Listen to the Recorded Voices of Our Ancestors as They Talk About Their Lives and Heritage
On December 24, 2001, my cousin Donna Scott Nusrala sat down with our grandmother and grandfather, Dorothy and Charlie Scott and recorded their conversation as Donna asked them questions about their lives and their parents and grandparents. Our great-grandmother, Lucy Case was also there and had a few comments to share. In the background, you'll also hear chiming in occasionally are Donna's parents, Chuck and Sue Scott. What a treat it is to hear the voices of ancestors long gone. To hear these audio recordings is like having them in the next room again. Enjoy! Hear an audio recording of Dorothy Scott talking about her life and family. Simply click on the arrow to begin [...]
“How Sweet Life Is” a book by Virginia Marous
Turn the pages of this autobiography of the late Virginia Marous as she recounts the days of her childhood, through the years of raising six children with her husband Del, then into her twilight years. View photos of Virginia's life and read her personal comments. Click HERE to view book.
Farewell to “Uncle Bud”
Dateline: September 22, 2003. My great-uncle Bud died today. I didn't know him well, but did meet him a few times throughout our lives. The last time I saw him was at my great-grandmother's--his mother's-- funeral in September of 1984. "Uncle Bud" was my grandmother's brother. So he was really my great-uncle. But we all called him "Uncle Bud." I'll always remember him for his thick white hair and bushy--really bushy--eyebrows. I remember him laughing a lot. I don't really know much about his life. I believe he was married four or five times. He had one son, name unknown to me, who died years ago at the age of 52, of cancer. At least that is [...]
Anna Catherine Oliver Orphaned by Age 5
I imagine little Anna Catherine Oliver, my great-great-grandmother was looking forward to her fifth birthday, as most children do at her age. Instead, she became an orphan just a month before when her beloved mother, Sarah died. Her father John and three siblings were already dead, most likely from diseases that at the time, had no cure. At just five years old, Anna had already witnessed the horrors of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln's assassination, the death of her parents, and by December of 1866, a mere month after her fifth birthday, the death of yet another sibling, her older brother Philip. All that would survive of the John M. Oliver family were Anna, her older sister Permelia and [...]
Visiting my ancestral home of Scotland
In August of 2012, I realized a lifelong dream of visiting my ancestral home of Scotland to see for myself where my forefathers had come from and what kind of life they left behind. I was accompanied by my daughter, Alyson, who at the time was 20 years old. It was the summer between her sophomore and junior years of college. Knowing she would spend the next summer serving an internship for school, I thought this trip would be an ideal opportunity to spend some quality time with her before she struck out on her own once she graduated college. After spending years researching my mother's father's side of the family, I learned a great deal about the [...]
Autograph Books Were the Social Media of Their Day
Autograph books have been around for centuries. They originally were a way for students to collect signatures of classmates and instructors. Most often, students would allow friends and instructors to use the blank pages of their bibles to sign their names, but over time, books with only blank pages were created with the sole purpose of being used for capturing signatures. By the end of the 16th century, autograph books were common throughout Germany. For academics, autograph books were used not only for gathering sentimental notes, but also as a way to gather correspondence of fellow colleagues. Although the popularity of autograph books started in Europe, by the 18th century, Americans had caught on to this trend as [...]