Sunday, January 2, 2011

Ancestor Approved!

Ancestor Approved!


I am humbled that this secondary blog of mine has recently become a recipient of the Ancestor Approved award which was initiated by Leslie Ann Ballou of  Ancestors Live Here   in order to show appreciation for those who write the blogs we read and enjoy. Thank you Liz of My Tapley Tree... and it's Branches  for bestowing this award!

The rules of this award specify to list ten things I've learned about my ancestors that have surprised, humbled, or enlightened me.  As the recipient I am to pass the award along to ten other genealogy bloggers that I feel are also deserving of it! Since I received this award once for my blog Old Stones Undeciphered I will reuse the body of that blog and name ten new bloggers to pass this award on to. (Any recipients who don't want to use the black and white version can go over to Old Stones or any other blog with the reward and use the color version.)


Surprised....

*When I got so busy with less exciting things in my life,  I took a break from serious research for almost 2 years. When I forced those encumbrances aside and came back  to what I love to do most I was surprised stunned to find the Internet had exploded with a gazillion new databases and I was overwhelmed with all the new sources of information  and new clues for me to follow!

*A woman I'd never met, shipped me a package of genealogy on her great grandfather who I strongly suspected was connected to my lineage in some way. I nearly peed my pants when I opened the package and a photo of him slid out! The photo was identical to one in my family's collection! It was of a Civil War soldier, unmarked and unknown. We kept it because we knew he was family but didn't know who he was. This woman's great grandfather was my great, great grandmother's brother!

*I'm surprised that blogging has opened up so many new avenues...very surprised! I thought I was just creating a place for family to come someday (if they EVER get curious about their ancestors...sigh!) and read stories about their kin...see photos and documents. I just wanted to leave something that would make their ancestors REAL.....real people, with real lives....and something more interesting than a hard to understand, boring, dry genealogy report!

*I have been surprised many times when someone has contacted me from a query I put on the Internet 10 years ago...or more!

*I was surprised to find that now when I read all those BEGATS in the Bible, they are actually interesting! I used to skip over that part!


Humbled...

*Humbled when my sister-in-law Rose entrusted all the family photos and documents from her side of the family to my safe keeping.

*Humbled when my great half-aunt Myrtle, at my timid request, shipped me the huge stack of her mother's letters (my great grandmother!), that were written during the depression years, for me to photo copy.

*Humbled at the generosity of genealogists everywhere who love to help and give their time. Humbled to have received this award from my peers!

*Especially humbled when once I had just a few minutes to search an older section of cemetery for my 4th great grandfather and I knew I'd never find his grave in the short time I had. So many rows of stones!  I got to the middle of the third row and I suddenly stopped and I said a small prayer...."Lord, you know who I'm looking for and you know how much time I have, please guide me!". I opened my eyes and I looked over my shoulder....about two dozen stones back and about four or maybe five rows over, my eyes fixed on a stone. I couldn't possibly read it from that far but I pivoted and walked all the way to that stone without taking my eyes off of it, and there  was my ancestor and his wife next to him!! THAT is humbling! THAT is a miracle!

Enlightened...

*Every day that I read the blogs of others I am enlightened about something. I am inspired as well. I read of a database I didn't know of, a source for clues I'd overlooked, always something!

Passing it on...

Sharn's Genealogy Hints  Sharn
Glimpsing The Past  Angie
Into The Light  Renate
Mariah's Zephyr  Vicky
Marksology  Kenneth
Nebraska Roots and Ramblings  Ruby
Roots and Stones  Jenn
Adventures in Genealogy  Deb
Genealogy Frame of Mind  Karen
TJLGenes: Preserving Our Family History  Travis


6 comments:

  1. Cool - I've never won a blogging award before! Thanks Lisa! ;)

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  2. Thanks so much for this blogging award. I appreciate it very much and am humbled.

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  3. I was just poping back to check out what I had to do to accept this fantastic award and there it was ...the awful realization that I had not thanked you. I was sure that I had but must have had a senior moment ...thank you so much for thinking about my stories and scrapping lay outs .... soon the award will be displayed on my blog with pride.

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  4. Just returned from a trip away to find you have nominated me for the Ancestor Approved Award.. thankyou so much.. now I will get to work to write about 10 things which have humbled, surprised (won't be hard) and enlightened me about my ancestors and will pass it on to 10 more blogs that I enjoy, Thanks again, It is always nice to be appreciated. I enjoy your blogs by the way, Sharn

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  5. Hi Lisa how do I go about passing this award on to others - I have written about the 10 things which surprised me etc can you explain how it works, many thanks Sharn

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  6. Hi Sharn! I just e-mailed or contacted them in any way I could to alert them to the fact that they'd been chosen and gave them the link to the blog post. Some I told in a comment on their blog and one or two I contacted on Facebook.

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