I’ve written. I’ve also met a lot of wonderful people through blogging, many of whom I now count as good friends. And there are many others who I hope to meet in the future when our paths eventually cross. In the meantime, we get to know one another through our blogs, and through casual interactions on Facebook and Twitter. It’s a great community, and one I’m glad to be part of.

Two years of blogging certainly doesn’t make me an expert on anything, but I would like to offer a bit of encouragement to any newer geneabloggers out there. And that’s simply to keep writing and keep connecting with people. Write what you’re passionate about, and your passion will draw others in. Go to genealogical seminars and conferences and introduce yourself to people. Learn, and share about what you learn. Read other blogs and leave comments when something connects with you. In short, reach out, and don’t get discouraged over numbers or stats. Heck, my stats aren’t going to impress anyone. But that’s not why I blog. I blog because I like to share—my stories, my experiences, my thoughts, my discoveries, and my journey into genealogy. It’s all about the journey.

I hope you’ll travel along with me as I head into another year. Thank you, sweet readers!

--Shelley

Related Posts:
Celebrating a Year of Firsts: My Blogiversary

Time for a Happy Dance

If you’re like me, it’s not often that you find something genuinely exciting in your email inbox. But yesterday I received a real gem, and I’m eager to share it with you. So I hope you’ll join me for a moment in a little cyberspace happy dance.

The email was from Diana Chrisman Smith. The first line grabbed my attention right away: “Congratulations! You are one of the winners in the ISFHWE Excellence-in-Writing competition for 2012.”

Did I read that right? I quickly read the rest and downloaded the attached list of winners, and sure enough, under the “Columns” category, there was my name. Not once, but twice. I had won first and second place in the category!

Woo-hoo! After re-reading it a few times to let it soak in, I had to jump up and tell somebody. My daughter was the only one home, and to her credit, she was genuinely happy for me. She even put the list on the refrigerator door with a magnet. And if that’s not a sure sign of a Very Important Paper, I don’t know what is.

So now I’m proud to share the news with you, too. My winning entries are:

First place: A Big Game for the Big Day

This story is one of my personal favorites. It tells the tale of my grandparents’ elopement on the day of the OSU-Michigan football game in 1935, some of it in my grandmother’s own words. It was published on November 1, 2011 for the Carnival of Genealogy, and you can read it here.

Second place: Newel King, 91st Ohio Volunteer Infantry

This post has received more views than any other I’ve written. It recaps the experiences of my great-great-great grandfather in the Civil War, as pieced together from a numerous records and historical accounts. It was published on April 10, 2011 for Bill West’s Civil War Challenge, and you can read it here.

All of this had its start at the NGS Family History Conference in Cincinnati in May. I’ve been a member of the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors for about a year, so I stopped by the booth to pick up the ribbon for my badge. There were a few other people there too, and Diana, who was staffing the booth, encouraged us all to enter the Excellence-in-Writing contest. The deadline was fast approaching, and I mentioned that I didn’t have time to write a new article specifically for the contest. But she told me that individual blog posts are eligible for entry under “Columns,” and I could use anything published in 2011. Hmmm. Something to think about.

So a week later, I looked through my posts from last year and found two that I felt did a good job of telling a family history story. I thought if I submitted them, it would be valuable to get the judge’s remarks back. I sent the entries in and pretty much put the whole thing out of my mind, until the email arrived yesterday.

I’d like to say thank you to ISFHWE for this honor, and for the support they offer to family history writers. I’d also like to thank my family, who doesn’t think it too terribly strange that I like to spend my days digging up clues to our family’s past (or if they do, they hide it well). And most of all I’d like to thank you, my much-appreciated readers, for your time and the comments you leave that show you’re interested and engaged. More than anything else, that encourages me to keep writing.

--Shelley

Celebrating a Year of Firsts: My Blogiversary

Today marks the first anniversary of my first blog post here at A Sense of Family, and I’m in the mood to celebrate. It’s been a year of learning, discoveries, reminisces, and sharing. So pull up a chair, relax, and have a piece of cake on me.

When I took the initial plunge into blogging last October, I was a more than a little hesitant. It felt like jumping off the high dive into a pool of icy water—not something I usually attempt. Would anyone really want to read about my ancestors? What could I say that hadn’t been said before? How much is it safe to put on the internet? True confession: it was only realizing that I had no readers yet that actually gave me the courage to push the “Publish” button that first time. In the year since, with support from subscribers, followers, and fellow geneabloggers, I’m happy to say the water has warmed up considerably.

My blog seems almost like a living thing to me now. Like any living thing, it needs to be nurtured, watched, and fed regularly. It thrives on praise, benefits from a fresh look every now and then, and keeps me on my toes. It also has a way of demanding my attention when I’m already busy with other things! Time, in fact, continues to be my biggest challenge. I’m still learning the technical parts of blogging by trial and error. And I continue to explore different ideas in content to see what readers like and respond to most, because I've found it’s more rewarding to me to write things that people enjoy or find helpful.


Thank you to each and every one of my subscribers, followers, and readers. So often it feels like I’m writing into a vacuum (hello, is anyone out there?), but that’s the nature of the medium. Knowing you are reading keeps me going. A heartfelt thanks as well to everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment on one of my posts. You are appreciated more than you can imagine. I truly enjoy the feedback and interaction that flows from comments.

One of the highlights of my year was meeting other bloggers at the FGS Conference in Springfield. It was a pleasure to find real friendships springing from virtual acquaintances. The encouragement and camaraderie was just what I needed to propel me into my second year.

I picked the name “A Sense of Family” because, for me, that’s what genealogy is all about: developing a sense of who you are, where you came from, and how you fit into the stream of history. That’s what I try to accomplish with my research and convey in my writing. So this seems like a good time to say thanks to my family for their support. And to my ancestors—that delightfully mixed bag of farmers, housewives, carpenters, laborers, soldiers, mothers, restaurant owners, salesmen, blacksmiths, volunteers, factory workers, and cabinet makers that led to me. One thing’s for sure: I couldn’t do it without them.

I hope you’ll all ride along as I head down the road for a second year!

Some of my favorite posts from the past year:

There’s One in Every Family: The Life of the Party

Thanksgiving at the Kid’s Table

My True-Life Adventure in Hard Drive Failure

Lettie A. Bishop: Wednesday’s Child

Memories of an Ordinary Woman

Newel King, 91st Ohio Volunteer Infantry

You Never Know Unless You Ask
Weldon's Ice Cream Factory